‘Mr Parker, you have mentioned the subject of Wi-Fi connectivity. What margin for error in these connections might there be? Are they completely accurate or could there be doubt – by which I mean sufficient doubt to allow for the possibility of error within the criteria of this court? Can you really trust the accuracy of the Wi-Fi?’

Meg watched Parker shift uncomfortably. Good, she thought. Good question!

Parker answered. ‘We don’t rely solely on Wi-Fi records – we always try to support these, where possible, with CCTV footage, and in this instance, we have obtained footage from the camera of Brighton Law Courts, located directly opposite number 176A Edward Street. Significantly, we have footage on the date of the last recorded visit of a male in possession of Mr Starr’s phone in the vicinity of 176A Edward Street on Wednesday November 21st of last year, which clearly shows the male entering the door to the side of Sun Yip Lee, which is the entrance to the offices of TG Law.’

Brown continued. ‘You have no evidence that the two men met. Is that correct?’

Parker replied reluctantly, ‘That is correct.’

‘Mr Parker, is there CCTV footage showing that same male leaving the premises?’

‘No, this is all we have.’

‘So we don’t know if it was Mr Starr who was there, if he met anyone, or even, on the CCTV evidence, if he ever left?’

Parker replied a grudging, ‘No.’

‘Then I have no more questions.’ Brown sat down.

Cork told the court he also had no further questions and Judge Jupp told Parker that he could stand down.

‘I would now like to call my witness Haydn Kelly,’ Stephen Cork said.

Defence Counsel Primrose Brown rose. ‘Your Honour, can I ask for a short adjournment of no more than twenty minutes? I have arranged for an expert witness to listen to the evidence that this next witness for the prosecution will be giving to the court. I understand his train this morning was delayed but he is on his way to court as I speak.’

Richard Jupp responded, ‘Very well, Ms Brown, we will adjourn for twenty minutes.’

51

Tuesday 14 May

Meg, along with her fellow jurors, filed out of the court and into the jury room. It was furnished with a long, plain, rectangular table taking up much of the space, with reasonably comfortable chairs upholstered in purple and a blue carpet. There was a fan on a tall stand, a dehumidifier, a monitor, a whiteboard with a selection of coloured marker pens, tea and coffee-making facilities, as well as male and female toilets. The solitary, curtained window looked out at a blank wall. There was nothing, she had noted previously, to distract them from their purpose for being here.

And on one wall was a stark warning notice.