Page 69 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
OM:Quarter to five. Well, four forty-four. Every day. Even Sundays.
AB:Unplug the phone. You must have enough evidence by now.
OM:Yeah, but I need to prove he’sstilldoing it. Without the call records, they’ll just say he stopped.
AB:Oh.
OM:Couldn’t sleep anyway.
AB:You don’t meet the archangel Gabriel every day.
OM:Gabriel Angelis. You couldn’t make it up.
AB:He was born Peter Duffy on Christmas Day 1959. Changed it by deed poll in 1991. First comes to the attention of the police in his late teens, couple of acquisitive misdemeanours, including what we now call distraction robberies. Then a more sophisticated chequebook fraud, for which he is sentenced to four years in the 1980s. Don remembers that as he’d just joined the force. Gabriel serves twothengoes straight for a while. Nothing from 1990 to 2002.
OM:Goes straight or doesn’t get caught.
AB:In 2002 he’s arrested trying to use a stolen credit card and more are found on him. Police think he’s selling or passing them on to an organised crime gang, an OCG. He serves three months in Wandsworth and five in the community. In 2003 he’s tracked from the bloodbath at The Assembly and arrested in Ealing.
OM:Didn’t get far.
AB:He was on foot. Literally. No shoes.
OM:He’s convicted of murdering Harpinder Singh by a single bloody fingerprint on a leaflet in the flat. And although the other angels stab themselves to death, he’s accused of mutilating and posing the bodies.
AB:Autopsies and forensics confirm the angels cut their own throats, and mutilation takes place post-mortem. That, plusHolly and Jonah’s testimonies about the way he drew them into the cult, means he’s given a whole-life sentence.
OM:He’s been inside for eighteen years. Does hestillbelieve he’s the archangel Gabriel?
AB:Did he ever believe it? He’s a con man as well as a murderer.
OM:A con man who believes his own narrative, or a cynical manipulator?
AB:Take me through your interview strategy. [Silence. I sense a frisson. EC] Don’t be like that. If I don’t get in, you need to know what you’re doing—
OM:I’m perfectly capable of doing it without your input.
AB:First, chat about random things. How’s it going, what’s for lunch … Keep it light. If he says something funny or even a bit sarcastic, laugh like it’s the best joke you heard all week.
OM:Mand—
AB:Build a rapport with him.Don’tlet him control the conversation. If he’s recounting something, and skips forward, steer him back to the chronology of events. Leave tricky questions till later in the interview.
OM:I know all this.
AB:He’s inside for the murder of Singh, which he says he doesn’t remember but didn’t do. Yet despite appeals, that one fingerprint has kept him inside. His claim of innocence is a weak spot we can exploit. You need to make it clear that you think the murder rap is all part of a big conspiracy. Shit! Yes. We need to talk about eye contact— [Oliver makes a spluttering, dismissive noise. EC] I only want you to get the most out of it. For both of us.Ifthey let me in, I can speak later on, as if I’m filling in the gaps. And we’ll ask about the baby. But he won’t know where it went, so … [Silence again. Just the drone of the road before you switch off. EC]
A conversation between Amanda Bailey and an Unknown Woman outside HMP Tynefield, 10 July 2021. Transcribed by Ellie Cooper.
UW:[Recording starts mid-conversation. EC] … drugs and other things. They won’t let you in without permission.
AB:I know. I’m supposed to be helping someone who’s injured. He can’t take notes. [You sound upset. What’s happened? EC]
UW:Come a long way?
AB:London.
UW:Oh no. Your friend got in OK, though. Aw. He’ll be all right. No need to cry.
