Death Toll (35 page)

By Our Crime Correspondent

Lynn solicitor Robert Mosse was yesterday given a life sentence after being convicted of the murder of a nine-year-old boy in 1997 on the town's notorious Westmead Estate.

The trial judge recommended that Mosse, 34, should spend the rest of his life in custody. Leave to appeal was denied.

‘In over twenty years on this bench I have never encountered a more cold-blooded crime,' said Mr Justice Lamfrey. ‘Robert Mosse is a calculating killer who poses a continuing threat to society.'

Mosse, through his solicitor, said after the verdict, ‘It is clear the police have fabricated the evidence upon which my conviction is based – as they did at my original trial. I am innocent of this crime.'

Mosse, who was due to be called to the Bar later this year, is a founding partner in Mosse, Turnbull & Smith. His wife and three children live in a million-pound house on the exclusive Clearwater Estate.

The Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement after the trial that the files on two subsequent murders, which the police claim Mosse committed to cover up his original crime, would now be closed.

Mosse denied killing nine-year-old Jonathan Tessier on the night of 25 July 1997 at a lock-up garage on the Westmead Estate in Lynn's North End. The prosecution's case was that Mosse had strangled the child to prevent his implication in another crime.

Mosse was charged with the killing at the time, but the original trial was unable to proceed owing to a legal technicality. Recently, however, the police obtained new forensic evidence linking him to Tessier's murder.

A fur-lined leather glove, the partner to one recovered at the murder scene, was found to contain skin shed by Mosse and was heavily impregnated with dried saliva, later matched by DNA analysis to the Tessier family, and exhibiting bite marks that matched the victim's dental records.

Mosse's first trial in 1997 was stopped because the investigating officers had taken the glove discovered at the underground car park where Tessier's body was found to Mosse's home – a flat in the tower block above – potentially contaminating it.

The original trial judge implied that this might have been done deliberately in an attempt to secure a conviction.

‘I would like to say at this point,' said Mr Justice Lamfrey after passing sentence, ‘that today's conviction in large part clears those original officers of any improper or criminal behaviour.

‘Furthermore, I would like to commend publicly the work of DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine of the West Norfolk Constabulary, for their tireless determination to bring Robert Mosse to justice.'

DI Shaw, the lead investigating officer in the case, is the son of DCI Jack Shaw, who led the original murder inquiry. DCI Shaw took early retirement on the grounds of ill-health shortly after Mosse's acquittal. He died in 1998.

The prosecution alleged that Mosse and three other associates, all now dead, were involved in a road accident three days before Tessier's murder, in which two elderly women were killed.

Mosse was driving when the four, in a Mini, struck another vehicle at a T-junction near Castle Rising. They fled the scene. When the emergency services arrived 45 minutes later the two passengers were found to be dead. The driver survived.

One of the fatalities was Jonathan Tessier's grandmother. She had been travelling with her pet dog – a puppy – which was taken by one of the joyriders from the rear of the car, according to CCTV footage of the crash.

Three days later the four teenagers were in the lock-up garage on the Westmead respraying the damaged car. Jonathan recognized the puppy when one of the gang took it for a walk on the estate, and followed it back to the garage.

Mosse's defence argued that the killing of the child had been an accident. One of the other members of the gang, Chris Robins, had hit the child to stop him crying, Mosse claimed.

But the court heard a statement left by Robins as part of his last will and testament. It outlined a different version of events in which Mosse – at the time a law student – decided to kill the child to save his career.

The defence argued that Robins's version of events was designed to divert the guilt on to an innocent man. But the forensic evidence corroborated Robins's version of events.

The jury retired for sixteen hours before returning a majority guilty verdict.

Police believe that Mosse also killed two members of the gang – Alex Cosyns and Jimmy Voyce – because they had threatened to go to the authorities with the truth.

DCS Max Warren of the West Norfolk Constabulary released the following statement after sentencing.

‘The verdict in this case restores the high reputation of the officers of the West Norfolk Constabulary. It illustrates that we were always determined to give Jonathan Tessier and his family the justice they were denied in the months after his brutal and callous murder.'

A spokesman for the Law Society confirmed that Mosse's conviction would result in his name being permanently removed from the Society's register. His partners at Mosse, Turnbull & Smith declined to comment.

 

In depth: The Case of the Missing Glove – page 21.

I would like to thank my agent, Faith Evans, in equal measure for both her criticism, which is always subtle and constructive, and for her friendship, which is valued. My team at Penguin – editors Kate Burke and Stefanie Bierwerth – have completed yet another thoroughly professional job. I would also like to thank Francesca Russell for her enthusiasm in promoting the book.

Now to specific debts owed. (I should warn the reader that the following reveals some plot.)

I have often relied on Paul Richards's excellent book
King's Lynn
for historical background. Martin Peters has again been invaluable as a general consultant on all things medical. I also consulted the comprehensive and definitive
Book of Poisons
by Serita Stevens and Anne Bannon. Professor Paul Cullis of the University of Leicester found time for some invaluable guidance on poisons and their properties.

A note on poisons. The general principles upon which the plot relies are real. The specific poisons used in the text have been selected to fit the plot, and therefore any attempt to replicate the perfect murder will be doomed to failure.

Lastly, I must thank my loyal copy editor Trevor Horwood, for his tireless attention to detail and helpful suggestions. Jenny Burgoyne has again provided us all with the reassurance of reading the final manuscript. And I must thank my wife Midge Gillies, who, despite facing her own deadlines, has always been on hand with helpful advice about character and plot, and who found time to read the text and provide both encouragement and criticism.