The Judge called the court to order after the short break.
“Mr Fox, you may begin your cross-examination of this witness.”

“Thank you, My Lord.”

“Ms Pleasance, that was an interesting pack of lies that you just told the jury. I wonder why you are not being investigated for perjury,” said Fox as an opening statement to his cross-examination.

Before Dido could answer, he continued.

“Perjury is a very serious crime, as you well know. Are you going to revise your testimony?”

“Mr Fox,” said Dido.
“I will not retract one word that I have said during my verbal testimony to the court and in my video testimony that has been shown to the court. If the CPS can find an issue with any of that video testimony, then why did they submit it all into evidence? That leads me to think that it is you who is not being factually correct with the truth. If you do have specific evidence where I told an untruth and can prove it, I am sure that the Crown would love to hear it right now or when you have the opportunity to testify. Do you have that evidence to share with the court to back up your allegations?”

Dido had avoided using the word ‘lying’. That could lead to an objection. It was a technique that Fox had used in past cases. Dido was trying to goad him into an outburst.

“Mr Day… that is your legal name, is it not?”

“Objection!” said the CPS Barrister.

The Judge responded.
“Mr Fox, you know very well that Dido Pleasance is her legal name. You were provided with a copy of the deed poll before the trial. I also made it clear that mentioning the name of a child is out of context and is on very thin ice. One more outburst like that, and I’ll add a charge of contempt of court to the already long list of charges that you are facing. Do you understand? And… you will spend the remainder of the trial in the dock, and according to the terms of the agreement that you signed, you will be unable to question this or any other witness directly for the duration of these proceedings. Do you understand this, Mr Fox?”

“Sorry, My Lord. I understand.”

Then, without even taking a breath, he carried on with his onslaught of Dido.
“Ms Pleasance, you stated that you were abducted and then operated on. When and where exactly did this take place?”

“As I stated in my video, I had no idea where I was operated on. That is still true today. There were never any windows in the place where I was kept after they… they operated on me. As for my abduction, which took place from my bed at my family home in Southend and before you ask, I have no factual evidence as to where my parents are or if they were involved with my abduction. All I remember is that I went to sleep one night, and when I woke up, I was no longer a male.”

“Then it could have been outside the UK, for all you know?”

“It could. As I said,”

Fox interrupted.

“Then any crime that might have been committed could have fallen outside UK Territorial Waters?”

Dido hesitated.

“That is a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer.”

“No, Mr Fox, it is not a simple answer, and you know it.”

“Then I will take it as a yes then.”

“Objection. The witness has not answered the question,” said Mr Prescott.

The Judge agreed.
“Mr Fox, Ms Pleasance has said that it is not a simple answer. I’d like to hear her not-so-simple answer before I rule on the objection.

Fox looked displeased but wisely shut up.

Dido began,
“Section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 states that it does not matter if the victim consents to the travel. I did not consent to be taken. I did not consent to be mutilated. I did not consent to be transported to your Hertfordshire residence. I did not consent to be made to perform oral and anal sex with you, your son and your guests for almost six years. I am not a lawyer, as you kept telling me when you marked down my assignments, but in my eyes, it does not matter where I was mutilated. What matters is that I was transported or, as the act says, ‘trafficked’ to your home, where I was prostituted. You, Sir, were in breach of many parts of Section 2 of this act, not with respect to me, but with respect to ‘Child 1’ and ‘Child 2’. You may recall that they were found locked up in cells in your cellar at the time of your arrest. Even if the 2015 Act does not apply to your prostitution of me, keeping me locked up against my will is very much a breach of many other laws, as you should well know, what with you being a lawyer and all that. Your son did mutilate me. You should know because you were watching when he did it. Remember now? Do you remember when he tattooed a tulip flower where a woman’s clitoris would be? Thereafter, you called me ‘Tulip’. I might look different from when I was your prisoner, but I remember it all as if it were yesterday. That crime was certainly committed inside UK Territorial Waters… namely, the cellar at your house. I was most certainly under the age of consent when that was done. The act of tattooing a minor is a crime. You were part of that act in that you watched with glee from over his shoulder.”

Dido turned to the Judge.
“Thank you, My Lord. I hope my non-simple answer answered the question.”

