Crown Court

- Season 3

(1974)

After suspecting that irregular betting patterns had taken place at a greyhound stadium, bookmaker Ronald Charles refused to pay out on a winning betting slip worth over £200,000. A group of men have subsequently been accused of having conspired to cheat the on-track Tote betting system, and Mr Charles, out of thousands of pounds. Barry Deeley leads the prosecution in what is a confusing case for those not familiar with betting procedures.

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A Fulchester man has pleaded guilty to obtaining money by deception but now faces a more serious charge of arson, which he denies. The latter charge follows a fire at a Fulchester antique shop.

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The bursar of a charitable school for epileptics is accused of misusing its funds by making a risky investment, and using some of the money for his own disabled daughter.

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Pakistani housing landlord Muhammed Aslam is accused of demanding money with menaces from a number of illegal immigrants from Pakistan, who have found their way to Fulchester across Europe by train and boat. Mr Aslam insists that he was merely demanding his fees for arranging the immigrant's journey and for housing rent.

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Following relegation Fulchester Rovers manager Aleksander Gruda is sacked. However he claims players Skelhorne, McIver and Appledene deliberately played badly in order to achieve this end. All three now stand trial for conspiracy.

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After surviving the crash of a light aircraft in which two passengers were killed, the pilot of the aircraft is suing a relative of one of the victims for libel. The relative claimed in a newspaper article that the pilot was medically unfit to fly the aircraft and may also have been attempting to commit suicide by deliberately crashing the plane. He denies the allegation.

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Phil McDowell has been deserted by his wife and daughter, has been sacked from his job as a bank clerk and is now on trial for abducting Fiona Sumner, a fourteen year old girl. He denies the offense and insists she agreed to go with him.

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Irene Rutland faces charges of theft, criminal damage and wounding a police officer. The officer was called to a restaurant after Mrs. Rutland was involved in an argument over what she considered an excessive bill. The prosecution argue that she was in a drunken rage and struck the officer while resisting arrest. She was also found in possession of a handbag belonging to another woman - Linda Brightson - and she is also charged with theft of this item and damage to the restaurant. The Defence accept there was a disagreement but argue Mrs. Rutland did not steal the ...

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Charles Oldbury died in the bathroom of the old people's home where he lived. Dr. Fulmer who attended the scene thought he had suffered a heart attack and then drowned in the bath; she tried to resuscitate him without success. However the owners of the home - Margaret and Kenneth Povey - are now on trial accused of his murder and of defrauding his estate of £30 000 with the aid of convicted solicitor's clerk Leonard Saxton. The prosecution claim that they fabricated a change to his will for their benefit and then killed him in the bath, trying to make his death appear...

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Two mountaineers died in an unsuccessful attempt to scale the Choga Sar in the Himalayas. That ill-fated expedition is now the subject of a libel trial. Captain Piers Bowman who led the climb alleged in a TV documentary that the men died as a result of the cowardly and negligent behaviour of fellow climber Dennis Wainwright. Wainwright argues the allegations were false: he behaved completely properly in dreadful conditions and the men's deaths could not have been prevented. He suggests Bowman has made the claims because he is unable to cope with failure and is looking...

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James Mallard signed a confession admitting that he had stolen a car belonging to his doctor with whom he and his family have long been unhappy. He had hinted to the doctor just before the incident that he would do him some harm. Mallard has now retracted his confession and asserts his innocence. He argues that he was forced into a confession by Sergeant Attrass who has long victimised him because of his criminal past. The prosecution argue that the initial confession was absolutely correct. They have eye-witness testimony linking Mallard to the crime and insist the ...

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Rock musician Lance Porter is suing his father Reverend Fortescue Porter in a civil case. He composed a rock opera called "Jesus, Baby!" about the nativity. He promised his father the copyright to the show on the understanding that if he fell on hard times he would receive part of the proceeds. However his father then spent all the considerable revenue on charitable causes even though he strongly disapproved of the content and style of the show. Reverend Fortescue says he did nothing wrong. At the time neither he nor his son expected the production to make money. In ...

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Charles Holloway is charged with murdering two women - an aunt and her niece - who lived in the flat above. He does not deny shooting the women but pleads diminished responsibility, arguing that their extreme anti-social behaviour caused him to lose control. The Prosecution, however, insist the shootings were premeditated.

