Arthur & George

were similar in length, colour and structure is, in layman’s terms, to say that they were exactly the same.’
    ‘No doubt in your mind?’
    ‘Sir Arthur, in the witness box I always err on the side of caution. Between ourselves, and under the conditions you have proposed for this interview, I would assure you that the hairs on the clothing were from the same animal whose skin I examined under the microscope.’
    ‘And from exactly the same part too?’
    ‘I do not follow you.’
    ‘The same beast, but also the same part of the beast, namely the belly?’
    ‘Yes, that is true.’
    ‘Now, the hairs on different parts of a horse or pony would vary in length, and perhaps thickness and perhaps structure. Hairs from the tail or mane, for example, would be different?’
    ‘That is also true.’
    ‘Yet all of the twenty-nine hairs you examined were exactly the same, and from exactly the same part of the pony?’
    ‘Indeed.’
    ‘Can we imagine something together, Dr Butter? Again, in complete confidence, within these anonymous walls. Let us imagine – distasteful as it might be – that you or I go out to disembowel a horse.’
    ‘If I may correct you, the pony was not disembowelled.’
    ‘No?’
    ‘The evidence given was that it had been ripped, and was bleeding, and had to be shot. But the bowels were not hanging from the cut as they would have been had it been attacked differently.’
    ‘Thank you. So, imagine we wish to rip a pony. We would have to approach it, calm it down. Stroke its muzzle, perhaps, talk to it, stroke its flank. Then imagine how we might hold it while we rip it. If we are to rip the belly, we might stand against its flank, perhaps put an arm over its back, holding it there while we reached underneath with whatever instrument we were using.’
    ‘I do not know. I have never attended such a gruesome scene.’
    ‘But you do not dispute that this is how you might do it? I have horses myself, they are nervous creatures at the best of times.’
    ‘We were not in the field. And this was not a horse from your stables, Sir Arthur. This was a pit pony. Are not pit ponies notorious for their docility? Are they not used to being handled by miners? Do they not trust those who approach them?’
    ‘You are right, we were not in the field. But indulge me for the moment. Imagine that the act was done as I described it.’
    ‘Very well. Though of course it might have been done quite differently. If there was more than one person present, for example.’
    ‘I grant you that, Dr Butter. And you must grant me in return that if the deed were done roughly as I described it, then it is inconceivable that the only hairs which ended up on the individual’s clothing were all from the same place, namely the belly, which in any case is not where you would touch the animal to calm it. And further, the same hairs are found on different parts of the clothing – on both the sleeve and the left breast of the jacket. Would you not expect, at the very minimum, some hairs from another part of the pony?’
    ‘Perhaps. If your description of events is the true one. But as before you offer only two possible explanations – that of the prosecution, and your own. There is a wide expanse between them. For instance, there might have been some longer hairs on the clothing, but they were noticed by the culprit and removed. That would not be surprising, would it? Or they might have blown away in the wind. Or again, there might have been a gang …’
    Arthur then moved, very cautiously, towards the ‘obvious’ solution proposed by Wood.
    ‘You work at Cannock, I believe?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘The piece of skin was not cut by you?’
    ‘No, by Mr Lewis who attended the animal.’
    ‘And it was delivered to you at Cannock?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘And the clothing was also delivered?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Before or afterwards?’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Did the clothing arrive before the skin, or the skin before the clothing?’
    ‘Oh, I see. No, they arrived together.’
    ‘At the same time?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘By the same police officer?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘In the same parcel?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Who was the police officer?’
    ‘I have no idea. I see so many. Besides, they all look young to me nowadays, so they all look the same.’
    ‘Do you remember what he said?’
    ‘Sir Arthur, this was over three years ago. There is not the slightest reason why I should remember a word he said. He would merely have told me that