Renegades: A New Dawn

by Primal WolfBlood

In Part 3 of The Renegade Chronicles, follow the Renegades as they try and recover from the shocking end to The Renegade Revolution, and continue their lives with more action and suspense than ever before, as they learn who the true enemies are, and finally confront Segolia once and for all, to end their clash with each other.

50. Trial of the Century, Part 2

Renegades: A New Dawn

Chapter L(50): Trial of the Century, Part 2

Continued from Chapter IL

After Rio's collapse, the court was, understandably, adjourned for the day. Around 11pm, Phil reunited with the rest of the group to break the news. 'So is she ok' a frightened Blair asked. 'She'll be fine. I've spoken with the doctors, they think Rio's had a small heart attack.'Heart Attack? She's only 20!' 'She's got some kind of bug, probably Bronchitis, and that combined with the severe stress of testifying was a little bit too much.'

'But she'll be ok… right?' He smiled and nodded. 'They want to keep her in overnight, just in case there's any other issues, but all being well they'll discharge her tomorrow.' As he was explaining this, Julius passed them in a chauffeured car, and when he saw them, he ordered the car to stop and got out. 'Mr. Robinson, how is Ms. Kastle?' 'She'll be fine, she had a minor heart attack.'

'I hope it wasn't my questioning.' 'No, they think she's got Bronchitis, she'll be fine.' 'I just want you to know that when I'm questioning like that' 'You're doing your job, I get it. You've been landed with an impossible job, and you're just trying to find a way to pull it off. At the end of the day, justice will be done.' 'I hope so too, regardless of the result. I should go, the last thing we need is rumours spreading like wildfire.' 'Exactly.'

As he left, Blair was annoyed. 'Why you being so nice to the enemy?' 'He isn't the enemy, James is. He is just doing his job. Nobody forced him to come and ask how Rio was.' 'Only 'cause of a guilty conscience.' 'Regardless of the reasons, credit him for his actions. The moment James is found guilty, Julius will drop him like a stone. Now you try and get some sleep.'

Day 3

As everyone filed into the courtroom, the press followed them relentlessly, asking about the events of the previous day, and about Julius. This was until Phil gave them their answer. 'To answer your questions, 1: Rio is in hospital being treated for a viral infection, she stayed in hospital overnight as a precaution due to her known health issues, but is expecting to be released some time today. I spoke to her less than half an hour ago, she is in high spirits and feels great. 2: Mr. Long and myself briefly spoke last night, as he wanted to know how Rio was. I hold no ill will towards him as he is doing his job.'

He then received a phone call, and immediately disappeared inside. 'Maddy, I told you last night, it's illegal to film an active court case without permission.' 'Rio just called - something about a heart attack?' 'Yeah, she had a small heart attack' 'How do you have a "small" heart attack?' 'The doctors think her heart went haywire for about a minute. She'll be absolutely fine.' 'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I didn't get chance, you were quite angry on the phone last night. And sweary - have you started' 'No, I haven't touched a drop in three weeks.' 'Of course, sorry.' 'You don't need to worry about me falling off the wagon, it ain't happening.' 'I know, I don't know why I said it. But yeah, she's going to be fine.' 'What happened exactly?' 'She just seemed to faint after her testimony, she was throwing up earlier in the day but insisted she was fine.'

'And you took her word for it.' 'I didn't take her word for anything, Frances cleared her. I already back in there.' 'Which hospital is she in?' 'Royal Infirmary.' 'Thanks, I'll go and visit her later. I'll let you go now, let you go in.' 'Thanks. I'll speak to you later.' 'Sure, if I don't answer I'm with idiot.' 'Please be nice to her.' 'Oh I will be, you can count on that.' As he came off the phone, he shook his head. 'That bloody girl.'

20 minutes later, they still hadn't been invited in. So Hannah snuck her head around the door, and found the foreman. 'Excuse me, do you know what's taking so long?' 'Yeah, your legal counsel hasn't come in yet.' 'That's strange.' 'You're telling me, she's been here for over an hour, but I haven't seen her since she went to one of the offices. '

Barely 10 minutes later, they had their answer, as a clearly flustered-looking Frances came up to them. 'Frances, not to be a karen or anything, but you're nearly an hour late.' She didn't seem quite herself though - she looked stressed and worried, a far cry from the counsel who had started the trial. 'You look terrible.' 'Sorry, we won't be long. Hannah, I really need a word with you in private.' She seemed taken aback by this, but politely agreed anyway, while the foreman just raised his arms.

Nearby, Hannah and Frances were talking. 'Has something happened?' 'Not yet. Listen, I received some more evidence yesterday.' 'The stuff from Niall? Phil already told me.' 'Yeah, he's not seen the files. I need to warn you because I'm presenting them later today. Some of the images are…' 'Graphic?' 'That's… putting it mildly. I need to tell you, James has over 70 pictures of you on his hard drive.'

This disturbed Hannah. 'Of… me?' 'Yes. And I need to warn you about them, some of them… well they're extremely graphic. I won't show them without your consent.' Immediately, Hannah toughened up. 'Show them. Whatever you need to do to get this fucking creep locked up.' 'Thank you. I can assure you that all the images will be securely disposed of after the trial.' 'I'm glad to hear it.'

Going back in, Rhydian was just taking the oath. 'I swear on almighty god to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.' 'So Mr. Morris, I believe you are a past associate of Mr. Birchall?' 'Yes, we were associated for a couple of months around the end of last year.' 'How would you describe Mr. Birchall?' He paused for a moment, before formulating a reply. 'James is unstable. He'll seem perfectly fine and normal and regular, but then there's always the threat that he'll just completely turn.'

'Turn how, would you say?' 'He'll get completely irrationally angry, or he'll attack someone, or he'll start ranting about Phil, I never got it at first, until I spent time with him. Then I grew to realise that James is obsessed.' 'You mean to say he is obsessed with Mrs. Robinson-Cummings?' 'Not her specifically, she's just the nearest target. He has this weird masculinity complex.'

He then stared straight at James, and spoke. 'He seems to feel this need to dominate women, he's a scary guy, because he objectifies women like nobody I've ever met. There was this time that he saw a woman wearing a crop top and a pair of shorts, and then he spent, probably a good hour, talking about how she had "great features", he wanted to take her for a "test drive", then "take her back to the dealer", there were other examples of how he thought but I can't think of them. The point is that he treats women like objects, like toys. The amount of times he'd talk about "owning" Hannah like she's some kind of possession.'

'Mr. Morris, may I ask now what your relationship is like with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson-Cummings?' He gave them a death stare, and then replied saying 'I can't stand them, but they didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve what he tried to do to them. What he did do to them.' 'Were you an active witness to what occurred on the 30th October 2016?' 'If you mean the shooting, no. But I know plenty about it from him boasting about it.'

'Would you be able to share with the court what you know then?' 'The first I knew of it was hearing about it on television, it was probably about 4am on the 2nd November, I don't watch the news much but I think I was having some trouble sleeping about this time. So I saw it on the news, Hannah was shot dead and Rio was critical.' 'And you had no idea at this time - James hadn't contacted you?'

'James doesn't even have my contact details. I first saw him a few days later, we had an event in Morocco, and there was this moment I knew, they flashed up something about the case on the news over there, and you just saw his eyes light up, there was this perverted pride he had in what had happened. So… I asked him, and, and I'll never forget the way he responded. He turned around, and he had this completely, it was sort of like a cold look, but at the same time he looked proud, it… was almost like he felt he'd done god's work or something,'

'Did Mr. Birchall ever admit anything to you verbally?' 'Yes. He told me that he'd gone round there with "Little Betty Blue" and "blown her brains out". He didn't say her name, but I specifically asked him about Hannah when he said that. And then at the 10 bell salute later on, he was making fun of what happened.' Frances then turned to the jury, as the television was loaded up again.

'I present to the jury at this time Exhibit 21c: footage of the 10 bell salute that Mr. Morris just mentioned. This was on the 2nd November in Casablanca, Morocco.' As the footage played of the interrupted tribute, Hannah started muttering to herself. 'It's amazing what you miss when you're dead.' Something else caught her eye though, that wasn't what James was saying or doing. 'Michael… he was smiling? He thought I was dead and he was smiling? Bastard!'

As the video ceased playing, the testimony continued. 'And James continued to boast about this?' 'Not just that, everything. He's a sick man, actually I would take that back because a "man" has morals. He's only guided by sheer jealousy. I heard him talk about some of his sick fantasies, this idea that Hannah would run away to be with him, and she'd be his live-in maid.'

'And he said this to you?' 'Not in those words, I forget how he worded it but that was the impression.' 'That he wanted Hannah to be some kind of servant?' 'Yes, he mentioned a few times that he had lingerie picked out specifically for her, and she'd come over and get straight in it, and there was some other things that I really don't feel comfortable repeating in front of the court.'

'He also had some images of her, well I know he had some, I think he probably had a lot that I never saw.' Having seen the images that Niall had sent over, Frances was keen to press this point. 'What kind of images?' 'There's one that sticks with me, it's of her wearing lingerie, sort of like a camo print bra and underwear, she had what looked to be a bottle of some kind of ointment in her hand, she was rubbing it over herself, but he'd replaced her hands with his, it was really f*cking creepy. There were a few others of her wearing crop tops and the like, I think there was one of her asleep. He's completely messed up.' With a slight grin, Frances sat back down. 'No more questions Your Honour.'

Julius then took up the mantle. 'Mr. Morris, thank you for your testimony. Would you like to begin by telling the jury why you're really testifying?' Rhydian smiled and laughed to himself. 'You really think you're going to get him off just because I'm in court in a few days? There's a bit of a difference between literally shooting someone, and giving your girlfriend some Weed.' 'Mr. Morris, I do believe that being in court on charges of Possession with Intent to Supply is more than just giving a friend a small amount of drugs. Were you planning on mentioning that you're here as part of a plea bargain?'

'Listen, I'm sticking my neck on the line here by testifying against a lunatic who shoots people indiscriminately. I think the least I could ask for is my charges being downgraded to something that's more truthful.' 'So would it not be accurate to suggest that it is in your best interests to be making these claims about Mr. Birchall?' 'Well they never told me what to say, our deal had nothing to do with him being convicted, I only said I'd testify. If I didn't think he was a dangerous monster who needed locking up, I wouldn't be saying all these things about his images and sh*t.'

A decree then came from the judge herself. 'Mr. Long, I would like to remind you that Mr. Morris is not on trial, at least not here or now. And Mr. Morris, I would like to request that you try and keep your swearing to a minimum, the purpose of a trial is to present the facts of a given case to the jury.' After a short delay, Julius returned to the inquiry. 'So Mr. Morris, you talk about these "images". Would you by happenchance have any evidence of these photos?'

'Listen, it's bad enough that I had to see them, never mind having them myself. Also if I had them, you'd just turn around and accuse me of taking them. I know what you're all like, you'll lie, cheat, steal, beg and borrow until you get what you want, until somebody cracks. You specialise in torturing people mentally.' Rhydian's rant was quickly interrupted by the judge. 'Mr. Morris, I must request that you refrain from verbally attacking Mr. Long, or in fact the legal profession as a whole. Please try and keep your testimony to the case.'

'I must ask the question Mr. Morris - why is it that you were associating with Mr. Birchall, a man who you once described to police as "a creepy nutjob from the moment I first laid eyes on him, a sadistic, cold blooded killer" in the first place? Is this really the company that you aim to keep?' 'Not normally, but I started to associate with him because we both had issues with Phil and Hannah, and the Renegades.'

'Ah this organisation that has been mentioned so many times. A hostel I believe, or at least akin?' 'That's what they call it at least.' 'Why, what do you call it?' 'It's this weird science experiment, girls, it's invariably girls, they go in there, and then when they come out, I don't know, there's something different about them. They just aren't themselves anymore, almost like they're being stripped of free will or something like that, they just don't look right. It's a weird ass place, and I know that because they did that to Maddy, and they turned her against me. And she's only just starting to recover.'

