A Confession

DavidKlyne

This series ended tonight and stared Martin Freeman as DS Stephen Fulcher. It is a dramatisation of a true story and the cast also includes Siobhan Finneran, Imelda Staunton and Joe Absolom. Without giving too much away the story revolves around the way that DS Fulcher applied caution rules or PACE when the Joe Absolom character was arrested and initially prevented him from being prosecuted for the murder of a second victim. Basically DS Fulcher was hung out to dry by his police force which prevented the investigation of many other potential murder victims. It is a good illustration of how procedures can get in the way. Anyone else been watching?

David

EmilysDad

I watched it all ..... 

And then they had the ****s to ask him to stand in the dock as a witness

MrRoute

The really sad part about this true story is the the police statement at the end. How many more mothers and fathers are left without closure. 

allanandjean

It is a good illustration of how procedures can get in the way.

Hi David,Yes been watching it but as a sort of backseat exercise as it was something my wife wanted to watch.

My take on it was that his initial decision looked reasonable, and seemed to get support from his superiors, but that his repeated lack of a caution was what led to the problems and the disappearance of the support.

It was of course portrayed as a clear right and wrong situation but think we have probably all seen situations that turn out OK but could easily have gone badly wrong, and vice versa.

I did find the last show a bit puzzling with the Mum of one victim leaving her husband and then him appearing to be at the side of the other parents in court-but as I say was not fully 'engaged'!

EmilysDad

One of the mains arguments for not taking him back to the station to be formally cautioned was that if the girl was still alive, by the time the legal formalities had taken place there would have been a good chance she'd be dead. And the statement he made at the end suggested that the police hierarchy were happy with that.

DavidKlyne

As a follow up to the drama there was a documentary on last night after the late news with Trevor Mcdonald called To Catch a Serial Killer It contained interviews with the real DS Stephen Fulcher. Overall it was perhaps less sympathetic to his decisions and it perhaps explained in a bit more detail. The Barrister comments were interesting. 

David

EmilysDad

IMHO the barrister lived in a different world ....

MickR

Yes, interesting that a requirement to follow procedure seems to have overriden an educated decision to pursue a possible route to either saving a life or getting proper justice for a bereaved family.

EmilysDad

Black & white rules written to prevent managers from having to manage. But those who want to do the job are prevented from doing so.

Francis

Yes we watched it and found it very good. The acting was excellent and the story well told.