The judge nodded his head.
“Objection overruled. The witness has provided us all with an education relating to the 2015 Act and how it should be applied to this case.”

In the public gallery, John Proudfoot smiled as he looked at the reaction of the jury to Dido’s little lecture on the law to a law professor. At least four of them were smiling, and three had to cover their mouths to stop a laugh. His faith in Dido was being amply rewarded.

Fox glared at Dido. His expression was one of pure hatred.

“Who coached you to say all that baloney?” asked Fox, who appeared visibly flustered.

“Mr Fox. No one coached me. Between the time of your arrest and the start of this trial, I spent dozens of hours in the University Law library, just like any lawyer would, to prepare for my day giving evidence to this esteemed court. I did talk to other law students in the library about the suitability of case law as it relates to the 2015 Act. I also consulted a few of your former colleagues before your arrest on the matter. Most of them were unable to help me because of the lack of case law. 2015 is not that long ago when it comes to precedent in law, as you drummed into all of us in your criminal law class last October when you covered this topic. If you want a list of whom I consulted and when, I can make sure that it is entered into evidence.”

“So, in reality, you made it all up? Baloney, as I said.”

“Not baloney, Mr Fox. If you don’t know the particular act, then I am surprised because several of the charges that you are facing fall under that act, and being a lawyer, you should have prepared a defence against those charged before this trial… or, that’s what you kept telling us in your lectures when one of your students stumbled over a point of law in the mock trials that you insisted we all take part in from time to time. Those experiences are proving valuable to me right now. As I said, I consulted with a number of your former colleagues. I am sure that they will gladly confirm my conversations should you deem it necessary to call them as witnesses.”

There was a murmur of jollity in the Court. It died down before the Judge needed to intervene. Once again, Dido had been very successful at using Fox’s own words and actions against him.

In the public gallery, John Proudfoot was being forced to eat his words once more. He had doubted that Dido could give as good as she got when it came to Fox’s questioning. She was proving once again that Dido Pleasance was made of sterner stuff than he had thought she was. She had grown a lot in the two years that she’d been a student at the university in areas that were continuing to surprise him. He was proud of her, but he was fearful of what Fox could do with his remaining questions. He’d never seen any witness take the fight to Fox like that. Usually, his reputation was more than enough to put the prosecution witnesses on the defensive from the moment they swore the oath. It was a joy to watch this all unfold. To him, consulting with his former colleagues was a stroke of genius. Fox would not dare call them to testify, but he was sure that Fox would not let this go. He’d seen this before with the man.

Fox continued, seemingly unaffected by the comment about his lawyering skills, for another hour until he asked,

“You said repeatedly that I made you give me oral sex more times than you could remember. Yet you failed to provide any evidence of that. I wonder why that is?”

“Mr Fox, the evidence is all there in my video statements. You know very well that I was not in a position to keep evidence of your abuse because I was locked in a cell. But… because I do have eyes and a working memory. Do you or do you not have a mole right near the bottom of your appendix scar? I could not help but see it every time you made me suck you off. You are also circumcised and have a Prince Albert piercing in your penis. I remember you saying to me more than once as you came into my throat, ‘That’s why we had your tonsils removed. ’ I didn’t put two and two together until I had a full medical a few days after I turned eighteen. The doctor had my childhood medical records. It was then that it was discovered that I’d had them removed when I was mutilated. I contend, Mr Fox, that you had them removed just so that they would not get hooked up with your piercing when you shoved your penis deep into my mouth.”

“Alleged prisoner,” said a visibly shaken Fox. Dido just carried on as if he wasn’t there. This was her time to get redress for all the damage he and his deviant son had inflicted on her over the years.

“I know every square inch of the cell that you and your equally perverted son had me locked up in. Twenty-two rows of bricks. A concrete floor and a total of two thousand six hundred and eleven bricks in the cell. I was there for years, as you know very well. I had plenty of time to count, recount and count again the features of the shit hole where you had me confined. That was all there in my video testimony. In it, I described the cell in intricate detail, which you did not question when you were given it before trial, yet now, you are questioning it. Plus, the date of that testimony was from before I identified you as the person who… who allegedly kept me imprisoned for years. Then, that testimony of mine was confirmed by the evidence that the SOCO team gave to the court, according to the reporting in the Daily Telegraph.”

