Holly,
Thanks for all the subsequent information you have provided, you're obviously more mentally dexterous than me and I need time to process all this hence delays in my response :)
Regarding the last question, it's an interesting one. It is still unclear to me whether the mobile phones of Tate and Tucker were switched on after 19:00 that evening or whether they still had charge in the devices the following morning and were still actively in an "on" state. We know they didn't answer after that point (19:00) or make any outgoing calls. We know they were found both holding their phones but I cannot find any documentation relating to the service status of the phone at the time when they were discovered by the police.
From what I understand of older phone technology and modern for that matter, There are at least 2 scenarios for leaving messages which are 1. If the target phone is on, actively connected to a network but the recipient doesn't answer...... the call will be made, the mobile will connect to the recipients phone (leaving an audit through the network) and after a certain amount of rings will divert to voicemail automatically. The actual message being stored on the receiving mobiles provider storage server somewhere centrally. 2. If the phone is switched off, not active then the recipients network will know this and pass straight through to voicemail in the same way. The third option is when the mobile is active and connected but a manual override on the phone features sets all incoming calls to divert to voicemail.
I find this point interesting as it is similar to the lack of detail regarding other calls of importance you have mentioned previously. There seems to be no documented information as to what state the physical mobiles were in and whether they had been switched off sometime earlier. I'm sure mobiles either switching themselves off manually or failing due to lack power area alerted / flagged at the exchange as an event.
This of course does not answer any of the questions relating to the lack of available call data you mentioned previously.
How can it be evidenced that none of the trio actively received/made calls after Tate's received call from Sarah Saunders at 18.44? If the answer is phone records from tel comm co's did the defence obtain first hand? If not were checks made to determine completeness and authenticity?
Someone has uploaded Tucker's voice mail containing 26 messages. These appear authentic. The first call from Tucker's girlfriend, Anna, appears to have been answered but no response. No idea of the time but given it appears from further messages she was in the Basildon area and due to be at a restaurant in Romford with Tucker at 8pm I would guess the call was around 6pm - 7pm.
Anna makes numerous voice mail messages, as do others, concerned they haven't heard from him. This extends through to the following morning. No doubt similar was happening with the mobile phones of Rolfe and Tate. I have not heard soc officers say anything about mobile phones ringing.
From personal experience mobile batteries improve all the time with the older ones having a shorter life. From time to time I've left mobiles in the car overnight and have found on particularly cold nights the battery has been dead despite having been fully charged. I've then put the phone on charge and within a couple of minutes it is fully charged. This explains:
https://www.livescience.com/61334-batteries-die-cold-weather.htmlGiven the night was particularly cold and the rear passenger window of the Range Rover smashed the batteries may well have died especially when the mobiles of Tate and Tucker were exposed in their hands. If Rolfe had a mobile in a pocket it may have afforded the battery some protection from the elements.
Anyway whatever the state of the phone/battery voicemail messages were left and retrieved hence the 26 for Tucker but which cell/mast are these calls routed through? The cell/mast based on the location of the mobile when the message is left or the location of the mobile when it is retrieved or both? Does the state of the phone/battery/voicemail set up determine the answer?
I have not seen any arguments from the prosecution about Tate's 18.44 call routed through the Hockley or Ingatestone cells/masts which I believe would be the case if he received the call where he was found? In fact given the prosecution wanted to argue Whomes 18.59 calls placed him in Workhouse Lane this strikes me as a little odd! I believe all this was in its infancy at the 1997/8 trial but if it could be shown to jurors Tate's 18.44 call came in on the same cell/mast that Whomes call went out on at 18.59 this would I'm sure go down a treat with jurors so why wasn't it used!? Instead we have a lot of talk about Steele overhearing the conversation between Tate and Sarah Saunders whilst he was sat in the Range Rover. Was there an assumption by all concerned Tate received the call where he was found or was evidence withheld because it dented the prosecution case?
