Lancaster Crown Court
R-v-BRIGHTMAN
Wednesday 11 May 2005
Morning Session
Before:
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE NOLAN
| MR MACLEAN | Would you please state your full name? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Lee Anthony Brightman. |
| MR MACLEAN | Thank you. Now, Mr Brightman, you had a relationship with Miss Bailey, is that correct? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Yes. |
| MR MACLEAN | For how long? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I met her at the end of October in 2003. We were seeing each other until the middle of June last year. |
| MR MACLEAN | And how did you meet? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | At work. I was working on an operation and I happened to meet her through the course of that. |
| MR MACLEAN | And you formed a relationship? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Yes. |
| MR MACLEAN | You said that the relationship ended in June. Was that a mutual decision? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Things had been going wrong for a while. Catherine was very jealous of the time I spent away from her working. She was convinced I was having an affair. |
| MR MACLEAN | And were you? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. My job takes me away from home for days at a time, and the nature of it means that I can’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend, where I am or when I’ll be home. |
| MR MACLEAN | Did your time away from Miss Bailey cause arguments between you? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Yes. She would check my mobile for messages from other women, demand to know where I’d been, who I’d been seeing. When I got back from a job, all I wanted to do was forget about work and relax a bit. It started to feel like I never had the chance to do that. |
| MR MACLEAN | So you ended the relationship? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. We had rows sometimes, but I loved her. I knew she had some emotional problems. When she went for me, I always told myself that it wasn’t her fault. |
| MR MACLEAN | What do you mean by ‘emotional problems’? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Well, she told me she had suffered from anxiety in the past. The more time I spent with her, the more I saw that coming out. She would go out drinking with her friends, or drink at home, and when I got home she would start an argument and lash out at me. |
| MR MACLEAN | Just with regard to the emotional problems, I would like to ask you about that further. Did you, over the course of your relationship, see any evidence that Miss Bailey would harm herself at times of emotional stress? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. Her friends had told me that she had cut herself in the past. |
| MR LEWIS | Objection, Your Honour. The witness was not asked about the opinions of Miss Bailey’s friends. |
| MR JUSTICE NOLAN | Mr Brightman, please keep to the questions you are asked. Thank you. |
| MR MACLEAN | Mr Brightman, you mentioned that Miss Bailey would ‘lash out’ at you. Can you explain what you mean by ‘lash out’? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | She would shout, push me, slap me, kick me. That kind of thing. |
| MR MACLEAN | She was violent towards you? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Yes. Well, yes. She was. |
| MR MACLEAN | On how many occasions, would you say? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I don’t know. I didn’t keep count. |
| MR MACLEAN | And what did you generally do, on these occasions when she ‘lashed out’ at you? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I would walk away from it. I deal with that enough at work; I don’t need it when I get home. |
| MR MACLEAN | And were you ever violent towards her? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Only the last time. She had locked me in the house and hidden the key somewhere. She went mad at me. I’d been working on a particularly difficult job and something inside me snapped. I hit her back. It was the first time I’d ever hit a woman. |
| MR MACLEAN | The last time – what date are you talking about, exactly? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | It was in June. The 13th, I think. |
| MR MACLEAN | Would you take us through that day? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I stayed the night before at Catherine’s house. I was on duty that weekend so I left for work before Catherine woke up. When I came back to her house that evening she was at home and she had been drinking. She accused me of spending the day with another woman – the same thing I heard over and over again. I took it for a while, but after a couple of hours I had had enough. I went to walk away but she had double-locked the front door. She was screaming and swearing at me, over and over again, slapping me with her hands, scratching my face. I pushed her backwards, just enough to get her away. Then she just threw herself at me again and I hit her. |
| MR MACLEAN | How did you hit her, Mr Brightman? Was it a punch, a slap? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I hit her with a closed fist. |
| MR MACLEAN | I see. And what happened then? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | She didn’t stop; she just yelled louder and came at me again. So I hit her again. I guess it was probably harder. She fell over backwards and I went to see if she was alright, to help her up. I think I must have trodden on her hand. She screamed and yelled at me and threw something. It was the key to the front door. |
| MR MACLEAN | What did you do next? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I took the key, unlocked the front door and left. |
| MR MACLEAN | What time was that? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | It must have been about a quarter past seven. |
| MR MACLEAN | And when you left her, what condition was she in? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | She was still shouting and screaming. |
| MR MACLEAN | Was she injured, bleeding? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I think she may have been bleeding. |
| MR MACLEAN | Could you elaborate, Mr Brightman? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | She had some blood on her face. I don’t know where it came from. It wasn’t a lot of blood. |
| MR MACLEAN | And did you have any injuries yourself? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I just had some scratches. |
| MR MACLEAN | Did you consider that she might have needed medical attention? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. |
| MR MACLEAN | Even though she was apparently bleeding, and crying out? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I don’t recall that she was crying out. As I left the house she was shouting and swearing at me. If she needed medical attention I believe she could have got it herself, without my help. |
| MR MACLEAN | I see. So after you left the house at a quarter past seven, did you see Miss Bailey again? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. I didn’t see her again. |
| MR MACLEAN | Did you contact her by telephone? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. |
| MR MACLEAN | Mr Brightman, I want you to think very carefully before answering my next question. How do you feel now with regard to the incidents of that day? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I have deep regret for everything that happened. I loved Catherine. I had asked her to marry me. I had no idea she was so emotionally disturbed and I wish to God I hadn’t retaliated. I wish I had just tried harder to calm her down. |
| MR MACLEAN | Thank you. No further questions, Your Honour. |
| – CROSS-EXAMINATION – | |
| MR LEWIS | Mr Brightman, would you have described your relationship with Miss Bailey as a serious one? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I thought it was, yes. |
| MR LEWIS | Do you understand that it is part of your terms and conditions of employment that you will inform your employers of changes in your personal circumstances, including providing the details of your relationships? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Yes. |
| MR LEWIS | And yet you chose not to inform anyone you work with about your relationship with Miss Bailey, is that not the case? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I had planned to do so when Catherine agreed to marry me. My vetting review was due at the end of September; I would have mentioned it then in any case. |
| MR LEWIS | Now, I would like to draw your attention to Exhibit WL/1 – this is on page fourteen of the exhibit packs – which is the statement by PC William Lay. PC Lay arrested you on Tuesday 15th June 2004 at your home address. In his statement he asserts that when he asked you about Miss Bailey, you at first stated, and I quote: ‘I don’t know who you are talking about.’ Is that correct? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | I don’t remember exactly what I said. |
| MR LEWIS | This is the woman you have subsequently stated that you were in love with, that you intended to marry. Is that correct? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | PC Lay and PC Newman turned up at my house at six in the morning. I’d been working for the past three nights and I had only just gone to bed. I was disorientated. |
| MR LEWIS | Did you also state when questioned at Lancaster Police Station later that same day – and I’m quoting again from your statement: ‘She was just someone I was investigating. When I left her she was fine. She had emotional issues, mental health issues.’? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | (inaudible) |
| MR JUSTICE NOLAN | Mr Brightman, could you speak up? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | Yes. |
| MR LEWIS | And were you conducting an investigation into Miss Bailey? |
| MR BRIGHTMAN | No. |
| MR LEWIS | I have no further questions. |
| MR JUSTICE NOLAN | Thank you. In that case, ladies and gentlemen, we will adjourn for lunch. |