#The Final Act | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

forensicated · 11 months ago

Text

Smiffina Episodes: Witness Part 8 - The Final Act (8/8)

Tony and Emma rush to the scene to find Smithy's car on its side and call for help. In the middle of it, Smithy comes round and in a nice character decision, Smithy's flight or fight response is clearly fight and he almost wallops Tony until he realises that it's friend not foe.

More with it after a few seconds, Smithy joins Tony and they manage to get the other two out of the car and away from the wreckage.

Reg and Beth are still pinned down by an attack on the mobile unit. Reg reports that they're getting bottles thrown at them now and as he does - a shot is fired at the window that luckily does not get through. A trojan unit and back up are on the way to them.

Heaton heads back to the station and asks Grace to delay Alesha giving evidence whilst they're being checked over and calming down. Smithy suggests an adjournment and Heaton asks Gina to check if possible and she rings Grace to ask her to ask. Sam starts looking into the car that ran Smithy off the road and checks for CCTV. Sunil plays down Grace's report that Smithy being run off the road is linked to the case, insisting it's a road traffic incident. Grace tells the judge Alesha was attacked to stop her giving evidence and not for the first time. Sunil pretty much rolls his eyes and says it's an unfounded allegation and that it can't be that bad as she's not in hospital. The judge asks if there's any injuries and Grace said she hasn't heard of any yet. Sunil claims if they take any further time to call Alesha then it just adds to the feeling of mystery and drama around her. The judge agrees and refuses to adjourn any longer than that afternoon. Alesha must attend - today.

Youths attempt to set fire to the car that was used in the attack on Smithy's police car in the middle of the Jasmine Allen. Beth, Will and others attend and are pelted with bricks and other debris including Will who gets a ball bearing to the stomach from a catapult and another officers trousers catch fire from a petrol bomb thrown.

Jo and Terry are sent to report intelligence on the scene, taking residence on a roof of a tower block nearby. Cars are being removed from the carpark and used to build a barricade at one end whilst others are breaking into a shop next to it. They suspect it's a Creekside Boys event rather than the residents getting involved.

Smithy and Alesha identify Spencer Wright - who he had a run in recently when looking for Oscar and Joel, as the driver of the car who drove them off the road from CCTV. Alesha promises Smithy she's strong enough to stand up to 'that idiot' if she can stand up to Tito and she'll give evidence against him too when it comes to trial. "Good." Smithy smiles at her, telling her it's time for court.

Heaton runs a briefing with the remaining uniform at the station to tell them what is happening on the Jasmine Allen. Heaton wants to disappoint them and not give them the head on collision that they want but to monitor and arrest from the backstreets as so far it's only the police who seem the targets, not the residents themselves. The stop and wait strategy is a nonstarter - they attack the van as soon as officers arrive - it's now a full scale riot and Nate is allowed to go back out to play with the big girls and boys after being station bound from the attack-that-never-was on Raheem Woods.

Three identical cars arrive in convoy at the court, using the side doors to get Alesha inside safely. She wants to give her evidence face to face, not hide behind a screen or use video monitors. Julian reassures her that all she has to do is stick to the truth, even admitting the lies about the alibi and why - and to stay calm.

Alesha takes her time and keeps calm as she faces Fox and explains why she lied - because she was scared what they'd do to her, she was scared of being blamed and was threatened. She came forward because Carly was her friend.

On the estate, van loads of officers arrive in riot gear to take control and arrest the trouble makers. They are pelted with all manner of items including bricks and a fire is burning too. Heaton reckons there's two groups present - the criminal Creekside element and the local youths out for a jolly (!). He thinks if they remove the criminal element then it'll stop the others and they'll regain control. There are two large groups of rioters and so Heaton arranges two arrest teams to keep them seperate and to remove the trouble makers.

Sunil comes at Alesha to call her a proven liar who changes her story as she pleases. Alesha hits back to insist there's only two versions and she explained why. Sunil claims she saw Tito dancing with another woman at the party and got upset and jealous and they argued and that is why she's accusing him of being in the car and shooting Carly. He claims they also argued in a McDonalds - and he has witnesses he can call - about it to. Alesha admits they argued but it was about him making her hide a gun. Not a jealousy row. Sunil paints a picture of Tito trying to get out of an mentally abusive relationship, beaten down by her constant jealousy and accusations of him cheating on her if he so much as looked at another woman. Alesha denies it all and Sunil asks "Not true? Or just not true today?" "He needed me to lie, thats why we argued."

