Drew Payne
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Everything posted by Drew Payne
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That's fascinating. I know where the trial will end and I know what's happening outside of the trial (which Liam has been shielded from), and your take on it is fascinating. Thank you
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Mrs Stewart-Graham wasn't very "respectful" to the prosecution witnesses either and she lives to upset the judge (during this trial). I won't be too sure that the jury hasn't yet decided that Liam is guilty, Liam can't what's happening outside the court room and he can’t read people’s faces yet.
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When it came time for Mrs Stewart-Graham to present Liam’s defence, she had stood up and in her clear voice said, “We call our first witness: Mrs Nicola Webb!” She was his Form Teacher. In puzzlement, Liam had watched her walk into the courtroom. What did she know about him, beyond his name? She had barely spoken to him in all the time she had been his Form Teacher. Most days she hadn’t even looked at him. Mrs Webb wore her usual clothes of a colourful blouse and a plain skirt. That da
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The judge's behaviour and the question of an appeal will be addressed but later. Unfortunately, the jury isn't living in a vacuum, and that will be addressed later. This story is seen from Liam's point-of-view and therefore we find out information as Liam does, so there will be a bit of a lag in this happening because he isn’t at the centre of events in his life.
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Thank you so much for this amazing feedback. I’m sorry I missed your comment With this story I wanted to write about what happens behind the headlines. Liam has been dismissed as a child knife killer but there is a whole life behind those headlines. His trial is running on the black and white arguments of what he did, there is no room here for the nuances of what happened.
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This judge was based on the judge at the trial I watched but I have added more to him. I made the judge have the values and judgements of the establishment/society, the prejudices and opinions based solely on the crime a person has committed. Like so many people, the judge only sees Liam as a knife welding killer.
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The last witness the prosecution called was Gemma Clarke, Rhys Clarke’s mother. She was wearing a black trouser suit and white blouse as she strode into the courtroom, Liam was surprised by how much she resembled Rhys. She had the same pale skin, the same blonde hair, though hers was worn a neat long style, that day tied back into a ponytail at the back of her neck, and she even had the same strong profile to her face. She had addressed the courtroom from the witness box with a voice as str
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The trial I watched, at the Old Bailey (name dropping), wasn't a murder trial but the judge had obviously decided that the accused was guilty, and he didn't hide it. I was shocked but the barristers didn't seem to be.
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Though he is certainly not old enough to have presided over a capital punishment trial, I am sure this judge complains to everyone that the "Worst thing they ever did" was abolish hanging. Dr Harvey is very happy to say what the police/prosecution want her to say, she's there to please. There has been a good few scandals of pathologists doing this, but when I was a student there was a psychiatrist in the hospital who had the same reputation. It's explained later why Miss James isn't here but I don't want to say more.
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This is my big problem with the adversarial system of justice, two barristers arguing from two different standpoints. Are juries swayed by the facts or by who makes the best arguments?
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His trial only really began on the second day. The jury stayed sitting in their seats that day, not forced to leave the courtroom as yet another legal argument played out. The judge had entered the courtroom, that second day, the last person to do so, and again everyone had had to stand up. Once they were all settled down but before any statements were made or witnesses called, the judge turned to the jury and, said: “You have all heard a lot about this case in our media, and a lot of sensa
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It is who decides what evidence the jury gets to hear? The trial I watched, it seemed like the jury was being sent out of the court room, while the barristers and the judge argued points of law, every five minutes. I do find this all so complicated and it makes me question how much justice is served. Plus, this chapter is a child's eye view of a complicated trial.
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Thank you so much. I based this chapter on two different trials, they both struck me as unfair the way illegitimate defences were dismissed/not allowed. In the trial I watched, the judge seemed to very much have made up his mind and was favouring the prosecution. I have huge questions about the Criminal Justice system.
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The first morning of his trial seemed to be taken up with Mrs Stewart-Graham, the prosecution barrister, Mr Justin Spencer, and the judge arguing. The first thing that happened was the judge sent the jury out of the courtroom. The twelve people had walked out of there, one following after the other, many of them wearing obvious disappointed expressions on their faces. Liam had watched them in surprise: weren’t the jury there to hear his trial and find him guilty? But they were being sent st
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Thank you, that is a wonderful compliment, especially as the only time I have been in court was sitting at the back of the public gallery. I did my research and it seemed to have pay off.
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They put him into a white-tiled cell in the basement of the building, locking him in. He’d expected that they would take him straight into the court room and had been surprised to be placed in there. They left him in there for a very long time. It seemed as though an age passed him by as he had no idea how long it was. He had no watch and there was no decoration to the walls, certainly not a clock. Liam sat on the cold, tiled bench and stared at the white tiled wall in front of him. In his
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Yes and he's famous for all the wrong reasons. He knows he's guilty but doesn't know what will happen to him. It’s not an easy time to be so uncertain.
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Liam’s room felt so small: it hadn’t felt big when he first saw it with Donna leading him in there, but today this room in the B&B hotel felt so small. Liam pushed himself up and out of his old armchair. No, Leo Brown did and… Liam gave his mind a mental shake. He would always be Liam Andrews. He could tell himself his new name was Leo Brown over and over again, but underneath, he would always be Liam Andrews. The springs in the chair’s seat let out their usual metallic ‘boing’ noise as the
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Thanks @FrankD, that's such high praise. I am busy writing The World Out There, but once that is finished I really need to write more of Shaun and Harley's story. I've got two more stories about them planned out. -
Liam needs really good and professional mental health care but he's not going to find it here. He's in the criminal justice system and everything is gearing up to his trial, not his wellbeing. Loughton is sympathetic but that is part of his way to get his assessment done. He's not the only healthcare professional who does this.
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That was another thing I wanted to include here, that a psychological/psychiatric assessment is only as good as the practitioner. An assessment is only as good as the clinician doing it. I am also fascinated about how one action can have so many consequences, but what was the motivation behind that action.
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That night, Liam didn’t go home. Instead, they took him to a Children’s Home, Rokeby House, were he stayed until his trial. He kind of liked Rokeby House: there were nine other kids there and they all seemed to have their own problems, which they would often act out in public, demanding the attention of the staff there and allowing him to just be left alone. Also, he didn’t have to go to school - he could just sit up in his room and read whatever books he could find. The down side of life t
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This is what I wanted to write about here. Liam has committed a crime, for whatever reason, but that is where he has lost control of everything. He's now caught up in the Criminal Justice system, and the police, lawyers, social workers and psychiatrists will all take over his life. He is lost and all because of one, bad decision. When I was plotting this story, Liam's mother leapt off the page to me. She had to be as cold and selfish as she is, otherwise Liam won't have fallen into this terrible situation. As Miss James said, "And maybe if you cared about your son more, we wouldn’t be in this mess!" And that's me telling off one of my characters.
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There are people who can see him for who he is, though here they are very outnumbered. Of course, if his mother wasn't such a selfish cow then would he be in this mess?
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They drove Liam to the police station in a police car, him sat on the backseat between Miss James and another police officer, a woman. He didn’t watch any of their journey there. He barely knew where he was being taken. He just sat there and stared at the back of one of the policeman’s head, the one who was driving. The man had surprisingly red hair which was cut into short bristles at the back of his neck. At the police station, two policemen - one portly and old, his black hair streaked t
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