Pippa Fitz-Amobi EPQ 18/09/2017
Production Log – Entry 18
It’s here!
I can’t believe it’s really here.
The Thames Valley Police have responded to my Freedom of Information request. Their email:
Dear Miss Fitz-Amobi, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 3142/17
I write in connection with your request for information dated 19/08/17, received by the Thames Valley Police for the following information: I’m doing a project at school about the Andrea Bell investigation and I would like to request the following: 1. A transcript of the interview conducted with Salil Singh on 21/04/2012 2. A transcript of any interviews conducted with Jason Bell 3. Records of the findings from the searches of the Bell residence on 21/04/2012 and 22/04/2012 I would be very grateful if you could help with any of these requests.
Result Requests 2 and 3 have been refused citing exemptions Section 30 (1) (a) (Investigations) and Section 40 (2) (Personal Information) of the FOIA. This email serves as a partial Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act (2000).
Request 1 has been upheld, but the document contains redactions as per Section 30 (1) (a) (b) and Section 40 (2). The transcript is attached below.
Reasons for decision Section 40 (2) provides an exemption for information that is the personal data of an individual other than the requester and where the disclosure of that personal data would be in breach of any of the principles of the Data Protection Act 1988 (DPA).
Section 30 (1) provides an exemption from the duty to disclose information that a public authority has held at any time for certain investigations or proceedings.
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner. I should draw your attention to the attached sheet which details your right of complaint.
Yours sincerely, Gregory Pannett
I have Sal’s interview! Everything else was refused. But in their refusal they still confirmed that Jason Bell was at least interviewed in the investigation; maybe the police had their suspicions too?
The attached transcript:
Salil Singh Recorded Interview Date: 21/04/2012 Duration: 11 minutes Location: Interviewee’s residence Conducted by officers from the Thames Valley Police PoliceThis interview is being tape recorded. st :It is the 21of April 2012 and I make it just 3:55 p.m. My name is redacted Sec 40 (2) and I’m based at redacted Sec 40 (2) with the Thames Valley Police. Also present is my colleague redacted Sec 40 (2) . Could you please state your full
name?
SS: Oh, sure, Salil Singh.
PoliceAnd can you confirm your date of birth for me?
: th SS: 14February 1994.
PoliceA Valentine’s baby, eh?
: SS: Yeah.
PoliceSo, Salil, let us just get some introduction bits out of the way first. Just so you :understand, this is a voluntary interview and you are free to stop it or ask us to leave at any time. We are interviewing you as a significant witness in the missing persons inquiry of Andrea Bell.
SS: But, sorry for interrupting, I told you I didn’t see her after school, so I didn’t witness anything.
PoliceYes, sorry the terminology is a bit confusing. A significant witness is also someone :who has a particular relationship to a victim, or in this case a possible victim. And as we understand it, you are Andrea’s boyfriend, correct?
SS: Yeah. No one calls her Andrea. She’s Andie.
PoliceOK, sorry. And how long have you and Andie been together? : SS: Since just before Christmas last year. So around 4 months. Sorry, you said Andie was a possible victim? I don’t understand.
PoliceIt’s just standard procedure. She is a missing person but because she is a minor and :this is out of character, we cannot wholly rule out that Andie has been a victim of a crime. Of course we hope otherwise. Are you OK?
SS: Um, yeah, I’m just worried.
PoliceThat’s understandable, Salil. So the first question I’d like to ask you is when was the :last time you saw Andie?
SS: At school, like I said. We talked in the car park at the end of the day, and then I walked home and she was walking home as well.
PoliceAnd at any time up until that Friday afternoon, had Andie ever indicated to you a :desire to run away from home?
SS: No, never.
PoliceDid she ever tell you about any problems she was having at home, with her family? : SS: I mean yeah we obviously talked about stuff like that. Never anything major, just normal teenager stuff. I always thought that Andie and redacted Sec 40 (2) But there wasn’t anything recent that would make her want to run away, if that’s what you’re asking. No.
PoliceCan you think of any reason why Andie would want to leave home and not be found?
: SS: Um. I’m not sure, I don’t think so.
PoliceHow would you describe your relationship with Andie?
: SS: What do you mean?
PoliceWas it a sexual relationship?
: SS: Erm, yeah sort of.
PoliceSort of? : SS: I, we haven’t actually, you know, gone all the way.
PoliceYou and Andie haven’t had sex?
: SS: No.
PoliceAnd would you say your relationship is a healthy one?
: SS: I don’t know. What do you mean?
PoliceDo you argue often? : SS: No not argue. I’m not confrontational, which is why we are OK together.
PoliceAnd were you arguing in the days before Andie went missing?