Smithy wonders why Dwayne hasn't pleaded guilty like Joel did when they're both accomplices. He says he's going to go speak to him and ask why. Grace tells him not to because they've already accused him of breaking the rules and that it'll play into their hands. He still goes through. Smithy asks Dwayne if he's going to let one stupid decision to back Tito up take the rest of his life as he knows Tito shot Carly and so does Dwayne. [How? Two hands came out of the window. Two guns shot bullets. How can he know which got Carly and either way - he still shot a gun!] Smithy asks him what he's scared of. Creekside? Tito? Dwayne shouts for security to come through and Smithy has to leave the cell.

The riot has increased to 100 at least and they're throwing petrol bombs. Heaton wants Raheem and the other leaders arrested ASAP with the TSG. They advance in a line and split to allow TSG through to get to Woods and others. In doing so, Nate gets kidnapped and carried off by Raheem and others who beat him. Smithy arrives as court has adjourned until Tito and Dwayne have to give evidence so he's arrived to help having heard about Nate. Callum and Smithy take three other men and go into underground carpark to go and get him back. Of course Smithy's going in in just his uniform and a helmet. Of course he is!

In rescuing Nate, Smithy disarms and arrests Raheem Woods and Callum has Spencer Wright - not a bad 5 minutes work. "You alright Nate?" "Peachy Sarge, love a good beating." "Yeah, heard that about you."

At the station, Woods claims to Sam and Smithy he was only there to calm things down. When told there's surveillance of him trying to set a Honda alight he insists it's not him. Smithy and Sam then go to interview Spencer and tell him that Raheem claims it's all down to him because 'he went lone ranger'. Spencer insists he's not in Creekside by choice, he's there as protection. Smithy says he doesn't care either way - all they want to know is why Creekside are so wrapped up in stopping Carly's case. He either tells them or takes the entire attempted murder of Smithy and Alesha rap all by himself.

Spencer tells them that Tito rang him from remand and wanted to an eye kept on Alesha. She wasn't down to appear as a witness so he wanted it to stay that way. It was him who spray painted the house and smashed the window. He claims that since Marlon got arrested there's a huge power vacuum on the Jasmine Allen and that Creekside are backing Tito so he has to keep them sweet as they want control over the estate. The officers don't buy it - there'd still be that vacuum if Tito went down. "What does he know, Spencer? Why do Creekside want to keep Tito sweet?" Spencer tells them - reluctantly - that Tito got the guns from Woods. They find there's a third gun out there - an automatic "that Tito loves and favours everytime." If Tito did have the automatic gun in the car, it wasn't him who shot Carly. It was Dwayne.

Woods insists he's has nothing to do with any guns and that Spencer is lying. Smithy isn't deterred and works out it makes sense that Creekside got involved because with Marlon out the way they get the estate... but they didn't get Marlon, it was Carly. Sam says Creekside's involvement in supplying the guns explains the attempt to stop Alesha getting to court. With Smithy in the car as well it makes it attempted murder of a police officer as well as Alesha. Smithy asks if he knows Dwayne or why Tito took Dwayne on the night of the shooting. Woods no comments every question. Sam ends the interview and - with the tape recorder off - Woods starts talking, as long as they keep it off. Tito took Dwayne because he was pushing him 'You gonna let that joker make a fool of you? You gonna stand for that?' etc. They only worked together because they had a united reason - Marlon. They both hated him and wanted him gone. Dwayne hated him because Carly was going to leave for Sheffield and she'd told him that she was leaving with Brooke. They'd had a huge argument about it. She wrote a letter explaining it to him saying if he didn't pay her child support, he didn't deserve to see Brooke and that made him even angrier. Brooke was his, money or no money, and no lippy kid was going to tell him different. Woods says he'll also come clean about Nate not hurting him if they make his charge affray rather than violent disorder.

