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Rachel Hunter QC
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posted 3/27/03 5:18 PM
The Prosecutions Fourth WitnessAaron KosminskiAK: I swear that the evidence I give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truthRH: Lieutenant Kosminski, You were the police officer assigned to this case correct?AK: That’s correct, yesRH: And how long have you been a police officer?AK: I started as a Cadet eight years ago.RH: Can you please talk us through the investigation in Adam’s death?AK: We were called to the Test residence at 17:27 on Sunday 9th March and My colleague Sergeant Grace Patries arrived at 17:46. Mrs Test explained her ten-year-old son was missing and provided us with a description and photo of the boy, and we immediately started house-to-house enquiries. We went all over the neighbourhood, but no one had said they had seen Adam at all. We searched the empty properties in the area, including the abandoned house at 7 Sim Lane, and had a diving team drag the river, but we found no trace of the missing boy.RH: So despite searching the area where the body was later found, you found no trace of Adam?AK: That’s correctRH: Please, continueAK: I was continuing with the house-to-house enquiries when a report of a child’s body found at the property on 7 Sim Lane, at 10:18 am the following day, Monday 10th March.RH: After it was established it was poor Adam, and that he had been murdered, what route did your investigation take?AK: I collected CCTV tapes from the school, which showed Adam leaving the school with a man. And we immediately put out an appeal for information from the public.RH: Did the appeal provide you with any information?AK: Yes, we were sent the photographs of Hansworth with Ms Hall.RH: And whom were these sent by?AK: A journalist sent them to the police department.RH: And what did you make of these photos?AK: At that time, I was not sure what, if any, bearing they would have on the case. I noticed that the gentleman in the picture was Mr Hansworth, and it was well documented that Ms Hall was expecting a baby. After a few days with no further information, we sent the photographs from the vacation with Ms Hall, along with the CCTV footage from the school, with Mr Hansworth’s press photograph from his campaign to the lab at New Scotland Yard. Using skull super-imposing they were able to establish that it was the same man in all three pictures.RH: Can you explain what skull super-imposing is?AK: Yes, it is where the technicians at the lab take an imprint of the underlying facial features to get a “Base skull” which is then super-imposed on top of other photographs. A skull is as unique as a fingerprint, no two people will have exactly the same features, position of eye sockets and such, even identical twins, by adulthood, will have some differences.RH: So there is no doubt that the man who took Adam from the school, the man who was with Ms Hall on an illicit weekend break, and the man in the press photograph are all the same man, Mr HansworthAK: That’s correct, no doubt at all.RH: Was there anything else with the photographs when they were received at the police department?AK: Yes, there was a note.RH: What did the note say?AK: It was typed on a typewriter and said, “If you want your boy, I want those photographs, don’t mess with me”RH: Did the journalist explain what that meant?AK: Yes he did, he said he had taken the pictures of Hansworth and Ms Hall and was using them to blackmail the politician. He received the note at 15:30 on Sunday 9th March, at first he was confused, as his two sons, were at home with him and his wife, he assumed it must be a prank and thought nothing of it, it was only after Adam’s body had been found that he realised the sender of the note had been serious.RH: What do you think happened in this case?AL: Objections, calls for suppositionMM: sustained, please Ms Hunter, you know better than thatRH: Sorry your Honour, let me rephrase that, it is your opinion that Adam died in a case of mistaken identity, that the intended victim was the son of the journalist?AK: Yes, that’s what I think.RH: Thank you, no further Questions.
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Alistair Logan, Council for the Defence
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posted 3/27/03 5:28 PM
Cross-examination by Alistair Logan for the defence.AL: Lieutenant Kosminski, How advanced is this “skull super-imposing” technology?AK: It is a fairly new process, but it has been used extensively in many cases.AL: A fairly new process, and you’ve trusted the biggest investigation of your career to a fairly new process?AK: As I said, it has been used extensively before, and it is a very accurate method of identification.AL: OK, lets go on to these photographs, sent to you by a journalist, you would rather we believe the word of a self confessed blackmailer, than a well-respected politician like my client?AK: What would the journalist have to gain from lying? He has confessed to a serious crime. People don’t usually do that just to implicate someone else.AL: Unless, of course that they themselves were guilty of the crime. After all, Murder is a much more serious offence than Blackmail. As for Ms Hall, do you have any conclusive evidence that Mr Hansworth is the father of her baby?AK: Mr Hansworth hasn’t agreed to submit to DNA testingAL: So all you have, to base your theory on is the word of a single mother who changes her mind from week to week on who fathered her child, and a self confessed criminal, hardly a very convincing panel. No further questions
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