Free Fit Up by Faith Clifford Page B

seen these images and that they were nothing to do with him. He began to suspect that they had been planted. To get through the next stage, Hamilton told Jeremy how he should conduct himself at the interview. He had to say ‘no comment’ to absolutely everything Hopkins asked. He did not want to hear a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’, not even the slightest explanation; he had to say ‘no comment’ and nothing else. Jeremy said he felt uncomfortable about that because he wanted to defend himself against the allegationsthat were being thrown at him but, at the same time, Hamilton was the expert and Jeremy reasoned that he must know what he’s talking about.
    Hamilton then told Hopkins that they were ready for the interview. Hopkins sat next to an accompanying officer, opposite Jeremy and Hamilton. There was a slight delay because Hopkins had not got his laptop working and was having trouble bringing up information from a disc. He appeared bumbling and nervous.
    Finally, the interview started and, as instructed, Jeremy said ‘no comment’ to everything, although in his head he was screaming out the correct answers that would have explained everything. The trouble is that no matter how much you think you can explain, how innocent and clear your explanations, there is always the possibility that your words will be turned around and used against you. Throughout the entire interview Hamilton did not look at Hopkins once, did not acknowledge anything, concentrating only on his notepad and scribbling notes. Jeremy felt very embarrassed because he could see Hopkins’s flushed complexion and facial expressions, his whole demeanour showing discomfort and exasperation because he kept hearing ‘no comment’ to every question. When Hopkins finally got around to showing Jeremy the images, he was appalled that he could be accused of purchasing such material. The images were so small that he had to move closer to the laptop screen to decipher what he was looking at, which turned out to be ten very fuzzy, grainy thumbnail images, which he knew he had never seen before. Jeremy became aware, as the interview proceeded, that the other officer appeared uncomfortable and did not say a single word throughout. The body language of both officers made him feel positive that he was being stitched up to take the fall. Thinking about how much manpower had gone into his case, getting the warrants to search our properties, examining all our confiscated belongings, forensically looking through five computers, fuelled with excitement by thefact that Jeremy had a filming business which the police thought must be producing and distributing such material but had found nothing, he felt sure that the police needed to get a result to justify their time and expense. The thought crossed my mind that it could not have helped that Jeremy had been continuously complaining about Hopkins’s conduct during the investigation.
    After each image was shown Hopkins asked questions and, with a hint of sarcasm, said that he knew Jeremy was going to say ‘no comment’ but was going to ask anyway. Three-quarters of the way through the interview, Jeremy said that Hopkins’s blood pressure appeared to be rising. It was taking all Jeremy’s effort not to scream out and tell Hopkins what a load of crap this all was, plus, saying ‘no comment’ all the time was becoming laughable. In frustration, Jeremy asked to stop the interview in order to speak to Hamilton, at which point they left the interview room temporarily. Hopkins was probably feeling confident that Jeremy was crumbling under the pressure and would return to the room to hold his hands up and admit his guilt.
    All Jeremy wanted to do was to ask Hamilton if he was doing OK, because he could easily answer all the questions. The questions got repetitive because they were the same for each image. Hamilton confirmed that he was doing fine and told him to keep saying ‘no comment’. The interview carried on for a little