“That is all very interesting, but irrelevant. You could have been there since my illegal arrest and counted them. I contend that you are lying just because I failed your last criminal law paper. Revenge will be mine.”

“Objection. Is there a question coming?” said the prosecution barrister.

“Mr Fox. You were warned before the trial began not to grandstand. You are to limit your statements to questioning the testimony that the witness has given to the court and the evidence pertaining therein. The failure or not of a criminal law paper is not relevant to the facts of the case, which concerns the time that the witness was confined in your cellar,” said the Judge.

Then he said to the court,
“Ms Pleasance explained in her video testimony, which Mr Fox has accepted was recorded before you were identified as a suspect, contains a lot of detail about the cell, which, as she said, was confirmed by other testimony previously presented to this court, which I’d like to remind you, that Mr Fox, did not object to that evidence and related testimony from the SOCO Officers.”

“Objection sustained.”

“Ms Pleasance…” He seemed to run out of words.
The last attack had failed to make her bend to his onslaughts. He’d not had that happen before.

His hesitation was all the opportunity that Dido needed.

“No, Fox, you listen here. You were able to have your evil way with me for years. I know every part of your penis. After all, I had it in my mouth at least once a week for all that time. You are evil beyond imagination. Then I had your dick rammed up my bum at least once a month. You have no idea how it hurts. Please go on and ask your questions. I was there, as you well know. I have fingered more than twenty of your guests. I’m sure one or two of them will flip on you even if you have dirt on them when they discover that they are facing a lot of time in jail for their crimes.”

She took a deep breath before continuing to ram it home.
“As regards my last criminal law paper, which you proudly gave me an ‘E’ mark, I had it reviewed by the dean of the school of law. He gave it an ‘A+’. You, sir, are a failure as a human being.”

There was absolute silence in the court. Fox went very red in the face. He shuffled some papers on the desk in front of him. There were several people in court that day who had never seen Mr Fox get knocked back like that.

Dido took her opportunity. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a copy of the image that she had obtained from the ‘dark web’.

“See this Fox. That is an image of you enjoying yourself while ramming your penis up my backside. Fox… or rather your dark web alias, Brer Rabbit, is selling images like this for hundreds of pounds a shot. That is you in the picture, isn't it? That mole is very distinctive in its shape.”

There was uproar in court.
“Fake!” shouted Fox.

The judge banged his gavel.

“Ms Pleasance, there is no way to prove that image is real. I rule it inadmissible unless the prosecution can provide some proof?”

Mr Prescott came to her rescue.
“My Lord, Ms Pleasance drew our attention to the site run by this ‘Brer Rabbit’ character before she started giving evidence. While we suggested that it should not be used for the reasons you have stated, My Lord, we set the cybercrimes division of the Met Police a task of verifying her claims.”

He looked at his phone and smiled.

“Earlier today, I received confirmation that what Ms Pleasance can be verified. In light of that, My Lord, may I suggest an adjournment until tomorrow so that Mr Fox and his team can review what we have discovered. Then you can make your ruling on the evidence.”

“Mr Fox?”

“Go ahead. I have never had sex with this… this thing in my life. It is nothing but damaged goods. No one with even half a brain would even want to be friends with you.”

“Very well,” said the Judge.
“Court is adjourned until tomorrow, when I hope to be able to rule on the admissibility of the evidence.”

John looked at the jury as soon as his last rant was over. Half of them were scribbling furiously in their notebooks. Several of those were shaking their heads. It was then that he knew that Fox had lost the jury. He was toast, and it was only a matter of time before it was all over and a guilty verdict was returned.

That was it. The court was done for the day. Whatever happened in court, the site on the dark web run by ‘Brer Rabbit’ would be getting a lot of hits very soon.

Dido left the court by a side entrance in the presence of three plainclothes officers. She was hustled into a car and driven away to a place of safety.

The next morning, the Judge called the court to order.

“I have reviewed the evidence presented by the prosecution, and after an in-chambers meeting, I am prepared to rule on it.”

“I find that the evidence is real but was not put on the so-called ‘Dark Web’ by Mr Johnathon Fox but by Mr Marcus Fox and without the knowledge of Mr Johnathon Fox. Mr Marcus Fox has admitted to operating the site, and he has given a statement to the CPS about the originality of the image presented by Ms Pleasance to the court yesterday. Mr Marcus Fox has admitted to taking the photo in the first place.”