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Long serving prison officer William Hogarth, a strict disciplinarian, is accused of wounding with intent Johnson, an unpopular inmate. Johnson was found injured in the toilets where he had gone in search of secreted drugs. Hogarth insists his innocence and argues that the assault was actually committed by another inmate who then tried to frame him for the offence.

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Annie Robertson, a socialist and benefits rights campaigner, is suing social security officer Stephen Ash for libel. She alleges that he falsely and maliciously stated in a report that she was close to alcoholism, mentally unstable and cohabiting with Edward Rimmer and therefore ineligible for benefits. She denies all these claims and argues that Ash invented them when she resisted his sexual advances. By contrast Ash asserts that his comments were professional, honestly made and broadly true.

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Critic Derek Glynn is being sued for libel by veteran actress Sarah Leigh after he wrote an article claiming she engineered the dismissal of her young co-star Patricia Drake from the play "Boobs". He insists his comments were true.

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Lady Carvell received a telephone call from her son Sebastian telling her that he had been kidnapped by the KLF - a South African militant group - and that unless a ransom of $250,000 were paid, he would be killed. Sebastian later turned up at the family home but the ransom money was missing from the house safe. Sebastian is now on trial accused of faking the kidnapping as a pretext for stealing the ransom money. The prosecution claim that he was a KLF sympathiser and intended to direct the funds to them. They claim he was influenced by his then girlfriend Amarylis ...

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Elspeth Durrant, a temperamental woman with a history of mental illness and suicide attempts, is found dead in her bed after taking a large number of pills and alcohol. Shortly before she had told her husband Frank that she was going to commit suicide. However the prosecution insist this was not a genuine suicide but a case of murder - he was tired of her behaviour and asphyxiated her by turning her face into her pillow while she was unconscious.

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For four years the Barlows fostered a young girl - Minnie Biddulph - whose biological parents were both alcoholics. The Barlows hoped to adopt Minnie but instead Miss Prossitt, the Head of Social Services, ordered that Minnie be returned to her biological mother who was now recovered. However the prosecution say that Mr. Barlow ignored the order and took the girl to London. He is now in court accused of child stealing. The defence case is that he was never told that Minnie had to be returned. They also suggest that Miss Prossitt's decision was racially motivated as ...

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Sean Jameson was shot and injured by farmer Paul Brimmer while walking across his land at night. Jameson was squatting with his girlfriend Angela Bourke in a dilapidated cottage on Brimmer's land and the Prosecution allege that Brimmer was angry about this and deliberately shot him. Brimmer denies the charge and says that Jameson had stumbled into a ditch while drunk and he had mistaken his red hair while on the ground for a fox.

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The south tower of a new shopping centre collapsed resulting in the deaths of eight people. Was this a tragic accident or the responsibility of site agent Joe Carney? The prosecution allege that Carney objected to the "socialist" design and expense of the tower and was determined to see it fail with disastrous consequences. Carney does not deny that he disliked the building but denies he was in any way at fault. He argues that the building collapsed because of faults in a new material which he had warned against but his complaints had gone unheeded.

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Terence Finlay was stabbed to death at the house where he lodged with Beryl Jackson and Gerald Prosser. Only one - or both - of these people could have committed the crime. The prosecution argue they jointly killed the victim whom they had manipulated and financially exploited for some time. However each defendant protests their innocence and claims the other was solely responsible. Both defendants admit to criminal pasts and have to explain how large sums of money entered their bank accounts around the time similar amounts were withdrawn by Finlay.

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Wealthy local personality Malcolm Winfield was mugged walking through a park late at night with Ronald Hamilton whom he had met at a club earlier in the evening. Hamilton was unharmed in the attack. The victim's wallet was found later on at the home of Derek Clark and Sharon Cox, tucked inside a record player. Winfield says that Clark and Cox attacked him that evening. Hamilton is also accused of the same crime - the prosecution argue he was a male prostitute who willingly took part in a plan to entice Winfield to the park where his former house-mates could rob him. ...

