The Accused (Modern Plays) (13 page)

It is your task to decide whether you believe Mr Patrick Sherwood is
guilty
or not guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Sherwood.

I will leave you for a few moments to talk among yourselves and consider your verdict. (
He leaves the stage for 30 seconds
.)

Usher
Silence in Court.

Jury Bailiff
Please take the monitor from the back of the seat in front of you, and register your verdict, guilty or not guilty, now.

Pause while the audience place their vote. This can be done with cards or a show of hands
.

Jury Bailiff
Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury. We will now return to the court, in order that your verdict may be known.

Jury Bailiff
exits through the jury room doors, which split apart
.

VERDIGT

IF THE AUDIENCE DELIVERS THE VERDICT NOT GUILTY:

Usher
Silence in court. Bring up the prisoner.

Sherwood
returns to the dock
.

Judge
Will the foreman please rise. Mr Foreman, have you reached a verdict?

Foreman
(
on tape, or from the body of the audience
) Yes, we have, My Lord.

Judge
Do you find the prisoner at the bar, Patrick Hugh Sherwood, guilty or not guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Sherwood?

Foreman
Not guilty.

Judge
(
turns to face the defendant in the dock
) Patrick Hugh Sherwood, you have been found not guilty of the charges laid before you and I therefore discharge you. You are free to leave the court.

Sherwood
comes down from the dock and shakes hands with
Barrington
and
Jarvis
.

Barrington
Congratulations.

Sherwood
Thank you.

Jarvis
Well done.

Sherwood
Thank you both. But Sir James, may I ask you a question?

Barrington
Yes, of course.

Sherwood
Am I right in thinking that when a verdict of not guilty has been reached, there can never be a retrial?

Barrington
That is correct. In English law, once a jury has acquitted a defendant he cannot be put on trial again for the same offence.

Sherwood
(
smiles
) That’s a relief.

Jarvis
So tell me, Mr Sherwood, how do you intend to celebrate your great victory?

Sherwood
I shall go back to work, Mr Jarvis, just as Sir James predicted I would.

The attention moves to
Kersley
and
Ashton,
who are chatting on the other side of the stage
.

Ashton
I have a feeling it must have been a close-run thing, so what do you imagine tipped the balance?

Kersley
The burn on his back, would be my guess. Pity Ms Mitchell didn’t stay to hear his evidence. I would like to have seen her face when the good doctor took off his shirt.

Ashton
Perhaps the reality is as Sir James suggests, that having been rejected by Mr Sherwood she was simply seeking revenge.

Kersley
I’m not convinced it’s quite that simple. There’s something about this case that doesn’t ring true.

Ashton
In what way?

Kersley
(
they start to leave the stage
) Well, to start with, why didn’t Mitchell return to hear the verdict?

As they depart the
Jury Bailiff
walks quickly back on, as
Sherwood
is leaving
.

Jury Bailiff
Sir, sir. Can I suggest that you stay put for a few more minutes, as there is rather a large crowd gathering on the pavement outside. And once the corridors have been cleared, we can slip you out the back way.

Sherwood
That’s most thoughtful of you, Mr Pierce, but I’m quite happy to leave by the front. I’ve nothing to hide.

Jury Bailiff
No, of course you haven’t, Mr Sherwood indeed, if I may say so, sir, I never doubted for a moment that you were innocent. By the way, the woman Mitchell is hanging around in the corridor trying to get back in, but I didn’t…

Sherwood
No, that’s fine, I’m only too happy to see her.

Mitchell
runs on
to
the stage and the
Jury Bailiff
exits
.

Mitchell
I booked a table for us at the Caprice. No need to hide in Fulham any longer.

Sherwood
You were always that confident of the verdict?

Mitchell
Of course. Once the jury had seen that scar on your back they were never going to believe that I had slept
with you and to quote Mr Kersley, ‘A jury that has doubts will never send a man to gaol for the rest of his life.’

Sherwood
You were brilliant in the witness box, in fact, Sir James only got the better of you once.