: SS: Um, no. We weren’t.
PoliceSo in written statements from redacted Sec 40 (2) taken this morning, they both :separately allege that they saw you and Andie arguing at school this week. On the Thursday and the Friday. redacted Sec 40 (2) claims it’s the worst she has seen you both argue since the start of your relationship. Do you know anything about this, Salil? Any truth to it?
SS: Um, maybe a bit. Andie can be a hot-head, sometimes it’s hard not to answer back.
PoliceAnd can you tell me what you were arguing about in this instance? :
SS: Um, I don’t, I don’t know if . . . No, it’s private.
PoliceNo, you don’t want to tell me? : SS: Erm, yeah, no. I don’t want to tell you.
PoliceYou may not think it’s relevant, but even the smallest detail could help us find her.
: SS: Um. No, I still can’t say.
PoliceSure?
: SS: Yeah.
PoliceOK, let’s move on then. So did you have any plans to meet up with Andie last night? : SS: No, none. I had plans with my friends.
PoliceBecause redacted Sec 40 (2) said that when Andie left the house at around 10:30 :p.m., she presumed Andie was going to see her boyfriend.
SS: No, Andie knew I was at my friend’s house and wasn’t meeting her.
PoliceSo where were you last night? : SS: I was at my friend redacted Sec 40 (2) house. Do you want to know times?
PoliceYeah, sure. : SS: I think I got there at around 8:30, my dad dropped me. And I left at around quarter past 12 to walk home, my curfew is 1 a.m. when I’m not staying over somewhere. I think I got in just before 1, you can check with my dad, he was up.
PoliceAnd who else was with you at redacted Sec 40 (2) house?
: SS: redacted Sec 40 (2)
redacted Sec 40 (2)
PoliceAnd did you have any contact with Andie that evening? : SS: No, I mean she tried to call me at 9ish, but I was busy and didn’t pick up. I can show
you my phone?
Policeredacted Sec 40 (2) : And have you had any contact with her at all, since she went missing?
SS: Since I found out this morning, I’ve called her like a million times. It keeps going to voicemail. I think her phone is off.
PoliceOK and redacted Sec 40 (2) did you want to ask . . . :
Police. . . Yeah. So, Salil, I know you’ve said you don’t know, but where do you think Andie :could be?
SS: Um, honestly, Andie never does anything that she doesn’t want to do. I think she could just be taking a break somewhere, her phone off so she can just ignore the world for a bit. That’s what I’m hoping this is.
PoliceWhat might Andie need a break from?
: SS: I don’t know.
PoliceAnd where do you think she could be taking this break? : SS: I don’t know. Andie keeps a lot to herself, maybe she has some friends we don’t know about. I don’t know.
PoliceOK, so is there anything else you might want to add that could help us find Andie? : SS: Um, no. Um, if I can, I’d like to help in any searches, if you’re doing them.
Policeredacted Sec 30 (1) (b)
: redacted Sec 30 (1) (b) OK then, I’ve asked everything we need to at the moment. I’m going to end the interview there, it’s 4:06 p.m. and I shall stop the tape.
OK, deep breath. I’ve read it over six times, even out loud. And now I have this horrible, sinking feeling in my gut, like being both unbearably hungry and unbearably full.
This does not look great for Sal.
I know it’s sometimes hard to read nuances from a transcript, but Sal was very evasive with the police about what he and Andie were arguing about. I don’t think anything is too private that you wouldn’t tell the police if it could help find your missing girlfriend.
If it was potentially about Andie seeing another man, why didn’t Sal just tell the police? It could have led them to the possible real killer right at the start.
But what if Sal was covering up something worse? Something that would have given him real motive to kill Andie. We know he’s lying elsewhere in this interview; when he tells the police what time he left Max’s.
It would crush me to have come all this way just to find out that Sal really is guilty. Ravi would be devastated. Maybe I should never have started this project, should never have spoken to him. I’m going to have to show him the transcript, I told him just yesterday that I was expecting a reply any day now. But I don’t know how he’s going to take it. Or . . . maybe I could lie and say it hasn’t arrived yet?
Could Sal really have been guilty all along? Sal as the killer has always been the path of least resistance, but was it so easy for everyone to believe because it’s also true?
But no: The note.
Somebody warned me to stop digging.
Yes, the note could have been someone’s idea of a prank, and if the note was a joke, then Sal could be the real killer. But it doesn’t feel right. Someone in this town has something to hide and they’re scared because I’m on the right path to chasing them down.
I just have to keep chasing, even when the path is resisting me.
Persons of Interest Jason Bell Naomi Ward Secret Older Guy Nat da Silva Daniel da Silva
