3.2 DS Sund interviews Neale Anderson
As you learned in the SIO briefing, Neale Anderson, the son of victim Leonard Anderson, is being interviewed by DS Sund as a significant witness.
As you will be aware, because Neale was the first person to attend the scene, his account is particularly important, and he may have useful observations that could provide clues to solving the murder. However, the nature of the situation he found himself in (which was obviously very stressful) may also have interfered with his ability to easily recall the events of the day.
Part of the purpose of this interview is for Sund to allow Neale the best possible opportunity to remember as much as he can about the day in question. By doing this, she will generate as many leads as possible that might be useful to the investigation.
During the following activity, you should watch this interview carefully, paying close attention to the behaviour of both the interviewer and the interviewee. By ‘behaviour’ we don’t just mean the non-verbal communication of the interactants, we also mean paying attention to the content of what they both say.
Activity 3
While watching the video, you should attend to, and make notes about, how DS Sund questions Neale. It might be helpful to consider the following questions:
- Does she seem open minded towards him or does she appear accusatory?
- Does she allow him the opportunity to remember by offering him different ways of accessing his memories of the day?
As you observe the interview also think about the credibility of the witness. Does his account appear credible and true? Are there any signs you can spot that he might not be telling the truth about what happened that day?
Note down any other observations you have about the interaction. Everything that you observe may turn out to be relevant and could prove important as the case develops.
Download this video clip.Video player: 1.8_ds_sund_interview_compressed.mp4
Transcript
DS SUND:
Neale, having explained to you about the interview that we are doing here today, I’m keen to move on to asking you to explain to me, in as much detail as you can, about what happened on the day that you discovered your father. I appreciate this might be difficult for you, Neale, as you’ve lost your father in extremely distressing circumstances. But it is really important to the investigation that we are able to understand as much as we can about the lead up to the discovery. So please, just take your time, and try to imagine yourself back on the day you made the discovery, which was Tuesday, wasn’t it?
Tell me everything you can remember, even if you don’t think it is relevant to the case, because all information can potentially be useful. I will try not to interrupt you, or ask you further questions. I’m after your account of what you remember. So please take your time, and just tell me what you remember.
NEALE:
OK. I’ll do my best. I’m sorry if I forget things or get things wrong. Everything is still a bit of a blur.
DS SUND:
That’s OK. Yeah, I understand this might be difficult for you, Neale. Just take your time. And if you need a break at any point, please just ask. Perhaps if it helps to ease you in, you could start with why you were meeting your dad that day.
NEALE:
Yes. Yes, of course. Really, I just want to help as much as I can. No problem. Yeah, so we were meeting that day for a special reason. I work full time, so I wouldn’t normally be meeting my dad on a Tuesday morning, but it was a special day for our family. It would have been my mum’s birthday, had she still been alive. And we always go together on her birthday, to visit her. We go to the crematorium and visit the headstone. She died from cancer a few years back. Dad likes it if I go with him. It might sound a bit morbid to you, I don’t know. But it doesn’t feel like that.
We look forward to it, to be honest. Dad’s really funny. He always reminds me, loads of times, in the run up to the day, as if I’m going to forget. So yeah, I was feeling happy, and looking forward to seeing dad, really. We’re very close.
There was one thing bothering me though. Not a big thing, like. But now that I think back, I can remember. I tried to phone dad a few times in the run up to the day. Just on the Monday, just to confirm exact timings and firm things up a bit. But I hadn’t managed to catch him at home. To be honest, dad’s really sociable. He’s always out and about, or down at the bowling club. But it was unusual to not catch him at home when I’d tried a few times on the same day.
I don’t think I’d even really noticed this consciously until I was literally phoning as I was leaving the office to go and meet him, and he didn’t answer. And that struck me as odd, because it was only half an hour from when we were supposed to be meeting at 10:00. Anyway, I arrived at the house slightly early.
I was supposed to be there at 10:00, but I left in plenty of time because I didn’t want dad to fret. I didn’t want to upset him by being late, and the traffic between my office and his house can be a bit unpredictable. I must have got there about ten to, I think. And what I did notice as soon as I arrived was that dad’s blinds were closed upstairs. And that made me feel anxious, and struck me as odd straight away, because dad was in the army. He’s an early riser, and he’s very organised. Appearances matter to him, you know? There’s no way he would’ve left his blinds closed once he’d got up. It just wouldn’t happen.
My first thought was that maybe he was poorly. I guess that’s maybe everybody’s first thought with elderly relatives, isn’t it? So yeah, I thought maybe the flu or something like that.
DS SUND:
OK, so you pulled onto the drive, you notice the blinds.
NEALE:
Yeah, that’s right. And then, of course, I knocked at the door straight away, but there was no answer. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I must have knocked at the door over 10 times. I remember shouting through the letterbox to try and shout up to him.