Frances then stood back up. 'Mr. Morris, would you like to tell us what you saw the presumably numerous times you were in the headquarters?' 'I've not been in there, shortly after going in there Maddy broke up with me because of them' 'So you're telling me that you've inferred all this about them from the fact that a woman who you supplied with drugs decided she was better off not being with you? For all you know this headquarters could be a drug rehabilitation centre.'

By this time the frustrated judge had heard enough. 'Order!' As everyone stood to attention, the judge brought a ruling down. 'This is a last warning to all three of you - please can we keep the testimony to the current case? The issues regarding Mr. Morris' drug supplying will be settled in his trial. Until then, please try and focus on the case at hand, which is that of Mr. Birchall.' Frances nodded at the decree. 'Apologies Your Honour, I am just trying to ensure that Mr. Morris provides us with facts, not a ludicrous fanfiction story.'

Surprisingly, Julius then sat down. 'No more questions Your Honour.' This left Frances to clarify a couple more things. 'Mr. Morris, are you trying to protect Mr. Birchall?' 'How do you mean?' 'Well you have seen all these incriminating photos, yet you can only recall a handful, you allied with him seemingly at random because you both disliked two specific people, even though you apparently thought he was a psychopath, and you said in your statement to police that he "seemed rather reasonable for a while". What is your end game here?'

'Who said there is one? I've been told to give an honest testimony.' 'This doesn't seem like an "honest" testimony though - this seems like a testimony where you continually change your mind, change direction, change the impression you're giving. Forgive me for thinking that you're hiding something which brings your testimony together. Because right now you're giving me two different stories, almost like neither of them are true but you couldn't decide which falsehood to give to us.'

'I don't have an ulterior motive, I was asked to provide an honest testimony. And that honest testimony IS that James Birchall is a murderous psychopath, who admitted shooting a pregnant woman dead to me, and has disgusting images of her, but I can't tell you what they are because I want to be sick thinking about them, but the woman he shot is a seductive mistress who pushes buttons and used my girlfriend for some sick scientific experiment.' Satisfied on multiple counts, she sat down. 'No more questions Your Honour.'

As Rhydian left, he stared daggers at Phil and Hannah, with him reciprocating, although she didn't move a muscle the entire time. 'Right, I feel it a good time to bring in the Defence's next witness' Frances then stood back up. 'Before you do, I request a short recess for a toilet break.' 'Granted Ms. Bishop, I will give you 20 minutes to do whatever you need to.' Frances smiled, and she left the courtroom, along with Hannah and Blair, the latter needing to cool down after getting intensely angry about Rhydian's evidence.

As they left the room, they were very surprised to see Rio stood, talking to Calley. 'So I'm like "Oh I was told you were dead", and she goes "Dead? We moved back to Iran, he knows all this, he was supposed to try and explain to you". That's why we don't speak anymore. Well that and the fact he's a controlling nightmare.' Calley then looked up, and saw Blair stood behind Rio, arms folded. 'Err you might wanna look round.'

As Rio turned, she saw Blair there. 'Hey B, what's up?' 'What happened to being in hospital after a heart attack?' 'Oh they released me, it's fine. Said there's nothing significantly wrong with me, but they've given me some medication to slow down my heart rate just in case, it's literally a 7 day course. Look, I got a discharge note and everything.' 'And you were planning on telling us you were back when exactly?'

'Well I couldn't phone you, I was only discharged at 10:05, and you would have been in there, so I thought I'd just meet you here. I couldn't just sit back at base doing nothing, I need to be here.' Rolling her eyes and groaning, Blair relented. 'I hope you know I'm trying to look after you.' 'And I hope you know that I can look after myself, you don't need to do it all the time.' 'Can you blame me for being overprotective?'

'No, but you need to focus on yourself. Which is why… I booked you tickets to this.' She then passed a tablet over to Blair. 'Newcastle Pride? You didn't have to' 'Yes, I did. Because you're awful at thinking about yourself, and you need to get to know people other than me and Jade. Being joined at the hip does none of us any good, and… I dunno, I just think' 'I get it Ri, I'm mothering you. I'm trying not to, I am, I just want to look after you.' 'Well how about you focus on looking after the runt instead?' 'Deal.'

Meanwhile, near the toilets, Frances got straight on the phone from the courtroom. 'I did what you asked me to Maddy.' 'Squirming?' 'Like hell. Almost got himself kicked out of court.' 'You bring up the drugs?' 'Yep.' 'Good girl.' 'He still played ball. Described James as a Psychopath, said he had fantasies, I think the jury were disturbed. And I've got some new golden evidence - pictures of his fantasies. Your Mum cleared them, but she's not going to believe what she sees.'

'As long as it gets him convicted.' 'Once the jury see what I've seen, spending his life behind bars will be the least of his worries. He's going to have a target painted on him a mile high.' 'Well said.' 'So do we have a deal now?' 'You know we do. I'll see you on the last day, you'll know exactly what's going on then.' 'Understood.' 'For now, just get him convicted. Oh, and if you see my darling ex, feel free to stick your leg out in front of him.' 'I'd do more if I could.'

In the courtroom, local resident Jessie Andrews had been called to the witness stand. 'So Mrs. Andrew, can you tell us where you live?' 'Yes, I live on Dash Road in North Shields, around 10 minutes' walk away from where the shooting took place.' 'I understand that you were at your home at the time of the incident?' 'I was, I'd just got back from Nursery not long before dropping my daughter off.'

'Could you give us an account of what you saw or heard?' 'Yeah, it was about 11:40' 'In the morning?' 'Yes, 11:40am, as I say I'd not long been back at home, my daughter does half days at nurseries but I was dropping her off early because they have a little lunch club there. So I was just at home, I was just warming up some soup for my lunch, when I heard some gunshots.' 'How many gunshots did you hear?'

'I don't know… three, maybe four? It was so loud I thought it was on my road, I just ducked for cover after the first shot. They were over the course of about five or six minutes, I think, I wasn't really checking.' 'So what happened next?' 'Well my fiance, Ryan, he works as a freelance plumber, and when he heard the gunshots he raced back, told me it was at the complex down near the Chirton industrial estate. He said when he was parking up, he saw someone running into a dark green Honda hatchback, and it drove off at super high speed.'

'Do you know where this car was?' 'Yeah, it was in the local supermarket car park, I remember it had parked up there about half 6 in the morning, which I thought it was weird because, like it's not a big supermarket like, and he was driving so oddly.' 'Odd how exactly?' 'You know, just that he parked up super quick, and he just slammed the door and walked off towards the estate. He wasn't rushing or anything, he just… he looked like he was on a mission.'

'Now I would like to point out at this point that Ms. Andrews and her now husband Mr. Ryan Wallace were both called into a special identity parade to see if Mr. Birchall was the person they saw that morning. This was not filmed, but the police report states that Mr. Wallace was able to confidently identify Mr. Birchall within around three minutes, while Ms. Andrews identified him eventually, but with the qualifier that she didn't see his face very well and made an identification based on other features.'

Julius then had another question. 'Ms. Andrews, would you be able to confirm what Mr. Birchall was wearing that morning?' After several minutes of thinking, she came up with a somewhat vague answer. 'Well I remember he was wearing a stone grey jacket, like some kind of tracksuit jacket, I remember it looked unusual because it had a bright red zip. Other than that, I remember some jeans, but I wouldn't be able to tell you anything notable about them, they were just your normal kind of jeans.'

'Would you be able to tell us anything else that he was wearing? Or maybe any kind of distinctive walk?' 'Well… there was one thing I remember was strange - he took a bag with him' 'What was this bag like?' 'It was just a holdall, a dark blue holdall, he kept going to pick it up with his right arm, but then instead used his left arm to lift it. It didn't look heavy at all, the zip was slightly open and it wasn't bulging, there didn't look to be things all the way to the top.' 'Did he look any different when he returned?' 'I didn't see him when he returned.'

Frances then intervened again. 'I would like to call upon Exhibit 17e: A 3D image created by the forensic team at Greater Manchester Police, based on descriptions from Mr. Wallace.' The image was that of a man, similar in height to James, slightly spiked black hair, wearing a tracksuit just like the one that had been described. The only major differing factor to James was the lack of any notable facial features, owing to the lack of any close-up sighting.

Seeing this, Julius appeared confident that the photofit was a help to the defence's case. 'No more questions Your Honour.' Eventually, Frances too stood down. 'No more questions from here either.' 'Thank you for coming Ms. Andrews, you are now dismissed.' She quickly left the courtroom, and the judge confirmed the plan for the next day. 'That will do for the day. We will reconvene at 9:30am tomorrow.'

As they left the courtroom, Frances pulled Hannah over again. 'Just to warn you in advance, Damien is going to be appearing tomorrow.' 'So they released him?' 'No, he's been deported from Australia, and is going to be remanded in custody until he can be tried for his crimes. He will be brought straight to the court, there will be armed officers with him the entire time, and he will be taken straight back afterwards. You do not need to be here if you don't want to be, I am not anticipating you being called on to testify tomorrow'

Hannah's answer was clear from the start though. 'I need to see him. I'm going to be here because I want to see him restrained, and because I promised I'd be here from start to finish. I refuse to be scared of them anymore.' 'Well in that case I'll see you tomorrow.' 'Absolutely.' As they split, Hannah got her phone out. 'Hey Megan, just thought you'd like to know that he'll be here tomorrow.' 'You ok if I come?' 'Who am I to stop you? We'll be at the court for 9:15, if you get there before us, go straight in the court and ask for Frances Bishop. If the papps collar you'

'If they collar me, I'll tell them to get out of the way or I'll kick their heads clean off.' 'That's my girl.' 'Any idea when he's up?' 'Not a clue. Just been told it's going to be tomorrow.' 'And then you're up the day after?' 'Presume so.' 'Well I'll be there both days, no way are you doing this on your own. Is Allyx with you?' 'No, but she will be tomorrow.' 'How's she doing after… well… you know.'

'Yeah she's doing good, we couldn't entirely recover her memory so her long term memory's a little vague, but other than that she's pretty normal. But you'll see tomorrow anyway. Which reminds me - how ARE you getting here?' 'Getting on the train from Euston at 5:15, then going to walk from Piccadilly station.' 'Well let me know when you're on the train' 'I will do, but it'll be fine. Right I'm going, but I'll see you tomorrow.' 'Ok Meggy Moo.' Cackling laughter then followed over the phone. 'You're so cringe!' 'As I should be. What are older sisters for if not for embarrassing you?' 'True. Anyway, see ya.' 'Bye.'

Day 4

As the group arrived at the courtroom for another day, they saw Meghan with the press. But far from being intimidated, she was embracing it. 'All you need to know is I am a friend of Hannah's, and that I'm here to see James Birchall get his just desserts. And when he does, I'm going to be so happy, because I'll know that the streets of this country are that bit safer. Now if you don't mind, I could do with you moving, otherwise I'll piss over all of you.'

This warning was enough for the press to part to either side, and as they did, everyone else piled in, giving the press no opportunity to ask questions. Getting in there, Blair slammed the door and leant on it for a moment. 'God I hate doing this. It's like a bloody circus out there.' 'No kidding. Hey Megan, don't you need the toilet?' She just smiled at her sister. 'No, just went at the train station. That was just a way to get them out of the way. To be honest I thought I should have said I'd throw up, but they moved quick enough anyway I guess. So… where's Allyx?'

'Maddy's driving her down here, but because they set off late, they got stuck in a tailback. They'll only be a few minutes.' Just as she said that, Allyx walked in, hair fastened in a ponytail with multiple hair ties, not dissimilar to the day she was captured. 'Maddy not coming in then?' 'No, she insisted on dropping me off at the Central Library, I think she just didn't want to see anyone.'

Seeing Meghan, she made a beeline for her. 'Hey Megs, I wanted to apologise for all the stuff I put you through while I was under James' control' 'I literally don't care about any of that, as long as you're alright now.' 'Yeah, my long term memory's sort of foggy sometimes, but other than that I'm great. Oh, by the way, Maddy said you're more than welcome to stay at the base anytime you want to be a bit closer to Hannah.' 'Thanks, I do appreciate it.' Hannah then slipped Allyx a £10 note. 'No milk, one sugar.' 'You want anything Megs?' 'If they do tea here I'll have one of those, just a lil' milk.'

