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‘The first was declared a mistrial because of his injuries. It was almost a year before they were ready to go again. Different jury this time, obviously. Our jury. Same overwhelming evidence but the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict and it was hung. The prevailing theory was that some of them were swayed by what had happened to him. Apparently he was a pitiful sight in the dock. The CPS elected not to pursue a third trial and Atkinson walked free.’

‘What a clusterfuck,’ Flynn said.

‘Gets worse,’ Poe said. ‘Within a year of the hung jury two things happened: Atkinson tried to hang himself and a whistleblower came forward.’

‘Tried to hang himself?’

‘Messed it right up. Ended up with an incomplete spinal cord injury. He’s now in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Has feeling below the waist but no movement.’

‘And the whistleblower?’

‘He was more of a co-conspirator really, but he said that, at the behest of the CEO himself, he’d amended the logbook so it looked like Atkinson had tried to cover his tracks. He also said that J. Baldwin Limited had been illegally dumping hazardous material on the waste ground for months while they waited for one of their disposal units to be repaired.’

‘So he wasn’t guilty?’

Poe shook his head.

‘Poor sod,’ Flynn said.

‘Not poor,’ Poe said. ‘He sued J. Baldwin and won a seven-figure sum. He then went after the police for not taking his protection seriously—’

‘Had they?’ Flynn cut in.

‘I honestly don’t know. I do know that they settled with him. A big pay out.’

‘They were worried about the optics? Thought that it’d look like they’d deliberately ignored Atkinson’s concerns because a Cumbrian cop’s kid had been blinded?’

‘Probably.’

‘So where is he now?’

‘That’s just the problem,’ Poe replied. ‘And it’s why Superintendent Nightingale’s on the phone to our lot as we speak – Atkinson’s a protected person …’

Chapter 55

The UK Protected Persons Service, previously called Witness Protection, was formed in 2013. Regionally delivered by the police but coordinated by the National Crime Agency, Poe had never had active involvement with them other than attending mandatory briefings. All he knew was that people would be removed from the area of threat and relocated to a different part of the country – sometimes even abroad – where their lives were rebuilt with new identities.

&nbs

p; UKPPS operated in great secrecy and on a closed computer system. It could only be accessed by sitting in front of a UKPPS terminal with a complex set of passwords and identifiers.

Even Bradshaw couldn’t beat a system like that.

Poe seriously doubted that Nightingale would have much luck getting Atkinson’s new name. And, as the best tool at UKPPS’s disposal was putting distance between the protected person and the problem area, Poe also doubted that Atkinson, whatever his name was now, would be living anywhere near Cumbria anyway.

Nightingale’s face was sourer than a Scottish banana.

‘No joy?’ Flynn said.

She shook her head. ‘Not a credible threat. Wouldn’t even confirm he was on the scheme.’

‘But we already know he is.’

She shrugged.

An admin assistant popped her head round the door. She waved a folded bit of paper and Nightingale beckoned her in. She read it.

‘Think this’ll change their mind?’ she asked, handing it to Flynn. ‘We’ve tracked down one of the jury members and he says that Howard, Rebecca and Amanda were the three dissenting voices who went for not guilty.’