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Sylvia Spencer visited Dr. Jonathan Francis seeking to terminate her pregnancy - she had been deserted by her boyfriend and wanted to conceal her condition from her brutal, disapproving father. Dr. Francis told her that an abortion was not possible and persuaded her to continue the pregnancy and release her baby for adoption. She took this advice and immediately after birth the child was placed in the custody of Mrs. Hine who had been unsuccessfully trying to become pregnant for years. However the prosecution allege this was no legal or proper adoption case. Both ...

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Douglas Cardy, head-teacher of a school for disabled children, stands accused of ill-treating one of his pupils - Tom Rigby, a fifteen year old with cerebral palsy. It is alleged he struck the boy after he turned on taps and flooded the school and then locked him in a bare room for nine hours. Cardy denies the charge and insists he punished the boy in a reasonable manner for the good of the whole school.

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Computer programmer Samuel Warren is accused of transferring £125000 over a long period from his employers by computer to a non-existent company - whose supposed bank account number matched his own. Warren does not deny that he made the transfers but claims they were not fraudulent and intended to expose the poor computer security of the company which had consistently ignored his warnings of the problems. He insists he had no intention of spending the money and intended to pay it back.

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The Tedmar, a boat owned by businessman Edward Blaney, was wrecked at sea after apparently running into mechanical difficulties and bad weather. Blaney and his mistress Edwina Sheridan had to be rescued by another boat. However the insurance company representative Draxland refused to pay out, arguing that Blaney fabricated the claim and deliberately wrecked the craft. Blaney is now suing the company for the cost of his boat.

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Margie Middleton is standing trial accused of bigamy. The prosecution allege that she went through a marriage ceremony to Colonel Middleton knowing that she was still married to her long estranged husband Patrick Delaney. However the defence argue that her marriage to Delaney was itself null and void because he was actually still married to Kathleen whom he claimed had been killed in an air raid during the Second World War. Margie claims that Kathleen in fact fled to the USA to be free from her abusive husband - a convicted fraudster - who then inflicted the same ...

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Inspector Bill Clegg, an unconventional detective, is accused of obtaining money by deception. The prosecution allege that he exaggerated his expense claims by over two hundred pounds, possibly to pay a major informer called Harry after his superior officers refused to authorise payment. Clegg argues that he has been unfairly accused by his colleagues and is merely guilty of making genuine errors, not being preoccupied with paperwork like some of them.

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Robert Denton, a clerical officer at a weapons research establishment, stands charged with copying a secret document about a missile and then selling the information to the Soviet Union. The prosecution offer unusual proof that he copied the document and argue that he sold the information for £5000 to try to solve his major financial difficulties. Denton denies the charges and insists he would never betray his country.

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Following an anonymous tip-off Lillian White was found in possession of stolen watches and jewellery, an offence for which she was later sent to prison. However she was also was in the care of recently-qualified probation officer Trevor Creswell whom she accused of helping her to conceal the items. The Prosecution claim he developed an intimate and improper relationship with her; he argues he was guilty of nothing more than trying to help a very troubled client who has now made false accusations out of spite.

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The body of Joseph Meadows, a rich, reclusive, hypochondriac businessman, is found inside a deep-freeze cabinet in a cellar at his home. However this was no ordinary cellar but kitted out as a surgical ward under the charge of Hungarian refugee Dr. Karoly Sebes with whom he shared the house. The prosecution assert that Dr. Sebes murdered Meadows in a spurious cryogenic experiment. However the defence claim that Sebes is innocent - his technique was working and his patient only died when a police officer opened the cabinet and ruined any chance of success.

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Anthony Smith and Jim Webb are accused of various offences relating to an incident when they picketed the premises of the True Loaf bakery where they were on strike. The prosecution allege that they obstructed and then intimidated lorry driver Ronald Bates who was attempting to deliver flour. A police officer was called and it is also alleged they assaulted him. However both defendants proclaim their innocence. They argue that Bates - with whom they used to work - used violence against them and is a committed anti-unionist and racist who was trying to break their ...

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Olivia Bessemer, a seventy three year old woman, is accused of poisoning her step-niece Carmel with the intent of harming her. The prosecution allege that Miss Bessemer disapproved of Carmel, a Roman Catholic divorcee who had married her nephew with whom she lived and had raised from childhood after his parents died. The defence case is that Miss Bessemer did buy some poison but it was used to dose meat thrown to some noisy dogs next door which had long been causing a nuisance. Some of this poison accidentally contaminated food eaten by Carmel.