The ruling caused a stir in court. Social media had been alive with theories about the ‘Brer Rabbit’ site, but it had mysteriously gone offline less than an hour after the court was adjourned for the day. Fox senior was fuming and glaring at his son, who had effectively thrown his father under a fleet of London buses.

“Mr Fox? Do you have any further questions for this witness?” asked the judge.

He shook his head.

“What was that answer, Mr Fox?”

“My Lord, I do not have any further questions for this witness at this stage.”

“Ms Pleasance, you may step down,” said the Judge, who was having a hard time stopping a smile from appearing on his face.

Dido walked out of the court with her head held high. Her Job was done. Fox had been caught right in the act of sodomising her and was authenticated by his son. For Dido, that was the final nail in his coffin.

Once she was out in the corridor, her bubble burst. The emotion of the previous days had finally gotten to her. Two female lawyers from the CPS comforted her for nearly an hour and a half. It was only then that she was able to compose herself enough to leave the court building.

Outside the area around the court, an anxious John Proudfoot was wearing holes in his shoes while he waited for Dido. Thanks to being a former policeman, he was let into the building where he met Dido.
“Dido, when you suggested fighting fire with fire, I doubted you. For that, I am so sorry. You had Fox on the rack. No witness has ever stood up to him like that, especially one who was also a victim.”

“It is not over yet. He reserved the right to call me back,” complained Dido.

“He always does that. I highly doubt that he will do that. You countered all his tactics to discredit you perfectly.”

Then he saw how much she was shaking. He put his arms around her and just held her until she recovered her composure.

“Wha… what’s happening now?” asked Dido a few minutes later.
The court was emptying fast.

“I guess that Fox has asked for a delay until tomorrow. I think that the defence has some very serious thinking to do. Your attack on Fox will go down in legal history.”

“Will it work?”

“I don’t know,” said John.
“But I have never seen him so flustered. No one has ever fought him like that. I am so sorry for doubting your plan.”

“No, John. You were right to question it. Without your help in giving me access to all the transcripts of the cases he has appeared in for the past twenty years, I would not have had the confidence to tell him to his face what he did to me. Telling the jury when I was questioned by the CPS barrister was one thing, but believe me, virtually spitting in his face like that is a whole different thing.”

John just smiled at Dido. He was proud of her, just like a father would be of a daughter winning a prize at a school sports day.
“Your grand plan to enable me to confront him in court worked, didn’t it?” said Dido.

“It did, but it was all down to you. I could not be in the box with you. You are the star of the day, not me. I am so proud of you.”

“Was that my fifteen minutes of fame?”

John held her tight.
“I hope so. If it were, then you can get on with the rest of your life with Trish.”

Just then, one of the CPS legal team, Ms Baker, came out of the courtroom. He hurried over to where Dido and John were standing.

“Fox has asked for the court to be adjourned for the day.”

“Thanks for the update. I think I should get this young lady out of here before the press finds her.”

“That is a good move,” said Ms Baker.

John took Dido out of the Old Bailey building and walked her down to Ludgate Hill before hailing a Black Cab.

“Greenland Dock, please,” he said to the driver.

John went with Dido. She was still on the adrenaline high from testifying and could crash at any moment.

The crash came nearly an hour later.
“What did I just do?” she asked John.

“My dear, you wrecked his defence like a wrecking ball does to a building. It was a pleasure to watch. Your efforts in the courtroom are going viral on social media. At least two of the main TV channels are extending their main evening news to cover your demolition of Fox in court. At least one of the talk radio channels has been bombarded with requests from listeners to get you to appear on their news show.”

Dido’s shoulders sank even farther.

“Don’t worry, Dido, help is at hand… or will be in a few minutes.”

“Eh?”

“Trish has just got off the river Bus. She texted me just now.”

Dido managed a small smile.

John looked at his phone again. It had just bleeped with the arrival of a text message.

“The Judge has called for a conference of the lead lawyers and barristers for 09:30 on Monday and has adjourned the case until after that. The CPS think that Fox is going to change his plea to guilty. I doubt that. Knowing him as I do, I think that he will come out fighting and will try to get your whole testimony thrown out. I’ve seen him do that before.”

