Faith - Lesley Pearse [30]
It seemed with every witness called that the jury was hearing more evidence that she was volatile, manipulative, greedy or jealous. Laura winced herself many times as some incident she was ashamed of, but had thought was buried in the past, was resurrected and painted even blacker than it really was.
Even loyal Angie, a witness for the defence, who knew nothing of Laura’s wildness when she was younger, or even about her losing her son, had her words twisted. She had worked for Laura for the past eight years, during which time Laura had led a completely blameless life, yet the skilful way the prosecution lawyer questioned Angie created quite the opposite image. By the time he had finished with her, he’d succeeded in painting a picture of an ambitious, erratic hothead, who on the morning in question had left the shop seething with anger at Jackie because she had to miss her lunch appointment.
Yet it was Belle’s testimony which really sealed Laura’s fate. Being the younger sister of the victim, with angelic long blonde hair and wide blue eyes which kept filling with tears, was almost enough alone to make her a compelling witness. Yet it was her obvious affection and long-held loyalty for Laura, which made her stumble over her words when forced to admit to her shortcomings, that really sold her to the jury.
Belle told the court that she had been only eight when Jackie first met Laura, who had become almost a member of their family. She stated that she had preferred Laura to her own sister because she was fun and had so much time for her. Belle’s lack of spite, even though her sister was now dead, and the way she kept turning from the judge to look at Laura in the dock, as if silently apologizing for her being there, was enough for anyone to trust every word she said.
When asked if she’d ever witnessed Laura fly into a violent rage, she stalled, not wishing to admit to it. But the prosecution pointed out that it was on public record that she had been present at a party in London when Laura pushed a broken glass into another girl’s face, and she had in fact been a police witness. Belle protested, quickly stating that this case had been dropped before coming to court.
Just that it had been disclosed was enough. To the jury, whether Laura was prosecuted or not, it was confirmation of her violent disposition. That the younger sister of the victim in this case was attempting to defend her only went to show that Laura was a practised manipulator.
Belle said that she believed it would have been better for her sister if she had distanced herself from Laura after Barney died. But her voice quavered as she added, ‘How could she? Laura had no one else, and Jackie felt responsible for her loss.’
When the prosecution asked Belle what her sister had said to her on the telephone that last morning, Belle began to sob.
‘ “I’ve got important things to say to Laura which she isn’t going to like,” she blurted out. “And I’m afraid of what she might do.”’
When asked what she thought these important things might be, Belle replied that she thought Jackie was tired of being an emotional and financial crutch to her old friend.
By then Laura was completely bewildered, for if Jackie had had anything unpleasant to say to her, she would have come over to Edinburgh to say it to her face. She certainly wouldn’t have put on a show of being upset to get her over to her place. But while it could be said that Jackie had been an emotional crutch for her, she had never used her as a financial one.
The defence did their best to fight back, but their cross-examination of the witnesses couldn’t disprove anything they had said. They went to town on Roger, insisting that he had a long-standing grudge against Laura because she had encouraged Jackie to move to Scotland, and that he had always been jealous because his wife