Smithy and Sam talk it over. What if Dwayne had engineered it from the start and it was his argument and not Tito? What if it was about Carly and Brooke rather than Tito's assault? Sam isn't so sure but Smithy continues. Carly was moving away and taking his daughter. Whilst she was on the estate he saw as much of Brooke as he wanted to - with her almost 200 miles away that wouldn't be as easy. Sam asks if Smithy is suggesting that Carly was the target all along? Smithy isn't sure if she was the intended target or if it was spur of the moment but he's starting to think that. He's been cunning either way because he told Smithy he didn't know she was leaving and he's hidden behind it being Tito's crime and him just taken along for the ride. Sam agrees and suggests Smithy take Leanne home so they can go through her belongings to see if they can find a letter. Leanne tells him he bought stuff for Brooke but never paid any money for her care and it was a real bone of contention. Leanne admits she would write things down if she had something serious to say. They hurry back to find it her notepad or to see if she kept a copy.

The riot is almost over with less than 20 people hanging around as Leanne returns with Smithy and Heaton. Leanne glares around the group still lingering. "Do you want killers living here? What happened to me can happen to you." She tells them, following Smithy up the stairs to her flat. Smithy finds a notepad and see the word 'Sheffield' as an indentation so they bag it to get it to the lab quickly. Leanne's words seem to have done the trick as the last few lingering around pay them no attention as they leave.

Sunil is summing up the prosecutions evidence and tells the jury that the prosecution is all smoke and mirrors and that they haven't made a case. The police have been accused, there's no real evidence and that the main witness is a liar. If the prosecution have not proven beyond reasonable doubt they must return a verdict of not guilty. Grace and Smithy worry that if he continues like this - as the jury seem to be lapping it up - it might end before they get the lab results back from the letter. If they do... it's too late.

Dwayne is then called to the stand to give his evidence. He claims he doesn't think of the canal as 'the canal' when he was asked, just 'The park' and that if they'd looked harder they'd find pushchair tracks and Brooke's footprints too. Smithy gets a text and goes out to meet Jo who hands him the initial basic report from forensics alongside the relevant bits of Dwayne's statement. He tells Jo it's going badly and she wishes him good luck with the evidence. He writes a note and passes it to the prosecuting barrister with the evidence. Dwayne looks very uneasy when he sees Smithy return and give Leanne, Grace and Heaton a thumbs up.

Ford asks Dwayne if there had been any arguments or conflicts between him and Carly and he says no. He is asked if they'd rowed over access or child support. Again he says no. He admits he gave Carly no money but bought things for Brooke and saw her as often as he could despite being seperated from Carly and that the father-daughter relationship is important to him. He claims he didn't know she was leaving and it was the police who told him after she'd died. Sunil claims that the prosecution is veering off into evidence that isn't in disclosure. Ford tells the judge that new evidence has been found today and both are asked to approach the judge. Dwayne claims if Carly sent him a letter he never saw it or got it. Alesha whispers to Leanne and Smithy that he did because Carly told him. She hadn't told Smithy because she didn't know it was relevant and everyone was focused on it being Tito's fight. Smithy hurries her out into the foyer where they discuss it.

Dwayne tells the court that Brooke is his daughter and no one can take that away from him. Ford pauses. "... But Carly was going to, wasn't she." he said before quoting Carly's words that she was going to take her away where he could never see her. He continues to say that Dwayne goaded Tito into that car and that when he got to the skateboard park he saw everything he was about to lose and got angry. He insists he wasn't in the car. He's asked if he shot Carly. Leanne stands up and shouts "ANSWER HIM!" at Dwayne. The judge orders silence in the gallery or she'll clear it. Dwayne's mother is looking conflicted from the back row. Dwayne still doesn't answer it and is told to step down. Smithy sends another note to Ford to tell him to call Alesha because she knows about the letter. Sunil tries to get the judge to refuse it, insisting she has been sat with police officers and that there's already been a coaching accusation. The judge allows her and says Sunil can cross examine her.