“I don’t get it. Why both sides?”

“The judge has to be shown to treat both sides the same. I did see him smile at your outburst. That said, he will ask the CPS if they knew about what you were going to say before the start of the trial. As far as I know, they didn’t. Am I right?”

Dido nodded her head.
“I told them about the Brer Rabbit site but not about which image until the day of my giving evidence,” admitted Dido.

“Good. Just keep your story straight, and you will be ok.”

John played with his phone for a few seconds.
“Here, look at this…”

He gave the phone to Dido. On the screen was a headline from the internet edition of one of the major daily newspapers.

It said,
“Witness outburst in court condemns Fox.”

“That won’t mean a thing if the Judge decides to strike what I said from the record and tell the jury to disregard it. They won’t be able to convict on my testimony alone,” said Dido in a downbeat voice.

“Yes, they will. Scroll down to the 3rd paragraph,” said John.

“Eh?”

“Scroll down, and you will see what I mean.”

Dido looked at the paragraph.
“Is this true? Or are they just making this up? Two more victims have come forward, thanks to my time in the witness box. This is just too much of a coincidence if you ask me.”

“I’m inclined to believe them. Josephine Maitland is a very clued-up reporter. She rarely gets things wrong. Your testimony will stay in. Even if it is struck, the jury has seen a side to Fox that is not pretty. That will make an acquittal very hard to reach, especially if the CPS can persuade these new victims to testify.”

“But…?”

John took his phone back from Dido and held her other hand with his.

“We always knew that there were others like you, Chrissy and the two that were rescued at the time of the attack. They are still far too shell-shocked to testify, with Fox ready and willing to send them into hell again. Then, there are the two dead bodies found in the grounds. Fox never had any defence against that charge once your testimony was ruled admissible. Your story confirmed a pattern of behaviour, and I hope that the CPS work on that in their summing up.”

“But… it will take days if not weeks for the CPS to process their statements and prepare them for trial.”

John smiled.
“Dido… please have faith. It will work out.”

Dido was suddenly all alert.

“What aren’t you telling me? I know your body language.”

John chuckled.
“A little bird told me that two other victims have been working with the CPS for at least eight weeks.”

At that moment, Dido wanted to punch someone. John stepped forward and held her tightly. After several minutes, she began to relax.

“Why? Why didn’t they tell me?”

“They don’t tell anyone who is testifying about others. There are good legal reasons for that. The prime one is to stop them from colluding with each other about their testimony. Didn’t they cover that at Uni?”

“They did. I’m sorry. My mind is a bit of a mess at the moment.”

“There is no need to be sorry, Dido. You have had one heck of a day. It is a bit different when you are in the middle of it. Theory goes out of the window. You were in pure survival mode once he’d started to try to take you apart. There were a couple of senior reporters in the gallery with me, and they’d never seen anyone go head-to-head with Fox before. You have a lot of fans out there after what you did today and before.”

Just then, the door to the flat opened, and Trish walked in. The look on her face told them both that she was worried.

“She’s ok,” said John.
“Still in shock, so a good cuddle will work wonders.”

Trish looked visibly relieved. She came and sat down next to Dido, who had collapsed onto the sofa.

“I’ll put the kettle on,” said John. That was more out of a need to be seen to be doing something and to give them some space.

The weekend was spent in Limbo. Dido spent much of the time sleeping. Trish was there to comfort her and to provide her with food and drink. John went home to be with Chrissy but returned early on Monday. For the first day since the start of the trial, he did not go and sit in the public gallery of the courtroom. He wanted to be with Dido in case her evidence was ruled inadmissible.

News came mid-morning on Monday that the Judge was not going to throw out Dido’s testimony despite Fox’s protestations. None of them celebrated, but the relief all around was palpable. Dido’s role in the prosecution of Jonathan Fox was over.

“I never got to tell the jury in detail about my tattoo and how Marcus mucked up the first attempt,” complained Dido.

“It does not matter,” said Trish.

“Why?”