Allyx then walked off to get drinks, leading to Meghan asking an obvious question. 'So is she… you know… entranced?' 'Yes and no. She is under a pretty heavy one, but that was mainly to clear whatever James did to her. When we cleared her fog if you will, she asked Phil to put her under a trance of some kind, just to stop that happening again.' 'But the way she's talking' 'It's Allyx, nothing else. It's our sister Allyx, but a more responsible version. You see, this power that we have, this ability, it can be used for good, it can make things better.'

'It's not just about causing destruction.' 'No. We've literally prevented an entire goddamn intergalactic war with it, sometimes you've just gotta look at the bigger picture. Allyx is safe, and if anything she's better than she had been for ages. Because she's now seen what happens when she's not careful about shit.' 'Where does she even live?' 'Base. We offered to let her live with us, but she insisted that she should let us be alone.'

20 minutes later, in the courtroom

Everyone filed in, today in an orderly fashion, and on time. After the judge called for order, she nodded to Frances, who stood up, eyes focused squarely on the prize. 'I call my next witness - Firearms and Ballistics expert, Dr. Gemma P. Anderson.' A young woman, no older than 30, walked into the court, her caramel hair wrapped tight, wearing the slightest hint of eyeshadow. 'I solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that my evidence today will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.'

'So Dr. Anderson, could you tell us a little bit about your work?' In her strong Midlands accent, she replied. 'Yes, I have been working in Ballistics for around six years now, and what we do is we analyse bullets, weapons, wounds and clothing to determine things like whether a specific weapon was used, where an individual could have been shot from, and whether a particular piece of clothing was used during a shooting.'

'Now I understand you had access to full images of gunshot wounds?' 'Yes, we were provided by the Police with various scans and images of both victims, as well as information about where the shootings took place.' 'Firstly, would you be able to talk us through Mrs. Robinson-Cummings' injuries?' The doctor dragged up a diagram of a basic human body. 'So Mrs. Robinson-Cummings was wounded by a single bullet, fired from a 64 degree angle, so a very steep angle. It would have flown straight from the gun, and pierced the side of the carotid artery, almost in a sideswipe kind of motion, around 80% of the bullet would have flown past, but from there it connected with the artery, and due to the velocity, it pierced straight through the side of the artery, causing massive bleeding.'

'What does this tell you about the shooter?' 'It appears that the shooter was likely around 400-450m away from the victim, and he would likely have had chance to choose his angle of approach. It is therefore possible that the shooter was there significantly before the victim was.' 'What kind of person would you say the shooter was?' 'Well they certainly did this deliberately, there is no chance of this being accidental considering the angle of approach. I find it likely that this shooter was either a very experienced marksman, or simply had waited for a significant amount of time, got impatient, and then got a lucky shot off from where they had been waiting.'

'Do you think there is any possibility that this was a warning shot?' 'I find it improbable, a waring shot would usually be significantly higher, pointing directly towards the sky. When shooting a gun, there is only so inaccurate you can be, because the confined space the bullet is in means that it is directed in quite a straight line. Now I understand that it was quite a windy day with a 33mph crosswind towards the East, so I think it is possible that they were aiming towards the front of the neck or the bottom of the mandible, and the wind helped guide the bullet somewhat off target.'

'And now we come to Ms. Kastle.' 'Yes, Ms. Kastle was shot two times. The first time, she was shot in the upper leg, in what we would call the Adductor Longus. This on its own would make escaping an individual with a gun very difficult, as even if you are able to stand on it, which would be possible despite the incredible amount of pain you would be in from it, you would still likely to be unable to escape at any kind of speed, due to the damage to your tendon and any ligaments it has compromised along the way.'

'However that isn't where it ends, because from the reports I read, it appears that Ms. Kastle went into circulatory shock afterwards. This in this case presented itself as a severe degree of confusion, as Ms. Kastle has suggested that she had no idea where she was, nor did she recognise the severity of her situation. It is likely that she was conscious during this, but due to the shock, she was unable to muster any form of cohesive response.'

'Then she was picked up, and shot again. This second bullet was shot directly into the back of Ms. Kastle's skull, with the front of the barrel either being pressed against the back of the skull, or in very close order to it, no more than 2-3mm away. It is what we call "the executioner's shot", because it is often used in execution-style killings; that is, incidents where the killer is attempting to ensure the death of the victim.'

'Because of this, I can infer that this was very clearly deliberate, but with the what we know about the incident, I don't believe that her attempted murder was a premeditated crime; rather, I believe she got in the way by being shot in the leg, and then in an act of rage, he dragged her up, either by her hair or maybe by her clothing, and made a point of shooting her point-blank.' 'Thank you Dr. Anderson.'

'There is one more thing I would like to point out about Ms. Kastle's injuries however.' 'Of course.' 'There is a certain pattern of gunpowder left when a shooting such as this takes place, as some gunpowder inevitably leaves the gun when discharged. However you will see that the shape of the burst is not entirely circular - it juts out in what you could call an East South East direction.'

'What does this suggest?' 'It suggests that the shooter's hand may have been shaking when they pulled the trigger.' 'Could this have been caused by the weather?' 'It could perhaps have been caused by the weather, but it could also be caused by nerves, I think it is likely that the shooter was an inexperienced shooter, and at the last moment they may have had some kind of nerves or second thoughts regarding shooting, and this hesitation lead to some kind of hand movement while shooting.'

'So what you're saying is that their hand was shaking?' 'Correct. There was some kind of trembling in the hand when they pulled the trigger, which would in turn, likely explain the peculiar movements of the bullet in the brain.' 'Now I understand you got to review the bullets?' 'Obviously the bullet that Ms. Kastle was shot in the head with was unrecoverable, I believe the jury are already aware of the reasons. As for the other two bullets, both were analysed and found to have come from the same weapon - a Glock 19.'

'The Glock 19 is quite a common handgun, cheap and cheerful in the gun world.' 'I would like to confirm for the purposes of the jury that this is the exact type of gun that the defendant has a licence for, and fits the description that Mr. Garcia provided for us.' 'However, I was unable to definitively match it to any particular gun.' 'Would you care to explain?' 'Certainly. Every gun is unique - it has a slightly unique design or some kind of imperfection in the barrel itself. This means that if you have a gun, you can definitively match any bullet that comes out of a gun to the gun itself, as it will have an imperfection carved into it upon shooting.'

'Now in this case, we do not have the weapon that is alleged to have been used. If we had have been presented with a weapon, we would then be able to tell you for certain if the bullets came from that particular firearm, but due to the lack of a weapon, there is no way of knowing.' Satisfied with the responses, Frances stood down. 'No more questions Your Honour.' This allowed Julius to come in.

'Dr. Anderson, thank you for taking time out of your doubtless busy schedule. I just want to query one thing - you were saying that the shooter had likely been there for some time?' 'Yes, we generally find that individuals who unleash shots like the shooter in this case did have been lining their shot up for a period of time. Most likely, they arrived significantly before the incident, and practised their aim. That is what we often see in cases like this.' Julius then stood down, before he deepened his client's hole. 'No more questions Your Honour.'

Frances then took the unusual move of talking directly to James. 'Mr. Birchall, I understand that your gun that you own was stolen, am I correct in saying that?' James nodded to Julius, who responded. 'That is correct.' 'With respect to my learned friend, I was speaking to Mr. Birchall, not to him. Now Mr. Birchall, am i the only person who finds it convenient that the last time your personal gun, one that fits the description of the weapon used, the last time that was seen was the day before the shooting, and between that and Police coming to take it as evidence a few weeks later, between those times your gun, that you apparently keep locked up, just happened to be stolen, yet there is no evidence of any forced entry nor any sign of the cabinet in question being damaged in any way.'

'What are you trying to suggest Ms. Bishop?' 'I am suggesting nothing - rather, I am simply asking Mr. Birchall where his gun is? It is my assertion that Mr. Birchall took his gun all the way to North Shields, shot Mrs. Robinson-Cummings, and then shot Ms. Kastle, before running away. At some time on the way home, Mr. Birchall realised he still had the gun with him, and it would have fingerprint and ballistics evidence. So, he disposes of the gun, maybe he throws it in a bin somewhere, maybe he waits until he gets home and then melts it down, maybe he even sells it on to someone completely unwitting. Then he invents a story about it being stolen, to explain why it's no longer there.'

Julius then stood. 'Objection Your Honour.' 'Objection overruled - Ms. Bishop is more than within her rights to question Mr. Birchall's version of events, such is the entire purpose of the trial.' 'So Mr. Birchall, why don't you tell us what really happened to your gun?' He then stood up and spoke for the first time in the trial. 'It was stolen. I got home from an event one time, and it had gone.'

'But there were no signs of forced entry?' 'None.' 'It rather begs the question of how they entered then. You see, people are not ghosts - they can't just walk through walls.' 'I must have left one of the windows open.' 'Not good enough Mr. Birchall. Exhibit 31a is a view of your apartment. And I must say, none of these windows look nearly big enough for a human to go through. So unless it was stolen by an actual cat, I can't possibly see how your story could possibly be true.' Seeing James get visibly frustrated, Julius called a halt to proceedings. 'Your Honour, I would like to call a recess so I can speak with my client.' The judge looked over at Frances, who nodded back. 'I call a 30 minute recess, and then we will move on to the Defence's next character witness - a Damien Alexander Walsh. Court is adjourned.'

Outside the courtroom, Meghan was impressed. 'You're awesome… sorry, what do I call you again?' 'Just call me Frances, it's nice to finally meet you and Allyx.' 'Did my sister tell you much about us?' 'Not really, we generally only talk business. She did mention that you were in Australia though.' 'Yeah, after what happened with Mum, I was adopted away, and we ended up moving to Australia when I was done with Primary School. Apparently it's easier to adopt four year olds on their own before they have inconvenient things like an identity.'

'Bad then?' 'It wasn't bad, like they cared, there was never any violence or any shit like that, it's just that I was never allowed to talk about anything from before I moved in with them. I was basically forced to act like everyone died in that crash, I don't think anyone can really relate to how that feels. I get it, they don't want to hear about someone they've never met constantly, but that's why I left home as soon as I turned 16. Got a job at a beach bar serving cocktails, rented a little chalet near the beach for a couple of years. Rest is history as they say.'

Just then, the reminiscing was interrupted by four armed police officers walking into the court. Between them, Damien was handcuffed, walking slowly through the court. He went to talk to Hannah as he passed, but she shrugged him off quickly, as he was taken towards the witness stand. Phil saw this, and they clutched each other's hands. 'You sure you can do this?' She just nodded. 'I have to, he has to know that he doesn't own my life and thoughts. I'm my own woman.'

In the courtroom, Damien had just sworn in when Phil and Hannah walked back in together, the young woman's smokey black mascara-lined eyes locking with his as they entered. 'So Mr. Walsh, would you explain to us who you are?' 'Happily. My name is Damien Walsh, and I am the father of Hannah Walsh, and have spent the past few months trying to protect her from an abusive alcoholic.'

Hearing this, Hannah started shaking with rage, only for her husband to hold her hand down. 'You're better than this, and you're better than him.' At the witness stand, Damien was starting to be questioned. 'So Mr. Walsh, how do you know Mr. Birchall?' 'He's been helping me with my quest to save my daughter. Because that MONSTER corrupted her!' The judge, clearly regretting the defence bringing Damien in, warned him. 'Mr. Walsh, please keep your testimony related to the person on trial, as opposed to Mr. Robinson.'

'But he's a monster!' 'Mr. Walsh, please keep your testimony related to the case.' 'You want to know what the case is?' He then turned to the jury. 'The case is of a decent everyday man being set up by an alcoholic wife beater! He has assaulted my daughter so many times that you would not believe it! I came back into my daughter's life when I found out what he was doing for her, because it is my job to direct her to a suitable partner. Someone I can trust, someone good' 'Someone who you approve of? Someone who will do exactly as you demand? Or just the highest bidder?' 'She is my daughter, and he is abusing her!'

