12
D espite the November chill, Jim Irving could feel tiny beads of sweat springing to his upper lip. He’d rarely visited his son’s workplace before, but he wanted to make sure he spoke with him out of earshot of his mother.
James’ law firm were a big multi-national enterprise. The Edinburgh offices were their main base in Scotland. Dani’s boyfriend specialised in commercial and contract law. There was very little overlap between James’s work and that of his father and sister. The office that Jim was directed to was small but pleasant.
James stood up to open the door. ‘Dad! I’m really glad you’ve popped by. Take a seat. I’ll have coffees sent up for us.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Are you in town for any special reason?’ James returned to his desk. He was genuinely interested to know and not at all put out by the unexpected visit. Corporate law operated at a much calmer pace than the criminal bar.
‘I needed to cash some cheques,’ he mumbled. ‘But I could really have done that at the local branch.’
James knitted his brow. ‘Is anything wrong?’
‘Do you remember the Suter case?’
‘Of course. It was your first murder trial. It took place the year after I was born.’ James decided to leave it there and allow his father to explain things for himself.
‘Suter was released on Friday. He’d served forty years, which was the minimum sentence stipulated by Judge Richards.’
‘Back in 1975?’
Jim nodded.
‘Is it a problem that he’s out - did Suter bear a grudge against you or Sir Anthony?’
‘Well, if the man didn’t, he bloody well should have done.’ Jim clasped his hands together. ‘Alderton botched it. The evidence was weak and he thought we could get the charges thrown out. Suter was claiming he didn’t kill those girls. He was reasonably convincing. So, my boss decided to pursue a plea of innocence. Our entire case was built around the assertion that someone else killed those women.’
‘You think that Anthony Alderton should have persuaded Suter to plead guilty?’
‘If we’d opted for a guilty plea, we could have argued for diminished responsibility. Calvin Suter had grown up in poverty. The father was absent and his mother had a series of boyfriends. I’d discovered that one of those men, who’d lived in the flat with Suter and his sisters for two whole years in the late sixties, had gone on to serve time for child battery and rape. We could have used it in court, perhaps got the sentence down to 15 years.’
‘The man could have been out in eight. That would have been in, what – 1983?’ James puffed out his cheeks. ‘Bloody Hell. That’s quite a difference.’
‘Judge Richards was a liberal. He would actually have been open to considering Suter’s difficult upbringing in his sentencing. Richards had been a Labour MP before taking his bar exams. He wasn’t your typical 1970s geriatric old duffer in a cap and wig.’
‘But the jury didn’t go for your argument of innocence?’ James ushered in one of the secretaries, who had entered with a tray bearing a large coffee pot.
Jim took his time pouring the drinks into both their cups, the task seeming to focus his mind. ‘We were fortunate during the selection of jurors. There were two women of Afro-Caribbean origin and one Afro-Caribbean man. For some reason, Alderton was convinced they’d side with our
D espite the November chill, Jim Irving could feel tiny beads of sweat springing to his upper lip. He’d rarely visited his son’s workplace before, but he wanted to make sure he spoke with him out of earshot of his mother.
James’ law firm were a big multi-national enterprise. The Edinburgh offices were their main base in Scotland. Dani’s boyfriend specialised in commercial and contract law. There was very little overlap between James’s work and that of his father and sister. The office that Jim was directed to was small but pleasant.
James stood up to open the door. ‘Dad! I’m really glad you’ve popped by. Take a seat. I’ll have coffees sent up for us.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Are you in town for any special reason?’ James returned to his desk. He was genuinely interested to know and not at all put out by the unexpected visit. Corporate law operated at a much calmer pace than the criminal bar.
‘I needed to cash some cheques,’ he mumbled. ‘But I could really have done that at the local branch.’
James knitted his brow. ‘Is anything wrong?’
‘Do you remember the Suter case?’
‘Of course. It was your first murder trial. It took place the year after I was born.’ James decided to leave it there and allow his father to explain things for himself.
‘Suter was released on Friday. He’d served forty years, which was the minimum sentence stipulated by Judge Richards.’
‘Back in 1975?’
Jim nodded.
‘Is it a problem that he’s out - did Suter bear a grudge against you or Sir Anthony?’
‘Well, if the man didn’t, he bloody well should have done.’ Jim clasped his hands together. ‘Alderton botched it. The evidence was weak and he thought we could get the charges thrown out. Suter was claiming he didn’t kill those girls. He was reasonably convincing. So, my boss decided to pursue a plea of innocence. Our entire case was built around the assertion that someone else killed those women.’
‘You think that Anthony Alderton should have persuaded Suter to plead guilty?’
‘If we’d opted for a guilty plea, we could have argued for diminished responsibility. Calvin Suter had grown up in poverty. The father was absent and his mother had a series of boyfriends. I’d discovered that one of those men, who’d lived in the flat with Suter and his sisters for two whole years in the late sixties, had gone on to serve time for child battery and rape. We could have used it in court, perhaps got the sentence down to 15 years.’
‘The man could have been out in eight. That would have been in, what – 1983?’ James puffed out his cheeks. ‘Bloody Hell. That’s quite a difference.’
‘Judge Richards was a liberal. He would actually have been open to considering Suter’s difficult upbringing in his sentencing. Richards had been a Labour MP before taking his bar exams. He wasn’t your typical 1970s geriatric old duffer in a cap and wig.’
‘But the jury didn’t go for your argument of innocence?’ James ushered in one of the secretaries, who had entered with a tray bearing a large coffee pot.
Jim took his time pouring the drinks into both their cups, the task seeming to focus his mind. ‘We were fortunate during the selection of jurors. There were two women of Afro-Caribbean origin and one Afro-Caribbean man. For some reason, Alderton was convinced they’d side with our
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