I remember seeing there was post on the hallway mat. I even remember checking the diary on my phone and starting to doubt myself, thinking that maybe I’d got the wrong date. My mind was all over the place. I remember phoning the house phone and hearing it ring inside while I was stood outside. Dad’s got a phone next to his bed, as well as the one in the hallway, you see. But nothing. I was starting to get desperate, and that’s when I started peering through the lounge windows. And that’s when dad’s next door neighbour Coral spotted me and came over.
She was so kind. She said that she’d seen me having trouble getting access to the house, and that if I was having trouble getting in, that I could use her drive to get access around the back. She also said, had I tried dad’s mobile? Which I hadn’t. I didn’t even know that he had a mobile, so I was a bit surprised by that. I mean, I kind of knew that he had a mobile, but I didn’t think he ever had it switched on. Anyway, I tried the number that she’d given me, and as I thought, it was switched off. But I did take her up on her offer of using her drive to get around the back.
That way, I only had to hop over the fence. But I wouldn’t have done that without her permission. Dad’s got patio doors around the back, and I checked them to see if by chance they were unlocked, which they weren’t. But I did notice that dad’s TV was on though, and I’m absolutely certain that dad never watched TV in the daytime, only at the night time.
I will admit by this point I was in a panic, and I got in my car and I left dad’s. And as I drove I thought, I have to contact the police. And strangely, I drove past a police car that was stuck in traffic. So I parked up and flagged them down.
DS SUND:
I’m interested to know why you decided you thought you needed the police, Neale.
NEALE:
What do you mean?
DS SUND:
It’s just that you mentioned that you wondered if your dad might have been unwell. Yet you said you thought you needed the police?
NEALE:
Oh, well yeah. Just the police or an ambulance, just someone, you know? In case I needed to break dad’s door down.
DS SUND:
OK. So anyway, you flagged down the officer.
NEALE:
Yes. Yeah, yeah. So the patrol car– I was expecting it to be a man, but it was being driven by a woman who seemed really young. But she was very calm and very helpful, though. I explained to her what had happened, and she said that she would follow me to dad’s and try and help. I was so grateful to her. She then explained that she would really offer assistance. I am really grateful to her. And I might have thought that she looked young and inexperienced, but she was absolutely brilliant. Anyway, when we got to the house, the other police car was already there. I can’t remember his name, either. The other officer bloke. But he was really good too.
We stood outside the house, and I explained what had happened, and they asked if there was any other doors or windows open to the property. And I said there certainly wasn’t, as I’d already checked. I then stood back, and they broke dad’s door down.
And I can remember feeling really outside myself at that point, thinking, here I am, standing, watching dad’s front doors being smashed in.
INTERVIEWER:
I’m sorry to interrupt your flow here, Neale. I just, I wanted to ask you about keys.
NEALE:
What about them?
INTERVIEWER:
About spare keys. You mentioned that you and your dad were very close, but I take it your dad hadn’t given you a key to his
NEALE:
Oh, God no. No. Dad’s very funny about his security. There’s no way he would give anyone a spare key, not even his girlfriend. Or even me, and we’re very close.
INTERVIEWER:
Girlfriend?
NEALE:
Oh, yes. Well, that’s another story. But anyway–
INTERVIEWER:
Yes, sorry. I didn’t mean to derail your train of thought. You were watching your dad’s front door being smashed in.
NEALE:
Yeah. I can’t really remember much about that part, apart from feeling a bit sick. And just wanting to know that my dad was all right. I wasn’t allowed in the house, as it might be a crime scene. And so I had to wait outside with the male police officer. And it felt like it took ages. I remember the worst part was hearing the radio call for the ambulance. And that’s when I knew that something was very much awry. I realised that I was parked on the drive, and the car would need to be moved for the ambulance. But the male police officer offered to do it for me. I must have been looking a bit shaky, I don’t know.
Anyway, by the time he came back, the lady constable had come down to the door, and she explained that she’d found dad, and the prognosis wasn’t good.
I asked what was wrong, and she said there was a lot of blood on his shirt collar.
I felt horrified by that.
I just didn’t know who would want to hurt my dad in that way, you know? My dad’s a quiet man, a nice man.
Anyway, by that point, the ambulance had arrived and PC Jones was allocated to take me to the hospital. On the way, we didn’t chat much. Just small talk, really.
At the hospital, a detective from the CID told me that someone would be in touch to arrange this interview. I said that I was more than happy to cooperate, and that was it, really.
INTERVIEWER:
Thank you, Neale. You’ve given us a lot of information there, and it will be really useful. I’m just going to drill down on one or two things now, just to get a little bit more detail. Is that all right?
NEALE:
Yes.
INTERVIEWER:
You mentioned that you checked the back doors and the windows to your dad’s house. When did you do that?
NEALE:
Well, that morning. I went around the back, the neighbour gave me access to it. It was when I couldn’t get dad to answer the door. He’s got patio doors at the back that are locked. I knew they would be, and they were.
INTERVIEWER:
You knew they would be?
NEALE:
Well, yeah. Like I said, dad’s very concerned with his security.
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