Frances then challenged him over this. 'Mr. Walsh, there is no evidence that what you're saying is either true or even plausible. Mr. Robinson is far from having a spotless character, by his own admission that is true, but suggesting that he is in any way abusive to his wife is strictly slander. Now would you like to talk about the actual case?' Still enraged, he refused. 'You should have seen his grinning face that day!'

'Which day is that?' 'The day he shot her!' 'Mr. Walsh, is it not true that you were actually in Sydney at the time of the shooting? In fact, I can show that you were. Exhibit 41, proof that Mr. Walsh had emigrated to Australia under a false identity two days before the shooting.' 'He is a MONSTER! Why will nobody listen to me?' The judge then intervened. 'Mr. Walsh, I must ask you' 'I must ask you to shut your damn gob!'

Not having this, the judge called an end to his testimony. 'Mr. Walsh, I find you in contempt of court. Officers, please will you escort him out of my courtroom?' As he was taken away, he continued to scream at Phil, and even pushed one of the officers to the ground, leading to him being restrained.

Outside of the courtroom, Damien was still screaming about Phil, while being dragged towards an awaiting Police van. Before he could be lead out of the doors though, Hannah went up to one of the officers, along with Megan and Allyx. 'Hi, we're Damien's daughters, we want to speak to him a moment.' 'Sorry Miss, we can't allow that.' 'He was badmouthing my husband in there, the least I deserve is to respond surely.' The officers looked at each other, and then relented. 'Fine, but you haven't got long.' 'We've got to be back in the courtroom in a few minutes anyway.'

They then walked around to meet the disgraced man face-to-face. 'My… beautiful…' Meghan immediately wasn't having any of it though. 'Don't you dare talk to us like that. Don't you dare! I have been waiting twelve years to tell you what I think of you, I have been waiting all that time because I want to know why. Why did you take our mother away from us like that?' 'Because she was cheating on me! With the father of that scum!'

'Something which never happened then?' 'What do you mean?' 'He worked six days a week in Chester! Where was he finding the time to have an affair with a woman who you were beating black and blue on a regular basis? I was two years old when I saw you give her a broken orbital bone, on Allyx's sixth birthday you threw her down the stairs because she hadn't kept your food warm enough for you while you were down the pub! You decided to kill our Mum because you knew you didn't deserve her.'

Hannah then stepped up to him, as Megan wept. 'Say what you like about Phil, because he is millions of times the man you are. You know full well that he has never laid a finger on me in anger and never would. You want to know why I love him? It's because he is strong, and he's stable, and he's overprotective, but he's also funny, he's charming, and most of all, he gave me the one thing I never thought I'd have again - a family. He made me feel true love when I didn't think I'd ever get to.'

'And when this baby arrives, he is going to be just the same with it, if not more so. He is going to look after that little thing and he is going to nurture it like nothing else, because he isn't just a good father, he is going to be the greatest father. Because he cares, and he puts the needs of others before his own. But hey, we wouldn't know what makes a great father, because we never had one! We had to find our way without parents, because you were too selfish to let us have any.'

Allyx then took her turn, a face like stone. 'For so long, you had me thinking that he was some kind of evil, horrible person, because I wanted to believe you. I didn't want to believe that my Dad could be some kind of monster, and that we were just mixed up with the "weird family". But it's not true - you are that monster. I'm ashamed that I ever believed you, that I ever turned on him like I did, I want back the time you stole from me.'

'He is no good for you, any of you, and when I am found innocent, we can get back together, just the four of us, like it always should have been.' Hannah was scornful though. 'You just don't get it. None of us want your lies any more.' 'Well what do you want then?' Meghan took this one gladly. 'We want you to be locked up so you can spend the rest of your life thinking about what you did to our mother, a beautiful woman whose only crime was meeting you.'

Hannah then had the final word. 'One day, you're going to be lying in the ground, maybe you'll be in a hospital bed first or maybe if you live long enough some kind of nursing home. And the sad thing is, nobody will come to see you, because you destroyed your family and then because you didn't succeed in what you were trying, you tried to destroy your daughter's family. How does it feel knowing nobody will be with you at the end to see you on? Because that's what you're going to be thinking of every single day.' He was then taken away again, back to the Police van.

As the arguments continued to rage inside and outside of the courtroom, Frances was ready to produce her golden evidence. 'I would like to introduce Exhibit 29a through 29x: Pictures taken from Mr. Birchall's hard drive of Mrs. Robinson-Cummings.' It was at this moment that for the first time in his life, James Birchall looked genuinely scared. Because he knew what was on the hard drive. 'Before I show these images, I need to give you a warning - a number of these images are graphic and explicit to the point of being definable as pornography. I would advise the jury to consider looking away if they feel the necessity. I have spoken to Mrs. Robinson-Cummings, and she has given her permission for the images to be shown.'

The images then started being shown, starting innocently enough with Hannah stood on a beach in Australia, the wind rushing through her hair, and another picture showing her cooking while on holiday. As these were being shown, Hannah was watching, and mumbled 'Someone's been stalking my socials.' The images didn't stop there though, as they moved on to some of Hannah being more provocatively dressed, such as images of her wearing crop tops or low cut vests.

Then they started to transform into something more sinister. As the slideshow continued, a number of images shown were of Hannah as a youngster, with captions like "tempting from the start", "a young starlet ready to show" and "we were destined to be together from the start". As these were escalating, she mumbled 'I have a bad feeling about this.' She was right to, as the images continued to get worse.

Eventually the last 36 images were gotten to - the most graphic ones. Several were of Hannah naked, one was of her lying dead in the hospital, four were of her naked as a child as young as 7 years old, and one was of her in an unzipped bodybag, with presumably James' hand stroking her cheek, and the tagline "I'll take you dead or alive, as long as I got to deny him his happy ending".

A number of jury members were unable to stay until the end, and nobody from the club was able to witness the last of them. That was, apart from Hannah herself, who stoically sat there, not showing an ounce of emotion throughout. At the end of the images, she calmly pushed her hair back, and wiped an emerging tear from under her eye. James meanwhile was looking incredibly sheepish. 'After that, I am adjourning court. We resume at 9:30am tomorrow.'

Everyone then left the court, aside from Hannah, who didn't move an inch, just staying completely still. Eventually Phil came back in, and quietly sat next to her. After a couple of minutes of just sitting there, he put his hand on hers. 'I hate him, I really really just hate him.' Again he didn't speak, but pulled her close and just gently rubbed her arm. 'I know she said it was bad but… you just don't see that kind of thing. I'm 27 weeks pregnant, my life should be getting easier. I can't bring a baby… into all this.'

Still he just held her close. 'I mean… what if he gets off? What if, despite all this, he's managed to weasel his way out of it, what if they believe that ridiculous story spun? He'll never leave us alone. He'll be free to try and break us once again, he'll just go straight back into a rampage.' Once more, he just held her tight, refusing to show how much the situation was affecting him. Inside, he wanted to rip James limb from limb, but outwardly, he was solid as a rock.

Finally, he spoke to her. 'You're unbreakable. You were the day I met you, you still are now. Tomorrow is your opportunity to seal the deal. His grave is dug, but only you can force him in there. And after that, we're fine. James gone, Damien gone. It's just us two. But don't let all this get to you, ok?' She just turned to him, and grasped him in a long, long kiss, that lasted maybe a couple of minutes, but to them, it felt like hours. After this, they left the courtroom. As they did, Meghan and Allyx were waiting right outside the room. 'I'm so sorry you've had to see those.' 'I'm sorry you had to.' 'You sure you're going to be ok?' Hannah just nodded. 'Tomorrow's the day - I'm going to make sure that bastard gets exactly what's coming to him. He's going to regret the day he ever met me.'

Day 5

As they arrived at the court, Frances pulled Hannah over to one side briefly. 'Today's the day.' 'Yep.' 'You sure you're going to be able to testify against him? Especially after yesterday.' There was a certain steel in her eyes though, one that hadn't been there before, and the reply was as certain as it was clear and correct. 'I have to. This is my chance to finally be rid of him. The only way I can get vengeance for everything is having him locked up in a tiny cell for the rest of his life.'

In the courtroom, Adam Smith stood, bleach-blonde hair and ear piercings in tow, having sworn in. 'So Mr. Smith, can you explain who you are to the jury?' 'In a gravelly Mancunian tone, he responded. 'When I was younger, I spent around three years hanging around with James. I got to know Phil a bit during that time.' 'How long would you say Phil "hung around" with you for?' 'About a year and a half, give or take, but it's not like he was with us all the time or anything.'

'Now I understand that Phil and James never got on?' 'I wouldn't say they never got on, they never liked each other but Phil didn't speak enough for them to fall out for the most part. That was, for a few months, until one day this chick came around with him.' 'I believe that chick was indeed Mrs. Robinson-Cummings?' 'Yeah.' 'So what happened when she did so?' 'Well it was weird, James seemed to think that she was being pimped out and tried to kiss her immediately. That's why they never got on.'

'So there was some kind of romantic interest from the start?' 'I wouldn't call it romantic, it was more lust than love. He just wanted anything he knew he couldn't have, forbidden fruit and all of that. But yeah, over time it became clear that Phil wasn't sticking around. Basically, Hannah was more important to him than any of us were.' 'What was your take on that?' 'I couldn't have cared less, I didn't exactly know him that well, I wouldn't say we were friends or anything. But James couldn't stand it, he had this messiah complex from the start that he was the only important person in the world. He couldn't stand the idea that anybody meant more to someone he didn't even like than he himself.'

'Now I understand you spent a lot of time with James around this time.' 'Yep, a lot of time.' Eager to cut to the chase, Frances went direct. 'In your Police interview, you said that James "had fantasies about shooting people". What exactly did you mean by that?' 'James always had this thing about being a great marksman, he had fantasies about just sniping people from behind walls, he really had this obsession. You know that he actually tried to shoot people before, right?'

This came as a shock to the court, as well as Phil and Hannah. 'When was this?' 'I can't tell you when exactly, all I can tell you is that it happened more than a couple of times. He actually tried to shoot Hannah before. It was one night, I think it was shortly after Christmas, he just saw her walking down the street, he produced this gun, I didn't know anything about guns, still don't, but he just produced it, and threatened to shoot her. He was literally taking aim, but for whatever reason, he didn't do it.'

'Do you know why?' 'Not a clue, he just put the gun down, and said something about destroying her when it hurts the most, I thought he was just trying to be hard, but maybe he meant that he was waiting until she was in a relationship. And then she moved out of the area before she was in a relationship, and he never got the chance. Until that day it seems.' 'You believe he was capable of committing this crime?' 'Not only is he capable, when I heard that she'd been shot his name was the first thing I thought about. I would honestly describe him as a monster.'

With that, Frances stood down. 'No more questions Your Honour.' Julius then came up to the stand, desperate to rescue something. 'Mr. Smith, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us.' 'You're welcome.' 'I would like to ask you a question - do you believe that people can change?' 'People can, yes. But James hasn't, because he contacted me again about a year ago, and he sounded just the same as ever. He wanted to get the old band back together, but I wasn't interested - I've got a long-term girlfriend, I've got four kids under the age of 7, I don't want to risk that just for someone else's fantasy.'

'Do you not find it possible that maybe other people knew about James' previous… obsessions, and took advantage of that to frame him?' 'Of course it's possible, i mean anything's possible, but if you want my opinion, he did it. It just all makes too much sense for anyone else to do it.' 'How well have you kept in contact with the persons involved since those days you previously talked about?'

'Well Jmaes I hear from once in a while, it's usually kind of cordial but he knows I'm not getting involved with whatever he's ding, and Phil I ain't spoken to in probably a good half decade. Pretty sure the last time we spoke was when my mother was ill with cancer in 2010, he sent me a message on social media wishing me the best, we maybe exchanged a dozen messages at most, all just pleasantries, and then we didn't speak again, we never had a reason to. I don't exactly know either of them that well anymore.'