“Fox junior has changed his plea on all charges to guilty. Before the trial, he had pleaded guilty to some minor offences. This change of heart happened just after you and John left. His brief talked to the CPS, and together, they sent a note to the Judge. He’s pleaded guilty to all charges, including that of GBH on you, Chrissy and the others, for tattooing a minor as well as selling child pornography on the Dark Web and, importantly, having sex with minors against their will. He’s pleading not guilty to the imprisonment charge. He’s pointing the finger firmly at his father for all of that.”

“Why? Why would he do that now?” asked Dido.

John thought for a few seconds.
“I guess that his life has been totally dominated by his father. I would not put it beyond Fox to have abused his son when he was much younger. The Brer Rabbit site was a chance for him to become a bit more financially independent. From reports I’ve seen on a couple of news channels, his job as a day trader was not going so well. I would also guess that he saw a chance to get one over on his domineering father by pleading guilty.”

There was silence in the room until John said,
“Now that you have given your evidence, I can safely say this because Chrissy is not here. Marcus Fox was part of the gang that sodomised Chrissy and the others. He had all that evidence in the cellar because another of the gang, who was on the Operation Chesil team until this afternoon, recently got married, and the gang had nowhere to store their ‘trophy’ cabinet.”

Then John added,
“According to my contact in the NCA, Marcus has admitted that it was about to be moved to a new location. He maintains that he does not know where that place was. He is adamant that the gang membership is pretty fluid and has a strict need to know everything that is maintained. That sort of makes sense.”

The silence deepened.
“If my contact in the CPS is correct, Marcus has been giving them information ever since the start of the trial. It all changed, if you can recall, when he dismissed the legal team that his father provided the funds for. The new costs of his defence came from the Dark Web. Now that he has pleaded guilty, he no longer needs a barrister except to plead mitigation when it comes to sentencing.”

It was John who said,
“You two need some time to yourself. Get out of London, and I don’t mean my place either. Get well away until the verdict comes in, at the very least.”

Dido looked at Trish. Neither of them said anything, so John added,
“Better still, get out of the country. I know someone who has a cottage in the Auvergne in France. Just say the word, and it can be yours until it is time to return to Uni in September. He’s not using it at the moment because he broke both of his arms in a classic car race crash at Brands Hatch a few weeks ago. As a result of the crash, he needs a lot of rehab in this country.”

Trish gave John a peck on the cheek.
“You are a good man, John Proudfoot.”

He blushed and made his way out of the door in a bit of a hurry. He was not a man who generally showed his emotions.

News of Fox Jnr’s guilty plea was all over the morning papers and TV news. There was a lot of speculation as to why Jnr had changed his plea because until then, he’d maintained a solid ‘Not guilty, No comment’ front with his father.
“Why aren’t they talking more about me?” whined Dido.

“Because, my dear Dido, they have to follow the rules of sub judice. Until the Judge makes his ruling public in court, they can only mention the fact of what you said, but if you look at all the different channels and collate it, it is all there,” said Trish.

“Sometimes,” said Dido,
“The law really is an ass at times…”

Trish shook her head.
“Would you rather the whole process be totally out in the open, like the one in the USA? Until the case is over, the media are more or less barred from pestering you. Once the verdict comes in, I’d expect a deluge of reporters and TV vans to be parked outside here.”

Dido looked worried.

“Then darling,” said Trish,
“We need to exit stage left as soon as the jury gets sent out.”

“Where will we go?” moaned Dido.

“North. Whitley Bay, to be exact.”

To their surprise, Dido shook her head.
“No. Not there. I want to be away from people for a bit.”

“Where then?”

“That place in North Wales was nice. Somewhere like that.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll book somewhere nice and quiet.”

Dido, for once, did not argue. She knew deep down that Trish was right. Emotionally, she was all in. The build-up to the trial and the hours that she’d spent in the witness box had taken its toll on her both mentally and physically. She mentally raised the white flag and let Trish take control.

Trish kept Dido away from both the TV and the internet for the next 24 hours. In that period, she was on the phone with John, who was organising the availability of the cottage in France for a month. Sadly, it fell through at the last moment.

Trish had witnessed a different side to Dido, even though she had not been in court to watch it personally. There was a mental toughness that had come to the fore just to take down Fox, but deep down, she was still a deeply flawed person who, at times, would need a lot of care and love. Dido was the one person on the planet that Trish loved with all her heart, and part of that love included caring for her in her times of need.

[to be continued]