Jupp tilted his head towards the expert.

Kelly responded calmly but pointedly, a true expert witness and impartial as always, addressing first the judge, then the jury. ‘Your Honour, I’m unable to comment on other areas of expertise beyond my own – such as the field of facial recognition. In my opinion the CCTV footage and the custody suite footage are both suitable for the purposes of Forensic Gait Analysis, as I have outlined and as detailed in my report. The report provided by the defence’s gait expert also confirms the material is suitable for such purposes.’

Primrose Brown shuffled some papers. ‘Sir, you have presented your evidence that Mr Starr entered the premises of TG Law, but referring back to my earlier statement that there are ten people employed at the firm of TG Law, in addition to the defendant, are you able to tell this court, from your Forensic Gait Analysis, which of these eleven people he might – assuming you are correct in the first place – have gone to see?’

Kelly shook his head and politely replied, ‘No, madam.’

Brown looked at the witness intently. ‘Mr Kelly, is this not really pseudo-science? I suggest you are only interpreting what you have seen to support your findings. How can you be sure of its accuracy?’

Kelly replied, ‘With the greatest of respect, that is not the case, madam. Forensic Gait Analysis has and is being used in court cases. I have no doubt that by recognizing the distinctive and unusual features of gait as those displayed by Michael Starr, he is the person entering that premises.’

As Brown sat, Cork immediately stood. ‘Thank you, no further questions.’

54

Tuesday 14 May

Meg walked home from Hove station through drizzle, beneath a sky as dark and heavy as her heart. A seriously shit day in court. Her hopes had risen after the defence counsel’s attempted grilling of Haydn Kelly and the Forensic Gait Analysis evidence, but it went nowhere. Throughout the rest of the day Stephen Cork read through a stream of witness statements made by Gready’s work colleagues from November 2018.

With each one in turn denying, all equally convincingly, that they had ever met Michael Starr, the evidence against Gready was growing increasingly strong. During the lunchtime recess, and again during a brief adjournment in the afternoon, the opinionated woman juror, Gwen, had insisted that Gready must be guilty. An alarming number of her fellow jurors concurred, despite Meg’s strenuous argument that it was still far too early in the trial to form any opinion, and that there were many more witnesses to come. The arrogant woman was a real problem, she thought. A ghastly snob but, incredibly, she had the ear of most of the jury.

It was already becoming clear to Meg – without the help of Mrs Smythson – that Gready’s defence was foundering on the rocks.

What to do?