Sensing a certain futility, Julius then stood back 'No more questions.' The judge then called for a recess. 'We will resume in 25 minutes, with the last evidence from the defence.' Julius then made a strange request. 'Your Honour, I would like to request that the Prosecution give their final witness statement first.' Frances was unimpressed by this ploy. 'My dearest friend, are you afraid? The running order we have used is the order that you yourself suggested during the pre-trial hearing, And now, you're asking me to invite the victim of such a vicious crime to testify before they are ready?'

'I find it appropriate after everything we have heard that the jury hears the contrasting side of the evidence after they hear Mrs. Robinson-Cummings' evidence.' Before this could be discussed any more, the judge intervened. 'Order! Mr. Long, why are you doing this?' 'As I explained, I feel it appropriate that the jury were to hear the defence for this crime last, as to avoid any bias.' This was clearly not an acceptable explanation. 'Mr. Long, the jury are always advised to consider every piece of evidence in the trial, and will be provided with transcripts if necessary. The trial will continue as planned.'

Shortly after, Robert was invited in to give his testimony. As he stood there, he glared daggers at Phil, who refused to even look at his former friend. 'So Mr. Atkinson, could you explain your relationship to Mr. Birchall?' 'I don't know James that well, but I have been around Phil for years, we were friends from school.' 'How would you describe Mr. Robinson then?' Rob stared at his enemy again, before replying with 'He's a creep and a woman abuser.' 'A very strong accusation.'

'Yeah, and it's true. He beat her black and blue so many times, she was begging me to take her back, but I stupidly refused her.' A shout then came from the seats. 'That isn't true and you know it!' Everyone looked around, but it wasn't Hannah that had objected, nor Phil. Rather, it was Blair who was holding him to rights. 'You literally forced yourself on her because she wouldn't get divorced from' 'Oh shut up you stupid dyke!' Robert replied with a certain level of venom. She was about to throw herself at him when Rio held her back. 'He's not worth your anger.'

The judge then intervened. 'Ms. Flannigan, I understand this is quite an emotionally charged situation, however if you feel the need to shout then I would advise leaving the courtroom to do it. And Mr. Atkinson, I feel the need to remind you that this is a courtroom, and as such language like that which you used is unacceptable. Please continue.' 'So what were you saying Mr. Atkinson?' 'Yeah, I was saying that he abuses her, beats her like hell. I tried talking to her about it, but it's almost like he's got her under some kind of spell. It would explain why he's so controlling over her, forced her to sign that life insurance.' 'Mr. Atkinson, before we continue, I just have to ensure that you are aware that you are making very significant accusations here.' 'I wouldn't be saying 'em if it wasn't true.' Nodding but still suspicious, Julius continued with his last witness.

'So how long have you known Mr. Robinson to be a domestic abuser?' 'I first saw the evidence a few months ago, I mean I always had my suspicions as long as they were together, I mean it just doesn't make sense, but then I saw the bruises, she claimed she'd fallen down the stairs, but I mean, I could just tell that it wasn't true. And then she kept coming up with more and more excuses for it. I'd invite her out and she'd just look at him as if to suggest that he wouldn't let her. It's horrible when you see things like that, because from the time we first met, I only wanted the best for her. I just don't understand why James is on trial when Phil did it.'

This brought Julius to another piece of evidence. 'Exhibit 45a, a recording of Mr. Robinson from three weeks after the shooting took place.' The recording started with a lot of laughing, and then an unknown voice asking 'So what happened?' A voice which somewhat resembled Phil's then came from the other end. 'Well I talked the girls into going out with their mate, and I slipped some laxatives into Hannah's coffee that morning. Once we got there, she went to the toilet and I pulled out this gun I bought a few days before.' 'You bought a GUN?' 'Yeah, comes in handy for little things like Insurance Fraud.'

'Unfortunately, she was being really annoying that morning, she kept going on about "what a wonderful life we could have had together" and "how she was going to tell Rob everything as soon as she next saw him". So I had no choice - when we got out of the car, I spoke to her, and then I shot that bitch right in the face. Obviously I got rid of the gun after, I weaved a little of my magic spell on Blair and she quite happily threw it to the bottom of the Tyne. Not that she'd ever know, I did wipe their memories a bit so nobody would question anything. Think I'll just pin it all on James, not like anybody would miss him anyway.'

'So you're collecting the money from the insurance?' 'Damn fucking right I am. The money's going to be super useful for marrying Rio, I've already got the engagement ring. Just need to get the stupid cow in the ground first, do my grieving husband bit, then me and Rio will move to the other side of the world, I'm thinking probably somewhere in Florida, I'll do my little magic spell on her before I propose obviously.' 'So you never loved Hannah?' 'I loved her for a bit, but she ended up annoying me. I tried kicking the shit out of her so she'd get the message, but it never quite worked, so I ended up just shooting her dead.'

As the recording ended, Frances seemed distinctly unimpressed as Julius nodded. 'Pretty convincing. What's your opinion on Mr. Birchall?' 'As I say I don't exactly know him well, but he seems like a great guy the few times I had, pity he's been bullied by a slob so much.' The judge then warned him again. 'Mr. Atkinson, name-calling is the language of the playground, which this certainly is not. Please keep your testimony directed towards the case at hand.' 'So Mr. Atkinson, who was that on the other end of the recording?'

'It was a friend, Mollie's her name. Mollie Montgomerie. She had suspicions herself, so I asked her to bring up the subject and record his reaction, I didn't expect him to be so open about what he did.' 'And you're 100% certain that it's Mr. Robinson on the other end of the phone?' 'Yes, you've heard him speak, no doubt.' Julius then sat back down. 'No more questions Your Honour.' This gave Frances the chance to come in and start questions herself.

'Mr. Atkinson, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come down here, I'm sure it was quite the strain for you considering your job of harassing my clients. Exhibit 50b, a series of no less than 40 letters from Mr. Atkinson to Mrs. Robinson-Cummings. For someone who rejected her and wants to "save her", you do a very good job of appearing like a crazed stalker. Would you like to explain these?' Clearly shaken by the unexpected evidence, Rob started to stutter over his reply.

'I was… I was trying to rescue her, she's being abused… properly abused' 'Mr. Atkinson, Mrs. Robinson-Cummings is 25 weeks' pregnant, and has been at the hospital a number of times for routine examinations et cetera, and at no point have the injuries you claim been seen by any doctor. Furthermore, Mrs. Robinson-Cummings has two existing restraining orders against you, because you breached the first one several times. How can we trust any part of your testimony, when you are a multiple-time offender and have clearly lied under oath?'

Still struggling to muster a significant response, he was blindsided further when Frances continued. 'As for the recording you have, we have uncovered detailed testimonies from a number of people to suggest that Ms. Montgomerie was in fact in the country for two days after the shooting, and then left the country again. In addition, it is clear to me that this conversation never happened, as by her own account, she never spoke to Mr. Robinson-Cummings at any point in that time period.' Arrogantly, Rob replied with "Prove it." Frances responded by doing just that. 'Exhibit 3E, a recording of a conversation between Police and Ms. Montgomerie. As Ms. Montgomerie lives in Pontarlier in France, she offered to speak to Greater Manchester Police via a video link.'

The video then played. 'For the purposes of our recording can you please confirm your identity?' 'Yep, my name is Mollie Mongomerie, I'm a school friend of Phil and Hannah's, I currently live on the border between France and Switzerland.' 'Now you are aware of the shooting involving Mrs. Robinson-Cummings?' 'Yeah, I was told about it and flew straight back to the UK.' 'When you did, I believe you had a conversation with Mr. Robinson-Cummings?' 'Erm… no? I was over there for 72 hours, if that, and I didn't see Phil the entire time. Maddy told me he was in bed grieving.'

'And Maddy is?' 'Maddy Smith, his daughter, adoptive that is.' 'So Mr. Robinson-Cummings didn't say anything to you regarding the shooting?' 'No, we never spoke.' 'Because we have multiple accounts suggesting that he told you that he "shot that bitch right in the face".' 'But… the news reports said she'd been shot in the neck. And more to the point, Phil wouldn't do that to her, that's the polar opposite of who he is.'

'Would you like to tell us who he is then?' 'He loves Hannah more than life itself, when he found out that she'd told her sister she loved him, he did everything he could to impress her. When she asked him out for the first time it was like he was alive like never before.' 'And there were no relationship issues?' 'No, everyone I've talked to talked about couple goals, being like them, as happy as them, as settled and trusting as them. I can tell you that he'd never do that, 1000%.'

'He also said something about marrying a "Rio"?' Mollie visibly rolled her eyes at the thought. 'One drunken kiss and people think he's up for murder? They got over that months ago.' 'So there was no sexual attraction between them?' 'Not from him certainly, I've not met Rio enough to tell you, but there was none from his end. He just got super drunk one night.' 'When's the last time you spoke to him before the incident?'

'Phil? Probably about three days before, we spoke every week, had about 20 minutes on the phone to each other.' 'And he seemed normal?' 'Totally, he was talking about Hannah's latest scan and how he couldn't wait to have a proper crack at being a Dad. He was super excited about it, I've never seen him like that really. He would never have harmed her, I'm telling you.' The recording then cut off, and Robert started to look a little bit sheepish. But Frances was determined to help dig his grave.

'Mr. Atkinson, don't you find it strange that Mr. Robinson-Cummings boasted about shooting his wife "in the face", when he was very clearly there and would have seen that she was shot in the side of the neck.' 'He… must have been exaggerating.' By this point even Julius wasn't buying it, while James just shook his head. 'Quite honestly Mr. Atkinson, you have wasted this court's time by making completely false allegations out of what I can only describe based on the letters you sent as envy, and it actively makes me angry that you have interrupted a very serious criminal trial to bare-faced lie on oath in front of a judge. I have no more questions for you, and advise you to await a court summons.' With that, Robert was invited to leave, and did so.

With a recess then being called before the last testimony, Hannah stepped outside to take a breather. Noticing her shoelace undone, she bent down gently to re-tie it, and as she stood up, she felt a pair of hands around her hips. Immediately she recognised them, and threw her elbow back, spinning out of the way, facing down Rob, who had been waiting for her. 'I have my court testimony soon, I would very strongly advise you to run away as fast as possible because I am absolutely done taking your shit.'

'Listen, I'll make it real easy Hannah - you're going to go in that court, and you're going to say that Phil was the one who shot you, then when he's out James will give me the money, and we'll finally be together forever.' Hannah though, was deeply unamused. 'You've officially gone off the deep end now. You've gone completely insane. Now if you don't move in about 5 seconds, I'm getting you arrested because of that restraining order.' 'Pity I never got a copy of it eh?' Hannah smiled, and reached into an internal pocket of her studded leather jacket, taking out a neatly folded document.

'Here you go then, a copy of the restraining order. Or should I say, the most recent one. It's cost me over £4000 in getting increasingly strict ones because YOU keep breaching them.' 'I'm right. You need me and you want me' 'More like you need me because you feel inadequate without me. You don't need me, you just need to find something in your life which isn't stalking a pregnant woman and her husband' Robert scoffed at that word. 'And her husband, because you can't stand the idea of the uncool kid from school being happy when you're not.'

She turned to leave, but Robert put his hands around her throat, and viciously lifted her into the air, before seating her on top of a nearby car, and threatening her through gritted teeth. 'I'm going to tell you what's going to happen now, and you're going to listen. You're going to divorce him, get him safely in an institution where he belongs. Then, you're going to' Hannah tried to interrupt him, but he just shoved his hand across her mouth to prevent her speaking. 'You're going to contact me, arrange to move to New York with me, and we are going to live happily ever after.'

She then tried to fight him off, but again he prevented this, pressing her legs against the side of the vehicle, her knees jammed against the roof bars. 'Because if you don't do what I say, then I'm going to be contacting social services, and making sure that when you give birth, your sweet little angel is immediately taken off you! Since you like adoption so much, yours can be taken for that as well! Enjoy never being a mother you slut!'

