Valentine's Dinner?

60. Connecting the Dots

The women relaxed around the table in the Shangri-La meeting room as Lydia outlined for Valerie, Sylvia and Roxana the sequence of events to bring Broughton to trial. When she began describing investigative procedures and what to expect, Valerie commented, "This has changed since my trials."

"Yes, it certainly has. The Home Office conducted a six-month pilot project in 2008, and the subsequent analysis caused significant changes to sexual assault staffing and procedures." Lydia turned to Sylvia. "If today's measures had been in place in 2004, your accusation would not have been dismissed."

Valerie nodded. And I would not have been raped.

Lydia continued, "Each rape victim is now assigned a Sexual Offences Investigation officer as well as an Independent Sexual Violence Adviser from outside the force. These and other measures have led to a reduction in both dismissed charges and victim withdrawals."

After Lydia had covered the details and answered questions, she stood. "I think we're done for the moment. If you have additional information or further questions, you know how to contact me. I'll keep you updated on our progress. We'll win this."

Valerie stood and hugged both Sylvia and Roxana as they rose. "Thank you for stepping forward. May I have my driver take you somewhere?"

The two women looked at each other, shaking their heads, then Sylvia said, "We're fine, thank you. We're an easy Underground ride from here, and we don't need the security like you do." She grimaced. "Must be difficult hiding from his stalking with the paparazzi exposing you."

"Yeah. But thanks to you two, it'll soon be over."

After seeing the two women out, Valerie leaned against the door and heaved a deep sigh. "Is it really as straightforward as you outlined? Or were you keeping their hopes up?"

"Both." Lydia smiled and pointed to the chairs. "Each step must be carefully taken, and each must be done in its proper sequence."

Valerie sat, opened a bottle of water and took a long drink. "So, where do we begin?"

"We need to play him with his lawsuit for a while to keep him close. He has a passport now, and we don't want him fleeing to some remote corner of the planet. He likely knows where extradition is impossible. The arrest warrant for his registry violations has been issued, but it is being kept quiet. Scotland Yard is aware of the importance of timing."

Lydia sorted through the folders in her case. "We have a ruling here that your award is still valid if we can demonstrate he had hidden assets at the time of settlement. The Courts have authorised investigative access to his banking records."

"What about offshore accounts?"

"HMRC have confirmed Broughton has accounts with both Barclays and Lloyds on Jersey." She selected another folder. "The deadline for reporting under the new regulations is May, and the British banks are complying early. But there are some four dozen different banking companies on Jersey, three-quarters of them from the Continent, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia, and reports from most of these haven't yet come in."

"Do we know the sizes of the accounts?"

"Not yet. I've submitted a request to have his assets frozen. And another to have access to details. On the new rape charges, I've set up a liaison with Superintendent Driscoll at Scotland Yard – she's one of the leads in the sexual violence department, and I've briefed her on the basics."

After a pause to sip her tea, Lydia continued, "Now, with more details, I'll meet with her and a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer to get the ball rolling. Another benefit from the sexual assault pilot is that CPS lawyers now work out of the same office as the investigating police."

"That makes sense. That was such a frustrating time for me, going from office to office, seldom seeing the same person twice. Having to repeat my story from the beginning each time. No wonder so many gave up."

"It used to be whoever had pulled the sexual assault duty that day. Now, there is a dedicated, trained team, and each victim is assigned her own investigator who follows the case through to completion."

Valerie took another sip of water. "Should we anticipate more victims to step forward once he is arrested and charged?"

"I would think so. From the events each of you described, he had a fixed routine. Hot lights on the set and a warning not to become dehydrated, then providing glasses of water."

"Yeah, laced with Rohypnol." Valerie picked up her bottle of water and stared at it for a long while as she thought. "How would he have gotten around the green dye? We were all warned about that by counsellors and friends. The old watch your drink warning."

Lydia raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "Roche is still marketing the original cold-dissoluble soft-pressed white pills in Asia."

"Yeah, so much for their compliance with their stated aim to make them readily identifiable." Valerie shook her head. "How easy is it to buy pills smuggled from China?"

"Likely as easy as buying marijuana." She laughed. "It would be easier than buying the hard-pressed, green-dye legal ones because no prescription is necessary."

"Yeah, and Roche knows that. And they don't give a damn that much of their undyed production ends up illegally in Europe and America."

"Exactly! It increases their sales and profits, and that's all that matters to some companies."

"Yeah, but not mine. Remind me we need Ethics and Environment to do another audit of our companies."

Lydia jotted a brief note in her phone, then she returned to discussing Broughton. "In 1998, he survived a car crash which killed his parents and sister, so at twenty-four, he inherited the family estate –"

"The car crash would likely be the cause of his limp and the scars on his face."

"Yes, it was. He lost his left leg below the knee, and he suffered severe facial trauma." Lydia shook her head as she pointed to a folder. "And as if losing his family and being seriously maimed wasn't enough, his mother's family disputed the will."

"While he was still in hospital?"

"Yes, seemingly to kick him while he was down, but regardless, the will was upheld." She opened the folder and flipped a few pages. "We've accessed the probate records. Besides the house in Belgrave Square, other major assets were a three-hundred-twenty-acre estate to the west of Windsor and a seven-unit terrace house in Fulham. Total appraised value for inheritance tax was a little over twenty-six million."

"Hmmm. So, he hid a lot of that from the Court."

"He would likely have sold several properties to pay the ten and a half million or so in tax."

"He'd still be left with fifteen or sixteen million." Valerie nodded. "More than four times what he had declared in 2005."

"Yes, and we're going to find it."