The Accused

Judge You were not seeking my guidance, Sir James, but simply wishing to make a point. No doubt you feel you have. Carry on, Mr Kersley.

Kersley Thank you, My Lord. Chief Inspector, you were telling the court, before we were interrupted by my learned friend, that you went to the hospital in the hope of asking Mrs Sherwood some questions. When you arrived, did you find Mrs Sherwood in her husband’s arms?

Judge (Barrington rises) Mr Kersley, that was an outrageous leading question whose only purpose was to prejudice the jury.

Kersley I do apologise, My Lord. I must have been distracted by Sir James’s unnecessary interruption. Chief Inspector, when you arrived at the hospital, was Mr Sherwood at his wife’s bedside?

Payne No, sir, a member of the hospital staff was trying to locate him.

Kersley I see. So who signed the death certificate?

Payne Her local GP, a Dr Haslam.

Kersley And was he satisfied that Mrs Sherwood had suffered a heart attack?

Payne He had no reason to believe otherwise. He’d been treating her for a heart condition for some time.

Barrington My Lord, he is at it again.

Judge And so are you, Sir James. Carry on, Mr Kersley.

Kersley Did you also accept this judgement?

Payne I saw no reason to question their professional opinion.

Kersley So what caused you to change your mind and open a murder inquiry?

Payne Some weeks later I received a call from the dangerous drugs division of the Home Office. Following that call, I visited a chemist in Wellingborough to check their Controlled Drugs Register. It showed that a Mr Sherwood had been regularly having prescriptions of Potassium Chloride made up, that fell into the category of poisons under the 1994 Drug Trafficking Act.

Kersley Why should that make you consider a crime had been committed? After all, Mr Sherwood has the authority to write out such prescriptions.

Payne Yes, but why have them made up outside London when St George’s Hospital has a large pharmacy of its own?

Kersley Why indeed, and did Mr Sherwood collect these prescriptions himself?

Payne No, over a period of three months he used a Ms Jennifer Mitchell, a junior staff nurse at St George’s, to collect them on a Saturday in Wellingborough and then return the ampoules of Potassium to Mr Sherwood’s office on the Monday morning.

Kersley Chief Inspector, would I be correct in saying that if Ms Mitchell had not volunteered a statement, you would never have considered charging the defendant?

Payne That is correct. Her evidence was to prove vital. She stated that over a period of twelve weeks, between January and March of 1999, Mr Sherwood had instructed her on six occasions to pick up ten-millilitre ampoules of Potassium Chloride. But he only handed her the prescriptions on a Friday evening, when he knew she would be visiting her parents in Wellingborough.

Judge Wellingborough keeps cropping up, Chief Inspector. Does it have some particular significance in this case?

Kersley Wellingborough has no relevance in itself, My Lord. All Mr Sherwood needed was for the prescriptions to be dispensed at a chemist outside London, so that none of his colleagues at St George’s would be aware of what he was really up to.

Judge Ah, so it could well have been Milton Keynes or Henley?

Kersley Yes, My Lord, but only if Ms Mitchell had lived in Milton Keynes or Henley.

Judge Ah, yes, I see. Carry on, Mr Kersley.

Kersley Chief Inspector, were any of these prescriptions for Potassium Chloride made out for Mrs Sherwood?

Payne No, they were all prescribed for his private patients.

Kersley So what made you think that they might not have reached those patients?

Payne When the results of the lab test came back, they showed that there were traces of Potassium Chloride on the rubber glove found on the Sherwoods’ kitchen floor.