Hannah's eyes opened wide as he said this, but before she could react, Allyx walked over to him, and punched him in the face, busting his lip. 'The police will be here in two minutes with riot officers, and if you've not gone by then, you're getting a baton to the face and then being locked up. This is your opportunity to escape.' He didn't believe her initially, until he saw a Police van drive down towards the court. In a split second decision, he fled the scene, being chased by an officer as he did.

Meanwhile, Allyx was checking on her sister. 'I just… I can't do this anymore. Because he's going to get out, and then he's going to be straight back after me, after us, and I can't put Phil at risk, our baby at risk, you and Megs at risk.' Shockingly, it was now Allyx's turn to be strong. 'You can't let him intimidate you like this. You heard Rob, he's being paid to do this. By James, because James is scared. He knows that we have him bang to rights, all you need to do is stand up in front of a few random people and tell the truth.'

'When James is behind bars, he isn't going to harm you anymore.' 'I've already nearly lost you once.' 'No, I put myself at risk by allowing myself to be blinded by envy, and by the idea that you couldn't make your own decisions. I know better now, I know not to doubt your judgement.' Hannah then stared deep into Allyx's bright blue eyes and concerned face. 'When did you grow up?' 'When you woke me up. You've got about 10 minutes, go to the toilets, wash your face down, and remember why you're doing this.'

At the back of the court, near the car park

Rob was still trying to avoid the police, when he saw Belle stood around on her phone, hair pinned tight in a bun. Not recognising her, he walked up. 'Hey, you know where the nearest taxi rank is?' She just casually looked up from her phone briefly. 'Rob is it?' 'Erm yeah, why?' Without even looking, she slipped around the back of him, before stabbing him in the backs of both his knees with a hidden blade. 'What the hell?'

She didn't speak initially, but took her jacket off, revealing a Renegades shirt. 'You…' 'You ran straight into the Renegades' hitwoman. Phil and Hannah are family to me, and if you're trying to harm them, then you're going to be punished.' As she dragged him away, she got on the phone. 'Hi Lydia, I just wanted to ask if you could keep the disguise up a bit longer?' 'You find him?' Briefly looking down, she replied 'You could say that. Oh, and make sure you keep in view of the CCTV where possible, I need a strong alibi.' 'Belle, don't do something rash.' 'Don't worry - it won't be rash. I know exactly what I'm doing.' She put the phone down, and with a cold gaze, set to work, but not before putting a sock in Rob's mouth to prevent any screaming.

Back at the court

As the moment approached for Hannah's testimony, a problem became apparent - she was nowhere to be seen. That was, until 20 seconds before everyone was due to go back in, where she emerged, her mid-length, silver-tipped hair now tied into a high ponytail, bound with a brown felt scrunchie, the ends of her hair lightly curled around each other. Seeing her, Frances asked the question. 'Ready?' She nodded, no fear in her eyes. 'It's the time - I'm going to take that son of a bitch down.'

As the court reconvened, the judge called for order, and Frances stood. 'I call my last witness - Hannah Robinson-Cummings.' Hannah stood, and swore, not on a holy book, but on the law. 'I swear on the truth of the law that I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Furthermore, I swear that my testimony is that of myself, and is not influenced by that of anybody else.' 'Thank you Hannah. Please would you be able to introduce yourself, just so the jury can get a sense of who you are.'

'Certainly. I am Hannah Marie Robinson-Cummings, I am 30, and I am a former professional duellist who now runs a farm shop in Norden, which is a little village near Rochdale. I am also happily engaged… well when I say engaged, we're married legally, me and Phil, but we're doing a full ceremony later in the year.' 'I understand this would have come in very useful for the significant life insurance policy that you took out together?' 'Absolutely.' 'Could you tell us a little more about this policy?'

'Of course. So when we got married legally, we started discussing bills and everything, because we were looking to buy our dream house at the time. And then because of that, the subject of one of us potentially dying came up, because his family has a history of heart issues, and obviously my Mum was taken when she was only 32. So we were both kind of tetchy over committing to things, and we decided to take out life insurance because of that.' 'Whose idea would you say it was to take this policy out?' 'Honestly, it was mine first and foremost. I brought up the subject, and… well to be honest, Phil didn't want to discuss it, because he's kind of funny about the subject of death, he just doesn't like thinking about it, and obviously talking about life insurance, that's if the worst happens.'

'So you were the driving force?' 'Yeah, Phil found the policy, but I was really pushing for him to start looking. We both had a good look through it, and we agreed on the policy.' 'What would have happened if one of you had objected?' 'We wouldn't have done it. We always said that we would work together, and everything had to be between both of us. All our bills go out of a joint account so we can both see what's going out, if one of us gets a letter about something financial, the other one finds out because we discuss it.' 'And you don't believe that Phil would have ever done anything to you in order to get the money?'

'No.' '100% No?' '100% No. He loves me more than can be put into words, and I feel the same way. We were always meant to be together, all we have ever wanted is to be left alone to have a happy life together. But as long as we have been a couple, and for years before then, there's always been this spectre hanging over us.' 'You're referring to Mr. Birchall?' 'Yes.' 'Would you then be able to talk to us about how you and Mr. Birchall were first acquainted?'

She took a deep breath, and then explained. 'It started when I was in… probably about Year 9, so just before Key Stage 4. I always knew James was there, at least in so much as we were in the same year group, we passed each other in corridors, and he was in one of my classes for a while, I think it was English, you'd never guess it but he was a troublecauser, and ended up being moved out of that class after a few months. Then Phil and I, sorry, this is a little bit complicated.' 'It's fine, just tell the story as best you can.'

'Me and Phil were kind of close but kind of not, I had my stuff going on, he had his, he was a complete recluse, I knew what he'd done for me but I really could have done without the bull for associating with the weird Autistic kid, but outside of school we did see each other and got on well, he was a really funny guy when people gave him a chance. So one day he was meeting up with this group he'd been hanging around with, and I just happened to be invited along, no idea why, he never said.'

'So I got there to where they were, and it was him, Adam Smith, another guy who just called himself "The Edgy Guy", everyone called him "Edge", a couple of other guys, and James.' 'Would you say James was the ringleader?' 'There wasn't really a ringleader at first, James and Edge both seemed to cause the issues. But when I got there, James immediately, having never spoken to me before, immediately stuck a £5 note down my bra, and told me that "we could do it in the back alley".'

'So how did you react?' 'I headbutted him, broke his nose. Got me arrested, because there was a police officer nearby, but they released me that evening when Phil, Adam and Edge all defended me. So I ended up associating with them a bit, mainly because Phil was there, and I didn't trust any of them, so I wanted to make sure he wasn't being taken advantage of.' 'Would you say Phil was "naive" at this time?' 'A little, I mean he's really smart, and knows how to keep safe in that situation, but at the same time, he was desperate to fit in somewhere, and I didn't want him getting swayed into anything.'

'So you spent time with this group?' 'Yes.' 'Did this group or gang have a name?' 'Edge called us the Edgy Anarchists, but nobody ever used that name outside of him, and Adam when he was making fun of Edge, they tended to clash a lot.' 'Did you and James clash?' 'Yeah, a bit, he saw me as little more than a nuisance, and I thought that he was one of these gym freak hard guys. I'll admit part of the problem is that I've never been much good at holding my tongue, my mouth has a tendency to run away with me.'

'How long would you say you associated with them?' 'It's difficult, because me and Phil didn't just stop going, we gradually just found other things to do. But it was somewhere between eight and eleven months probably, if you're going for the last time we spent time with them.' 'So there was no major issue that you fell out over?' 'No, nothing that made us leave other than gradually just getting sick of James and Edge. James because me and him never got on, and it was clear that James was going to get Phil in trouble. I'd heard him talking about Phil being the one to take the fall if something went wrong, I didn't know exactly what they were talking about, I never found out, but I didn't want him there.'

'According to a statement from Mr. Birchall, you, and I quote "shopped him to the police for stabbing someone". Is this true?' Confused, there was a quick reply. 'Erm no… I never "shopped him to the police" for anything. He got arrested a few weeks later, but that was because he was caught dealing coke, and that was nothing to do with me, I only knew because he blamed me for it.' 'So you have no idea where he got the story from?' 'None, first I've ever heard of it. Literally, I can't even imagine why he said that.'

'So you told Phil to stop associating with him?' 'I told him what they said, I think he thought that I'd just abandon him if he didn't listen.' 'And would you?' 'No, I was prepared to get his parents involved if need be. If you think about it, he saved my life, why would I turn my back on him? I was never going to do that. But yeah, I talked to him, told him what was said, and he started associating less. He only stopped completely though shortly before James left the area. Didn't see him for years.'

'Now fast forwarding, could you please talk about what happened on the day of …?' 'I remember that Riana and Blair were going on a shopping trip, they were planning on getting there by public transport, but because they were running late, I offered to give them a lift down.' 'Was this normal?' 'Yeah, I mean it was usually Phil who did the driving, but he'd had a heavy day of driving the day before, so I offered to do it, just to give him a break.'

'And Phil was with you?' 'We were planning to go to a fast food place after dropping them off, and then spend the day at home together, because we rarely actually do that, between events, my scans and Phil constantly being up and down the country negotiating deals for the farm shop's produce, because we're probably a good couple of years away from living off the land like we want to.' 'So could you talk me through what happened when you got there?'

'Yeah, we got there, and I got out of the car because I needed the toilet, and also I've got a dodgy back' 'From the car crash?' 'Yes, I mean I can talk about that later if you need me to.' 'Thank you. So what happened after you went inside?' 'I heard a commotion as I left the toilet, so I went into one of the rooms upstairs, and saw James. So I leant out of the window to order him off our private premises, but he pulled the trigger just as I did that. He was clearly aiming for Maddy, but she was wearing this leather bulletproof vest.'

'Any idea why she was wearing that particular item?' 'I don't exactly know, she wears it for duelling, I think she might have been trying to wear a new one in because she always said that it took three attempts to make one comfortable. She was probably trying to get it worn in quicker.' 'So when the bullet was fired, how did you react?' 'I didn't really, it all happened so quick. I don't remember feeling the bullet at all, I just remember the feeling of warm blood pouring, and Phil with me in his arms. Then everything was white, like a total whiteout, just completely blinding. And I… I can't explain it, but I saw my Mum, she was telling me it would be ok, that I'd be ok. And the next thing I know, all I can see is white.'

'I thought I was in heaven or something, so I reached up, and felt almost like some plastic or something. It took me a few minutes I think, but I ended up tearing a hole in it with a broken belt buckle, I can only think I fell to the ground, and it broke then. It was only then that I realised everyone thought I was dead.' 'For the purposes of the court, it was impossible to accurately determine how long Mrs. Robinson-Cummings was considered dead for, other than it was between 15 and 23 hours. So after you got out of the mortuary' 'I forgot to mention that I got out by breaking the window, it was just the first thing I thought of to get out.'

'Thank you. So after this, you went where?' 'I went to a house that we'd not long renovated, the idea was to sell it on for a bit more money.' 'Could you give us a glimpse into your thoughts around this time?' 'I was considering whether to go back to Phil, I was never going to let him believe I was dead, I was going to get back in contact but I was basically thinking about leaving the country and starting a new life. But over time, I realised that I missed him so much.'

'And it was this time you started sending the messages to duelling events?' 'Yes, it was just a way of getting his attention. He's a smart guy, I figured he'd start to get the idea slowly, it was much better than just turning up right in front of him.' 'Now we've cleared up the version of events, I'd like to talk to you about Mr. Birchall's involvement in all of this.' 'He's been there all the time, trying to wreck our marriage. When me and Phil got together, James responded rationally by throwing him down the stairs while he was helping Sean out.'

'And Sean is?' 'He's a handyman who's good friends with Phil, sometimes enlists my husband for jobs when he's a little too short for them. So he was on a job with Sean one time, it was installing some security cameras at a warehouse which had just been bought by a local property developer, and when they were working on it, James was there, and just swore at him, before pushing him down a staircase. Luckily he escaped with minor injuries, but the point is that he's been there all the time. Attacking us, hiring hitmen, he's just completely obsessed. Like wherever we go, he'll be there.'