In the dock, Dwayne and Tito are talking and he whispers to Tito "I can't do this anymore, it's killing my mum!" Alesha tells the court that she didn't know what was in the letter and that all along she's thought it was Tito's fight. She does know however that Carly was going to Sheffield because she'd gotten her a job there with her cousin and Carly had told her about the letter and giving it to Dwayne she knew that he was lying. Sunil calls her a liar and that she can't be relied upon to tell the truth and there's too much doubt. Alesha shouts back she's not a liar, she knows the truth and was scared. Dwayne sobs that he can't do it anymore and leaps to his feet. Tito lunges at him and the two are parted. Dwayne wants to change his plea and Tito shouts after him that he's a grass and to keep his mouth shut as they're forced out of the room.

Both men are indited for murder, Tito can fight it but he'd be on a hiding to nothing as the plea change in Dwayne's case means that it's practically impossible and won't change anything - both are going to be put away for murder.

Outside Smithy hugs Alesha and congratulates her. She then hurries to her dad who hugs her and tells him he's so proud of her. Leanne thanks Ford and then Alesha for what they did. Beverley can barely look at her as she leaves court, turning and quietly lowering her head as she walks out. Leanne watches her go as Smithy touches her shoulder and comforts her. Leanne turns and kisses Smithy's cheek and tells him he's a good man. He blushes almost and tries to downplay it as his job. "Being a policeman is your job. Being a good man comes from in here." she says, touching his heart. Smithy almost shyly thanks her and leads her outside, taking her home.

I do have a few questions (like why do I pay attention to stuff that doesn't matter?) like :

Why didn't they mention going looking for the other automatic gun even in passing to get it off the streets? And if they're now saying Tito used the automatic in the car, and Dwayne used the revolver that killed Carly who used the 9mm? Surely that breaks the case somewhat? Or are we to accept they were wrong and Tito didn't take the gun that he favours and thinks of as his and poses with to shoot Marlon? The gun that hearing about made Smithy change his mind to it being Dwayne and not Tito who shot Carly?

What happened to 'Tito being a good boy' that they kept spouting in part 1 who was only with the gang so people didn't hassle him? And if he was such a good boy (even Oscar said it) why didn't anyone re-bring up that his dad threw him out and ask why? Or even go visit his parents?Alesha reckoned he was waiting to get into college. At no point did we see any Tito side that can be 'the good boy', especially funeral onwards. He was a greasy smarmy runt throughout! Having said that though, I'm probably answering my own question when I say that there were four writers for the entire 8 episodes and that each writer wrote two of the episodes.

If the rent scam had been caught out and the muppet who ran it prosecuted then Tito would be homeless. Where was he living after to be still around the estate to the point where he was picked up from his flat where he lived alone during a late night raid? Surely the council wouldn't rehouse him THAT quickly when he'd been scamming one of their properties with a housing list with demand as high as it would be in East London (and lets face it, the area Sun Hill is supposed to be a not that far from the City of London (around Whitechapel/Stepney/Spitalfields/Shadwell! ) and they'd surely not rehouse him right where his (at the time) potential victims mother still lived!

How did Sunil find the McDonalds argument witnesses? And if there were witnesses close enough to say they were arguing, didn't he ask them to attest to what was said to show it wasn't jealous girlfriend stuff? (and why didn't anyone report that guns were mentioned? If they're to back up Tito's false story then it wouldn't take 5 minutes to prove they're linked to Creekside!

Smithy says there were four gunshots. There were 9 at my count!. (not my link - go to 44.49 here there's 2 guns shooting at the same time and one takes an extra one) It doesn't look like one is an automatic either, they both look the same.

Why didn't they mention the intimidation Alesha faced and Smithy getting run off the road on the way to court? Yes Sunil claimed it was unfounded allegation but it could easily be proved, especially as by the time they were in the court room they'd named the suspect and he was a member of Creekside and that it could have been mentioned in that 'oops, strike that from the record...', jury you will ignore that' tropey bollocks crime shows use all the time when they want the jury to know something they're not supposed to!

is it possible to be too anal?

And whilst we're at it...

will the boys EVER stop saying 'Come on then?!' to someone threatening them? Especially when they have weapons in their hands like knives! Looking at you in this episode, Sgt Stone though Smithy is a bugger for it too.

How is Smithy not made of mostly metal now given the amount of bangs to the head/knocks to the body/hostage situations/smacked around/car crashes etc? He's like the terminator.

2 notes · View notes