Mitchell
And when was that?

Sherwood
When he tricked you into writing your signature on the Usher’s notepad, to show that you’d lied when you claimed you were right-handed.

Mitchell
But I am right-handed. I worked out exactly what Sir James was up to and realised that the image of me signing that pad with my left hand would remain fixed in the jury’s minds.

Sherwood
Then why didn’t you try on the rubber glove?

Mitchell
I did, at the police station, and I just couldn’t get it on, Elizabeth must have had very small hands.

Sherwood
You thought of everything.

Mitchell
Yes, and if only Webster hadn’t walked in just before I’ finished injecting her we could have been married a year ago.

Sherwood
No, I’m afraid not, Jennifer. You see that was something else Mr Kersley was right about… I never intended to marry you in the first place. (
He turns to walk away as the lights fade
.)

CURTAIN

IF THE AUDIENCE DELIVERS THE VERDICT GUILTY:

Usher
Silence in court. Bring up the prisoner.

Sherwood
returns to the dock
.

Judge Will
the foreman please rise. Mr Foreman, have you reached a verdict?

Foreman
Yes, we have, My Lord.

Judge
Do you find the prisoner at the bar, Patrick Hugh Sherwood, guilty or not guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Sherwood?

Foreman
Guilty.

The
Judge
turns to face the prisoner in the dock
.

Judge
Patrick Hugh Sherwood, you stand convicted of murder by a jury of your peers. You undoubtedly poisoned your young wife, taking advantage of your special knowledge and training, and in so doing dishonoured your profession. You murdered Elizabeth Sherwood in order to be rid of her and inherit a milion pounds. As the law requires, I sentence you to life imprisonment, with the recommendation that you serve a minimum of seventeen years. You may be curious, Mr Sherwood, to discover why I have recommended this particular sentence. Seventeen years is the period of time that was left on the life insurance policy, the profits of which you had planned to enjoy by spending the rest of your life in the luxury of a penthouse apartment in Chelsea with money to spare. You will instead spend those seventeen years in custody at Her Majesty’s pleasure, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Sherwood
’s
head drops into his hand. The attention moves to
Barrington
and
Jarvis
.

Barrington
God help the poor man.

Jarvis
What do you imagine tipped the balance? It must have been a close-run thing.

Barrington
We’ll never know, but it can’t have helped that we couldn’t explain why he’d left his bag behind, when he went on insisting that he was with a patient in Westminster.

Jarvis
(
nods
) I know it’s the jury’s responsibility to decide the verdict, not ours, but I’m still not sure if the man is guilty.

Barrington
Neither am I. (
Watches as
Mitchell
enters the courtroom and stares at
Sherwood
.) But I have a feeling that woman is the one person who knows the answer to your question.

Guard
approaches the dock
,
motions
Sherwood
to follow him. They walk halfway across the stage
.

Ashton
Well, at least this time you beat the old buzzard.

Kersley
Did I? (
Stares at
Barrington
.) I’m not so sure. There’s something about this case that doesn’t ring true.

Ashton
In what way?

Kersley
Nothing I can prove, but I have a feeling we would discover what really took place on the night on March the twenty-first if we could only overhear …

Sherwood
leaves the witness box and begins to walk across the stage
.

Guard
Wait there. (
He goes over to another
Guard
who completes the paperwork, as
Mitchell
walks up behind
Sherwood
.)

Sherwood
You know I didn’t kill Elizabeth.

Mitchell
Of course I do, but no one is ever going to believe that when you left my flat to go to Westminster and sign that death certificate it was
me
who went to Arcadia Mansions.

Sherwood
How did you get in?

Mitchell
Via the fire escape and the kitchen window, and if Webster hadn’t interrupted me I would have managed all six ampoules … ironic when you think about it. If you’d admitted to having an affair, you would have had the perfect alibi, but then, Patrick, I did warn you, you will live to regret this.

CURTAIN

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eISBN-13: 978-1-4725-3650-1

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