'I believe Mr. Birchall has a nickname for your husband?' Clearly angered at even having to think about it, Hannah took a moment, before raising her head, and looking James straight in the eyes. 'He calls him "Brady", after Ian Brady, who… well you know what he did.' The jurors looked shocked as she said this, but she kept a straight face the entire time, not once showing an ounce of emotion. 'He constantly calls Phil "Brady", and he's become obsessed with him not having a happy ending, like this is some kind of game or fairytale. All Phil wants to do is have a peaceful life, and work hard for his money.'

Sensing an opportunity to twist the knife in James' increasingly inevitable fate, Frances pushed further. 'This must have an effect surely?' 'Thing is, you don't outwardly see it, because he'll never admit it or anything. But I've known him long enough to see it, in his body language and in his face, it's destroying him inside. Because it stigmatises, we'll just be walking down the street occasionally, and someone who shout "Brady" at him, they probably don't know what it means, but he does, and every time he hears that a tiny little piece of him dies.'

The judge then stepped in. 'Ms. Bishop QC, I appreciate that Mrs. Robinson-Cummings has much to say regarding this situation she and her husband find herself in, but please could you keep your questioning to the matter at hand, the trial is to discover if Mr. Birchall committed Attempted Murder, rather than whether he called Mr. Robinson-Cummings rude names.' 'Of course Your Honour, I was simply trying to emphasise that Mr. Birchall is not only a man of incredibly poor character, but he has a grudge which could lead him to attempt murder.'

'You see, when investigating, Police use the method of Means, Motive, Opportunity. We know already that Mr. Birchall had the Means to commit this offence, as we know that he owned a gun which is the same kind as the one used in the crime, we know he had the Opportunity, as a field test proved that he had more than enough time, and a vehicle registered to him was in the area around the time of the offence, and now we have demonstrated through Mrs. Robinson-Cummings' testimony that he undoubtedly had the Motive - he was exceedingly jealous of the relationship that these two individuals had.'

'As for the reason for his jealousy, I leave that up to the jury - perhaps it reminded him of his own inadequacies in life? Perhaps he really does have feelings for Mrs. Robinson-Cummings? Or perhaps Mr. Birchall is simply a bitter sexual deviant who gains pleasure from seeing those he lusts for in life-threatening situations, and was eager to try and get a rival out of the way in the process. We may never truly know why, all we do know is that he had motives for days. I have no more questions.'

Julius then stood up, as Hannah's testimony reached the start of its third hour. 'Mrs. Robinson-Cummings, I must thank you for your… lengthy testimony. Before we begin, I find it useful to question how yours and your husband's finances were in the lead up to the shooting. After all, it can't have been easy, what with purchasing such a large property, creating a duelling arena and opening up a farm shop all within a few months of each other?'

'It wasn't easy at first, but we were doing fine by that time, we had about £60-70,000 in the bank, we were doing way better than we had been a couple of months before, and we were just in the process of finishing off paying back all the people who lent us money for these projects.' 'I believe you still had some debts though?' 'Yeah, we were still paying off a bank loan, we still are now, but we got quite a generous repayment schedule, so that was never an issue.'

'Well I'm just wondering why you would need a life insurance policy.' 'I already said - I insisted on it just in case something happened to one of us.' 'Mrs. Robinson-Cummings, if you are trying to protect your husband' 'He can protect himself thanks. I'm only telling you the truth here - we were doing perfectly decently money-wise.' 'Doesn't explain why you were apparently so insistent on getting Life insurance.'

'When we took it out, the arena was still being built, and the shop had been open just a couple of weeks. I had no idea at the time how these things would go, I didn't know if they were going to make money or if they'd be a bottomless pit. And the last thing I would ever want is for something to happen to either of us, and the other just be left with a mountain of debts. I was just pregnant at the time as well, which made it even more important.'

'And you had no idea that your husband owned a gun?' 'No, because he doesn't.' 'Exhibit 28a, a handgun permit for a Mr. Phillip Robinson.' Seeing the permit, Hannah was very confused. 'Well for starters, our home address is wrong - we live in Norden, near Rochdale. Phil's not lived in Gorton for six years, and I've not lived there since I was a kid. Secondly, the postcode isn't in Gorton or Norden, and third, his date of birth is wrong - it's the 11th July, not the 21st.'

'So you're saying someone took this out on behalf of your husband?' 'Well I'm pretty sure he could remember his own birthday for a start.' 'Can you think who might have done this?' 'Yes, plenty of people, including a certain someone who just assaulted me outside and is now on the run from the Police. And if you don't believe me, check the CCTV.' 'Would your husband take out a gun licence?' 'Maybe if he owned one, yes. But he doesn't, even though we should probably have one for self-defence at this rate.'

'Hasn't your husband got a criminal record?' 'Yes, he was convicted of assault once, and he had a public order offence when he was 17 because even then he couldn't handle vodka.' By this time, the judge had tired of this discourse. 'Order. Mr. Long, please keep the conversation relevant to the case; once again, it is Mr. Birchall on trial. If there is an allegation of insurance fraud, that can be dealt with separately.'

'Indeed. Mrs. Robinson-Cummings, would you care to explain to us the purpose of trying to get Mr. Birchall convicted specifically?' 'I just want a peaceful life, and for justice to be done. He tried to kill me, he tried to kill Phil, he tried to kill Rio, and I fully believe he would have tried to kill everyone else if he hadn't been distracted. And if he gets out, I'm scared quite frankly that he'll come back and do the exact same thing again. I can't go through that again - he has to be brought to justice.'

'Is it really justice though, if the person you're accusing has been set up?' 'He hasn't.' 'It is my fervent view that you are fundamentally dishonest, and you are covering because this was all a fraudulent act which went wrong, so you chose someone you dislike personally and framed them out of spite.' Still shockingly calm, Hannah replied in no uncertain terms. 'None of us have been involved in Insurance Fraud. James hates me because he can't have me, and if he can't have me, he wants nobody to have me. He sees me as nothing more than an object, he sees women as nothing more than objects.'

'There is not a shred of physical evidence linking Mr. Birchall to this crime. There is very clear evidence linking you and your husband to this crime, and it is that insurance. And it is the fact that you have been constantly going after him, trying to deny him the opportunity to even have the career of his choice out of bitterness and sheer spite. You Mrs. Robinson-Cummings, you and your husband, are nothing more than low-bar criminals who are trying to frame an innocent man, and have made up several incidents, including one where your husband was conveniently pushed down some stairs, yet was uninjured a couple of weeks later. Quite frankly, your stories are making no sense.'

'He was far from uninjured, you didn't see the slight limp he had when he walked, you didn't hear him groaning about his hip and shoulder pain in the middle of the night, you didn't live with the concussion he had for two and a half weeks where he could barely remember the day we got together. Nobody saw any of that because he kept it all backstage, he refused to show weakness in front of James. James has always been obsessed with Phil not having a happy ending, and he came that day purely to murder.'

Still determined to force a mistake, Julius probed deeper into the past. 'So how did you and Mr. Birchall meet again?' 'First time I saw him or first time we' 'The first time you saw each other.' 'Year 7, I can't remember the exact date, but I remember I first saw him in… Geography was it?' She then paused for a moment to remember. 'Yeah, it was Geography, I remember me, him and Phil had to work together on a project and he spent the entire time making jokes about Phil's weight, even then he was rude as anything. First time we properly interacted was that day when Phil brought me down to see the gang.'

Running out of avenues to explore, Julius tried one more time to trip her up. 'Would you say you hate Mr. Birchall for what he has apparently done?' The reply was surprising, as she politely smiled. 'I don't hate James, I pity him. I pity the fact that he was so jealous of two people who don't want an extraordinary life, we just want to work hard for a living and spend time with each other. Despite the fact that James shot me, I don't feel any hatred towards him, I just want him to pay the appropriate price for what he did.' Sensing the inevitable, Julius stood down. 'No more questions.'

The judge then summed up. 'Thank you, we have now heard all the witness testimonies. I will call a recess for the day, then tomorrow we will have closing statements, and the jury will then be asked to retire to consider their verdicts. For the avoidance of confusion for the jury, we are requiring an 11-2 majority or larger for a decision. Court dismissed.' With that, the day was over, but the surprises were not.

Outside the court

As they were walking through the car park, Blair and Hannah were discussing the case. 'You seemed so calm there.' 'I had to be - I had to make sure the jury liked me.' 'I don't know how anyone couldn't like you.' 'It's sweet of you to say that, but they're complete strangers. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought though, it went quite quickly.' 'Quickly? Hannah, you were up there for close on five hours.' 'Seriously?' 'Yeah, it was brutal watching it. I really thought he was just going to stand there calling you a liar all day.'

Frances then caught up with them. 'You did fantastically Hannah, he was trying to force you to make a mistake.' 'Let's just hope it's enough.' 'I'm quietly confident in the case. It's not guaranteed, because nothing is, but… well, you know.' 'We've got a good chance. You've all done everything you could have, now we just need to trust that the jury can see through the insurance fraud story.' There was then a shout from Meghan up ahead. 'Guys, you wanna see this.'

They caught up, and saw Rob, tied to a trie, crucifixion-style. He appeared to be unconscious, and had blood around his right eye, as well as a badly busted cheekbone, blood from his mouth, and had his shirt torn off, with the words "Thanks for Nothing" scrawled onto his back in rough handwriting. Sat next to him, just blocked from the CCTV by the tree was Belle, hair down with a black hairband, who was calmly writing on an old-looking notepad.

Without saying anything, Hannah stealthily signalled to Belle, and she walked the other way, circling around away from the cameras to meet them at the car park, all the while carrying her instrument of torture - a green, rusting car jack, smeared with blood. As they walked to the hotel (having taken a side exit to avoid the press), Allyx dropped back momentarily to talk to Belle. 'I told you to rough him up.' The reply was terrifying. 'That WAS roughing him up - I've done no permanent damage. But he won't be messing with us again.'

'Won't you get caught?' 'I wouldn't worry about that, I had my hair tight for it, and I was careful never to show my face. Besides, Lydia and Freja have been posing as me all day in front of CCTV cameras, so there's nothing linking me here. My only loyalties are to the Renegades.' 'What were you writing anyway?' 'I don't know. When I get all anxious or schizophrenic like that, I just get this notepad out, and write. Write anything. Probably doesn't make any sense, but I wouldn't know. It's just something which calms me down.'

Day 6

As everyone arrived for the last scheduled day of the trial, there was a surprise, as Maddy was waiting in the court, something Hannah immediately noticed. 'Hey stranger, what brings you down here?' 'Moral support, obligation, desire to see a total fuckhead get sent down.' 'How's Astrid doing?' 'She's fine, it's sorted the issues for now but she'll need a bigger operation at some time to repair the damage. How'd your testimony go?'

'It wasn't too bad, apparently I was up there for five hours but it really didn't feel like it. They've been going with the insurance fraud idea, which is absolutely ludicrous, but I suspect they don't have anything else to go on other than that.' As she said this, one of the porters came up to them. 'The trial is resuming in two minutes.'

In the courtroom, the judge stood. 'Order. I am now going to request that both the Prosecution and the Defence make their closing statements. This will be the last chance for the jury to hear the arguments before they retire to consider their verdict. Ms. Bishop, if you could please deliver your closing statement?' With freshly applied rouge and a determined look on her face, Frances briefly looked back at Maddy before speaking.

'Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury, again my name is Frances Bishop, and I am the prosecutor in this case. In my opening statements, I told you all that I would call four witnesses to the stand. These witnesses testified as explained, and have proven without a doubt that Mr. James Birchall was not only in the area of North Shields on the 31st October 2016, but also that he deliberately, callously, and without any thought to or concern of life, shot Mrs. Hannah Robinson-Cummings and Ms. Riana Kastle, in an attempt to take their lives.'

'We therefore ask you to reject the defence theories that this was some kind of scheme to conduct a large-scale Insurance Fraud scam, as the Defence have provided absolutely no evidence for this aside from a policy not dissimilar to one taken out by thousands of married couples every year. I also ask you to reject the claim that Mr. Birchall is "a decent, ordinary man targeted by a married couple", as it is very clear from the evidence that any and all animosity has been started on Mr. Birchall's end.'

