AW was a prosecution witness. When she made her first statement to the police on 7th February 2010, she quite clearly recalled seeing us on 1st October 2009.
“On 30th September 2009 I went to a residential course in Coventry. At around
15:30 on 1st October 2009 I travelled home with my colleague. I had to walk past
Sami’s house. It was a nice sunny day. I saw Sam and Mark at the rear of the
house. They seemed fine, they were working together. We had a bit of a joke
about my sunglasses.”
Six weeks later, on 18th March 2010 she was asked to ‘reconsider’ her account by uniformed officers, clearly because it didn’t suit the narrative they were constructing. Two of her neighbours were ex-policemen who retained contacts within Thames Valley police and who had themselves referred the case for investigation. AW changed her statement as a result. When examined on this point at trial she admitted that she wouldn’t have reconsidered the date at all had it not been for their request. She felt that her initial statement was probably more accurate.
It was sunny on both of the days she mentions in her statements, 1st October being an unusually warm day for that time of year according to Met Office reports. I’ve attached copies of the two accounts so you can judge for yourselves (names have been removed to protect the identity of those involved). In the police schedule of non-material statements, we’ve spotted possible further sightings of dad which we’ve requested copies of. So far, the police have refused to disclose them to us.
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