I then went on to say that I would use his preferred mode of address, whether it be his Christian name, Hamish, the more formal Mr Wolfe or even Dr Wolfe. I asked him how he would prefer to be addressed. He made no response. I repeated the question. Again, no response.
Erring on the side of caution, I stated that I would call him Mr Wolfe and asked if he understood the basis and purpose of the interview. Mr Wolfe made no response. He made no response when I repeated the question. (At this point, I had a sense that the interview was going to prove a difficult one.)
The interview
Nevertheless, I commenced in the customary fashion. I asked Mr Wolfe how he was feeling, how he was coping with being remanded in custody and whether he was worried about the upcoming trial. I asked if he was missing his family, his friends, his fiancée. Mr Wolfe gave no indication of having heard any of my questions.
I then went on to attempt to form a picture of his early life. I asked about his childhood, relationships with parents, siblings, even family pets. I continued the interview along these customary lines, as the attached transcript will show, but at no point did Mr Wolfe make any response.
Hamish Wolfe’s demeanour
For the first few minutes of the interview, Mr Wolfe kept his eyes fixed on an A4-sized sheet of black paper on the table in between us. (More about this later.) When I started asking him direct questions, he lifted the sheet and began to fold it. Of course I asked him what he was doing. He didn’t reply.
I explained that it was very much in his interest to cooperate with me; that a court needed a professional opinion about his mental capacity in order to ensure him a fair trial.
I might as well not have spoken. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the interview was wasting both of our times.
At this point, I think it useful to insert an extract from the attached transcript, as it will indicate, better than any summary of mine could, the nature of the interaction between us.
Transcript begins . . .
DR OKONJO: Mr Wolfe, unless you’re going to engage with me, there doesn’t seem any point in continuing. Please say so now if you have any objections to our bringing the interview to a close.
HAMISH WOLFE: (No response.)
DR OKONJO: From your lack of response, I’m assuming you agree to closing the interview now. Thank you for your time, Mr Wolfe.
HAMISH WOLFE: I made this for you.
(I was already at the door by this point. I turned round. Hamish Wolfe was holding out the black paper he’d been fiddling with.)
HAMISH WOLFE: I’d say about a hundred and seventy-five pounds. Body mass index of around twenty-nine – would that be right?
DR OKONJO: Excuse me?
HAMISH WOLFE: Why would the CPS send a woman of your size to interview a man whom they believe has abducted and murdered four fat women? Was I supposed to get an immediate hard-on and tell you everything?
DR OKONJO: Personal attacks on me will have no impact, I promise you. I’m sorry you didn’t feel able to talk to me before now when it might have done you some good. Good luck with the trial.
HAMISH WOLFE: I’m getting very bored with this mindset that I’m turned on by fat women. I promise you, I’m not in the slightest.
DR OKONJO: Good for you. Goodbye.
HAMISH WOLFE: Lose forty pounds, Sonia. You know better than anyone the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer. That’s before we get on to the strain on the NHS of people who can’t control what they put in their mouths. Set a bit of an example.
DR OKONJO: An example? Like you did?
HAMISH WOLFE: You forgot your present.
(The folded paper shape was on his outstretched hand and I could see it perfectly now. It was a farm animal. A pig.)
Conclusion
This is a thorough and accurate representation of the only meeting I had with Hamish Wolfe.
The particular circumstances of this interview lead me to do something that I would normally avoid, namely to speculate. I have never been a fanciful woman. I deal in facts and demonstrable conclusions, not gut-reaction opinions. I have had cause to interview many people accused of many crimes and can say, with some confidence, that I have met people whose moral compass seems entirely absent. I have never, though, met anyone so completely lacking in human empathy as was Hamish Wolfe. I do not use the term ‘evil’ lightly, but when I looked into Hamish Wolfe’s eyes I felt something essentially human was missing.
I do not envy my colleague who takes on his case.
PROPERTY OF AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE. Ref: 544/45.2 Hamish Wolfe.
Chapter 23
THE WORLD SEEMS to be slowly choking on snow cloud by the time Pete pulls up outside Maggie’s house. The taller rooftops seem blurred. Chimneys and aerials have all but disappeared. The sky is the colour of unwashed bed sheets.