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Leonard Tyler (Paul Freeman) is accused of trespassing on land belonging to former girlfriend Mary Chatham (Alison Steadman). Tyler claims that Chatham signed a deed entitling him to the land - Chatham alleges that she was duped into signing..... Featuring William Mervyn as The Judge, Charles Keating and Jonathan Elsom as Counsel; and Peter Childs, Neil Hallett and Belinda Carroll as witnesses.

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On Valentine's Day in 1956 a young woman and alleged witch - Olive Rudy - was found dead in a field, the victim of an apparent ritual murder. The following year farmer's daughter Betty Tring, her bitter rival for the love of Tom Strafford, was acquitted of the offence. Now in 1974 Tom Strafford has returned from the USA and finds himself on trial for murder. He argues he is the victim of mistaken identity and merely found the body at the scene.

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Teacher Thomas Frears is accused of assaulting Jonathan Ashe, one of his students. Frears does not deny hitting the boy but pleads not guilty on the grounds of automatism, claiming to have suffered a blackout at the time.

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MI6 interpreter Kenneth Gould stands accused of passing secrets onto the KGB, in one instance resulting in the deaths of two British agents. The evidence of a Soviet defector is vital to the prosecution case but the defence argue that this man is in fact still working for the KGB and is an unreliable witness. The prosecution also assert that Gould, a man of working class origins, is a communist sympathiser but he insists he has no political allegiance and is the victim of dark forces in British intelligence.

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Colonel John Egerton was jailed in India for gun-running and later dismissed from the army following a court martial. He alleged though in an article for the Sunday Star newspaper that he was innocent and was working for British intelligence who then disowned him when he was caught. He specifically accused Colonel Morland of lying in court about his mission and now Morland is suing Egerton for libel. Egerton says he is the victim of a conspiracy of silence with the intelligence agencies abandoning him but Morland and his counterparts insist that Egerton has invented ...

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Twenty year old Mary Hepple offers astrological readings under the name of "Miss Virgo". Although she works from a basement flat she is paying rent of £50 per week, far above the standard for similar properties. The prosecution claim that her "business" is nothing but a cover for prostitution. However it is not Mrs. Hepple who is on trial but her landlord Dr. Paul Napier. They argue that he is living off her immoral earnings. However both she and Dr. Napier deny any breach of the law. The defence assert that although she has had sex with some clients she is a bona ...

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An old tramp is accused of stealing a wallet, but has he been set up by the public-school headmaster?

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Emma Lakeland stands accused of smuggling Grigori Petrov, a suspected terrorist, from France into Britain. The prosecution allege that she sympathised with his activities, was his lover and willingly helped him escape from the French authorities, picking him up at sea and taking him back to her home in Fulchester. Both her father and a former friend - who had been Petrov's lover before her - testify for the prosecution. However she argues he physically attacked her, came to Britain of his own accord and then forced her to harbour him.

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Tipskill Manor, a large derelict, abandoned house burned down while retired teacher Millicent Conway watched on. At the scene Miss Conway, who once worked at the Manor, appeared to confess to a police officer that she set fire to the house. An empty can of paraffin was found at the scene and she had also made a purchase of paraffin from a local shop even though she had never done so before and owned no paraffin heater. However Miss Conway now denies the offence. The defence argue that there is no proof that she started the fire or that the fuel found by the house even...

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Frederick Barker stands accused of assaulting his neighbour Jimmy Dean and destroying his racing pigeons. Barker had shortly before applied to lodge with Dean but been turned down because he was not a local man. He later found lodging with Dean's neighbour Madge Brown but the prosecution claim he bore a resentment which boiled over into the alleged offences. Barker denies he committed either attack but the case is unusual in two regards: Barker had not long before been released from prison after a long sentence for killing his wife and her lover; he is also being ...

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Mrs. Constance Bell was shocked to read in a magazine that a ming vase had sold at auction for £95 000 - shocked because she argues this vase was family property bequeathed by her late mother and which she says had been sold without permission. In a civil case she is now suing her brothers Albert and Peter and antiques dealer Nigel Greatorex whom she says improperly sold the item. The defendants deny her accusations, asserting that the vase had been legally passed on to them and it was their right to sell.

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