'In addition, we ask you to consider that two of the Defence witnesses have been fundamentally dishonest in their testimonies, and that two of the key pieces of evidence from the Defence, being a gun permit and a phone recording, are both fake pieces of evidence, clearly signified by clear and obvious mistakes that Mr. Robinson could not possibly have made. On the flip side, the Prosecution's witnesses are reliable as they all recounted a similar version of events, consistent with the physical evidence collected at the scene.'

'Meanwhile Mr. Birchall has all the motivation in the world to be dishonest, not only as he is on trial for a serious offence, but because he has made a lifetime of dishonesty in order to achieve whatever nefarious goal he wishes to achieve. In our society, it is incredibly important for wrongdoers to be brought to justice, and I sincerely hope that the jury consider this when they deliberate. In conclusion, we ask that the Defendant is found Guilty on all charges. Thank you.'

With this, Julius stood up, straightened his suit jacket, and spoke. 'Good afternoon, my name is Julius Long QC, and again I am the defence lawyer in this case. In the case that the prosecutor has presented to you today there is insufficient proof to convict. We would ask for a verdict of not guilty, as Mr. Birchall would not only have never committed this crime, but there is no evidence other than a single panicked witness to suggest that he was anywhere close to the area at the time of the incident.

'The case that has been presented by the prosecution is filled to the brim with hearsay, personal attacks, and even a plea bargain from an individual awaiting trial on drugs offences. I would hardly call that a reliable case. Furthermore, the case has been brought about by an individual who has a personal grudge against the Defendant, and her husband, who has had an affair previously, and then waited very little time after the shooting to file a very large insurance claim.'

'There was no DNA evidence collected, as investigators never located the actual weapon used, nor was there any DNA evidence left at the scene. The burden of proof in an investigation is on the prosecution, not the defence, and the prosecution in this case have failed to provide a sufficient case. The defendant does not have the burden to prove their innocence in this case, as no convincing case has been brought forwards. As such, we would ask you to render the only fair and just verdict, which is Not Guilty.'

With this, the judge declared 'All Rise.' As they all stood, she addressed the jury. 'Members of the jury, I am about to send you to deliberate on your decision. You should, where possible attempt to reach a unanimous verdict, although as the power of the law allows me, I will accept a majority verdict of 11-2 or greater.' She then turned to the court bailiffs, who stood there stoically and silently. 'At this time I ask the bailiffs to take the jury to a private, secure and convenient place for the deliberation to take place.'

'As a reminder, the bailiffs must not talk to, nor otherwise interact with, the jury, unless it is to ask them if they have reached a decision. Similarly, the jury must not interact with anybody outside of the jury, unless it is to inform the bailiffs that a decision has been reached, or for some other urgent medical reason. The deliberations will be audio recorded, but only for the purposes of ascertaining the exact words a juror has said, should there be some form of dispute. I now invite the jury to retire and discuss their verdict.' The jury were then lead out, and to the room where they would make a decision. Court adjourned.'

As everyone left the room, the nervous wait began. 'So do you think they'll find him guilty' Rio asked quietly to Frances. 'I hope so, we've done all we can anyway. I can't see a world in which he gets off with this, the evidence is huge.' 'I hope you're right, I can't imagine a world where he gets out.' 'On the off chance that happens, we'll find a way to deal with it. Let's wait for the verdict though, and go from there. How are you feeling now after the other day?' 'Oh I'm fine, I felt fine by the time I got to the hospital honestly. If anything, I feel way better than I did before.'

As Blair questioned Rio's sanity, Phil had a quiet word with Frances. 'This whole business with Rob, it's ridiculous and it has to stop.' 'Once we've got through this and Rhydian's trial, I've got a meeting booked with a civil courts expert to see what can be done about it. I'm hoping we'll be able to get him on some kind of tag, but I don't know if it's absolutely possible. All I can do is assure you that you'll be updated when I know anything.'

20 minutes later, Hannah stood up. 'Right, I'm going to get something to eat, if everyone can message me with what they want, I'll pick it up for them.' As she walked away, Blair quickly followed her. 'You ok?' 'What do you think? I'm not even hungry, I just needed to do something, anything. You holding up ok?' 'I suppose so, honestly I've been thinking about anything which isn't the trial.' 'Any advice?' 'Not really, struggling to keep distracted. I want you to know that whatever happens, I'll always try and protect you.'

Hannah just put her arm around the Michiganer and pulled her close. 'You don't need to. We'll find a way through this.' 'You think that they'll make the right decision?' 'I don't know, I hope so though. All that I do know is that he's not going to be allowed to rule our lives any longer, and if that means rebuilding our lives in a different city or even a different country, that's what we'll do.' 'You discussed that?' 'Right at the start of the trial, we had an agreement - if he gets off and comes after us, we'll look at moving.'

Half an hour after this, they got back to the courtroom. 'Anything yet?' 'Not yet, could be here a while to be fair.' Phil immediately walked over to his wife, and hugged her. 'Come on, we can do this.' She didn't initially say anything, but then whispered down his ear 'Blair knows about our pact.' He responded by saying 'We'll tell everyone else when we need to. Just get through this first, then we'll work on that.'

Just as the clock ticked beyond 70 minutes from the time they had gone to wait, a court baliff approached them. 'The jury are returning their verdict.' Frances looked astonished at this. 'That was quick.' They then all headed back in, and they saw James in there, looking as bullish as he had at the start of the trial. The jury then came in, and the foreman was spoken to by the judge. 'Have the jury come to a majority agreement?' 'Yes, we have come to a unanimous decision - 13-0.'

The moment of truth arrived. As everyone watched on with baited breath, the question was asked. 'Members of the jury, on Count 1, the Attempted Murder of Hannah Marie Robinson-Cummings, how do the jury find the defendant, James Alan Birchall?' The reply was confident and clear. 'We find the defendant Guilty.' As the word was said, everyone erupted, and Phil and Hannah hugged each other tight. Blair and Rio watched on quietly however.

'And on Count 2, the Attempted Murder of Riana Kastle, how do the jury find the defendant, James Alan Birchall?' 'Guilty.' James looked stunned at this, and while Blair celebrated, Rio didn't move, just sitting there quietly, staring down at James, who by now was going crazy, and shouting at Julius, who completely ignored him in response. Eventually with the cheering and hollering still going on, the judge called again. 'Order! I will now retire to consider my verdict. Sentencing will begin as soon as a decision has been reached.'

As this went on, Frances was talking to Blair. 'How long do you think he'll get?' 'We've been pushing for a heavy sentence of 50 years in total, but I think we'll be looking at anywhere from 35-40.' 'Even that would be amazing.' 'Ultimately the important thing is him going to prison. I don't know if the crimes are going to be judged separately or together in terms of the sentence, but I'm hoping that the sheer level of violence involved in Rio's shooting will cause it to be judged on a higher scale.'

Blair then noticed that Frances was glancing knowing looks at Maddy. 'What's going on with you and Maddy?' 'Huh? I don't know what you mean?' 'You've been giving her funny looks all day.' 'I literally don't have a clue what you're talking about, I've not…' 'Seriously, what's going on?' 'Fine, me and Maddy have been talking about some things, she said that she wants to train under me to become a lawyer.' 'That's awesome. Why didn't you' 'Because she wanted me to keep it quiet, we've only been talking about it, and I need to see if I'm allowed to take people on apprenticeships first.' By this time, the judge was returning. 'We're about to find out what's going on.'

'All rise.' As James stood once more, the judge brought the proceedings to a close with their verdict. 'Mr. Birchall, your actions, not just on that day but for a not insignificant period of time before and indeed, after, terrorised a group of individuals who clearly wanted little else but to create a family and an atmosphere where people could feel safe and happy. You wilfully and callously attempted to deny that for reasons which from my understanding, boil down to little more than jealousy, a mixture of envy and unrequited rage. You saw your inability to attract an individual who is not attracted to you as a failure in status, and could not stand losing that status.'

'This led you here, where a jury of your peers have deemed you unworthy to walk our streets as a free man, unworthy to share the same liberties that are shared by they. As such, your sentence should mark the severity of your crimes, while also assessing the danger which you may pose to the public in the future, being in line with the laws that govern our country. For this reason, I am duty-bound to consider an extended custodial sentence for each of your crimes.'

'As it is my belief that your attack was not only premeditated, but was also motivated by a severe sadistic and sexual drive, I am allowed to use the full force of the law against you. Therefore, in the case of the Attempted Murder of Hannah Marie Robinson-Cummings, I sentence you, James Birchall, to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years.' As this sentence was handed down, everyone went insane up in the stands, causing the judge to pause. Meanwhile James stood there, stunned. But there was worse to come.

'Please may we have quiet in the courtroom? Mr. Birchall, in the case of the Attempted Murder of Riana Kastle, due to the sheer violence involved, a harsher sentence is required. Therefore, I sentence you, James Birchall, to Life Imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years. These two sentences are to be served consecutively, meaning that in total, Mr. Brichall, you will serve a minimum of 70 years in prison. By the time you are eligible to leave prison, if you are fortunate enough to still be alive by that point, you will be 101 years old. I sincerely hope that if you do live to be freed that you have been able to reform in prison.'

The moment the sentence was announced in full, there were tears throughout, the relief on their faces being apparent. As Birchall started to rage, the judge calmly stated 'You can take him down now'. As he was led away in handcuffs, he looked up one more time, and fittingly, the face he saw was Hannah, staring a hole through him, with next to no emotion in her eyes. Instead there was simply a steely gaze, and a sense of justice.

Following another couple of minutes of composure, the club were led out of the courtroom, and Frances came up to them, being greeted with a hug from Phil. 'Thank you for everything Frances.' 'It's my job isn't it?' 'Did you push for such a strong sentence?' 'I recommended life with a minimum of 40 years in total. I was genuinely stunned at how big a sentence he was given, that's more than I ever could have asked for.'

'So is that it then?' 'Well he's got the right to appeal, but unless he comes up with some absolute gangbusters evidence, he won't get very far. They won't even hear his appeal unless there's significant new evidence, and the stuff against him was absolutely overwhelming. My advice is to not even think of him from now on, I will keep you updated on anything that you need to know.'

Just as everyone was about to leave the court, Frances randomly stopped Maddy, and passed her a familiar looking business card. 'What's this?' Frances looked her dead straight in the eyes, and said 'I want in.' Realising what she meant, Maddy grinned madly. 'You available next week?' 'Tuesday.' 'Perfect. Base at midday for your induction. Get all your affairs in order before then.' 'Got it.' They shook hands, and then walked off with everyone else.

As they walked out of the court, they were confronted by a legion of cameras and microphones, the trial having attracted significant media attention. As they had everything thrust in front of them, Frances read out a statement. 'My clients have been suffering through the twisted insanity of James Birchall for several years in one form or another. They are understandably delighted at today's outcome, they feel that justice has been delivered and they would like some privacy at this time.'

She then looked around and saw that Hannah had taken another interview. 'I would like to express my eternal gratitude to the judge for handing down a sentence which reflects the atrocities committed to us and the danger that was posed not only to us, but also to the public in general. This is someone who had no qualms about attacking people regardless of who they were, and could be set off by the slightest word or action.'

'I would also like to express our eternal gratefulness to Frances, who has been with us every step of the way supporting us, and took this case on not for financial gain, but because she wanted to see justice be delivered. Now me and Phillip have a baby on the way in the next couple of months, and we would like to put this sordid tale behind us. Therefore, we request privacy and respect at this time.'

Keen to put the experience behind them, everyone quickly decided to leave. They got down the steps in the rainy Manchester weather just in time to see Birchall being loaded in the back of an armoured van, ready for transporting to a maximum security-prison. As he was loaded in, he looked back one last time, and saw Hannah and Phil kissing.

NEXT TIME: Ally arrives in the UK, and immediately causes chaos. Meanwhile, Maddy starts abusing her power, including targets nobody would ever expect. Renegades: A New Dawn Chapter LI: Gator Caper