He's not a pheasant poacher, he's a pheasant poacher's grandson. Join us for trials, tribulations and tipsy tractor trips in Ambridge.

[PseudoBadger]

Will this thread see the end of The Trial? And SOC?

[DadDadDad]

But Rob is not in a position to "prove" anything is he? He's not instructing the prosecution and has had his turn as a witness.

[Vango]

But Rob will presumably have had the opportunity to talk to the prosecution? Wannabe Except Ethan was conceived long after Rob had left Jess and was already living with Helen.

[Mootsie]

Anna said, 'She's with him now?' when the note was passed to her so it could be the headmaster of the school who has read Ursula's account in the paper and has turned up waving a completed application form?

I really must stop thinking about this wretched school.

[DadDadDad]

True, but he's not anticipating Jess turning up and I doubt the prosecution would have had the time and inclination up to now to glean every detail of Rob's (deluded) backstory

[Vango]

Slip of the fingers there DadDadDad. For 'Rob' read 'the prosecution'.

[Vango]

'She' could be Jess, with him 'Dominic'?

[DadDadDad]

I think we're over-thinking the role of the boarding school incident. Whether R and U were just looking and Henry had got the impression that he was going there, or they'd filled in an application, surely it's dramatic purpose was to show R and U thought Helen was unstable and to provide a trigger for Helen to utter the "kill him" line. Will the jury believe the picture this paints?

After last night, a head turning up and saying "here's the application" doesn't quite have the drama of Jess's surprise* appearance. I think I know which SOC will go for...

*surprise for Rob, probably not a surprise for those of us on this thread.

[TheAntiBoop]

The whole Jess/Ethan thing was a cock up

Once soc realised the abuse was going to be a big sl he had to shelve knob as father of Ethan. When Jess came round that time to tell Helen she had slept with knob it was all 'you know what he's like - so irresistible' and the implication he was a stud in bed. That episode makes no sense now it has been rewritten and rob is a longstanding rapist and abuser.

Also, her wanting to prove he was the dad makes no sense now - especially when compared to the episode where he warned her off testifying.

So I think with Jess you have to discount anything that happened before the paternity was revealed

Maybe she has some cctv of him showing up at her house!

[tomtherabbit]

But it only takes reasonable doubt.

The jury doesn't need to be sure Rob raped her, or her friends are telling the truth, or she was frightened.

There just needs to be the chance that it's true. The prosecution case is that she planned it with Kirsty. They haven't proved that at all.

She is guilty of wounding though and the possibility that it was self defence has been quite well laid out

[DadDadDad]

I write it's when I meant its. I'll go and hand in my pedant's badge now.

[PseudoBadger]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/2726634-Silence-in-court-Discuss-The-Archers-and-shout-from-the-gallery-here-Send-him-down?watched=1

[ErrolTheDragon]

Will the prosecution recall Rob to refute helens delusional rantings, or will they realise that could backfire entirely? I'd really like to hear him grilled on the subject of consent, that would be a great topic to air.

[CeciledeVolanges]

theredjellybean she might be able to prove the defence of self defence, if she feared for her life or Henry's.

[CeciledeVolanges]

Rocknroll i did wonder during the examination of the surgeon whether he was supposed to be speculating, given that he is not a forensic expert? Presumably how the wounds were caused is, as he said, well out of his area of expertise?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Yoohoo! We're on the new thread, see Pseudo's link above.

[shinynewusername]

i did wonder during the examination of the surgeon whether he was supposed to be speculating, given that he is not a forensic expert?

Yup. He stated that he was not a forensic expert. He therefore should not have been speculating about whether the wounds were deliberate or accidental - which is impossible to tell with certainty from the wound in almost all cases.

[lidlisposhaldi]

Some pp are stating that whether or not Helen is guilty is not in question as she is. But I had a colleague on the jury of a murder case where a woman had murdered her partner. The fact that she had murdered him was not in question. But she was found not guilty as her defence was she could not run away from her violent partner as her children were in the house and she could not leave them. The jury accepted this.
Besides,Helen surely could not plead not guilty if it were legally impossible for her to be found not guilty.

[Gruach]

THIS IS THE THREAD POLICE, (if only).

Wouldn't usually be so erm .. definite but

DO NOT POST HERE❗️

We are on the NEW THREAD and things are too exciting atm for you to be loitering here.

NEW THREAD. CLICK LINK ABOVE

[EBearhug]

Oh, is there a new thread? Why didn't someone mention it?

[ErrolTheDragon]

Perhaps we could fill up this one with discussion of whether Oliver and Caroline really will turf out the Grundies and whether Joe will die happy in his own bed? Shouldn't we at this stage be hearing from Jennifer fussing about Phoebe going off to Oxford in a few weeks?

[CeciledeVolanges]

Where is Phoebe just now? I presume she is still having an unhappy and disruptive home life because of Kate? Is she going out with friends? Do normal 18 year olds spend the summer at home with their grandparents? How is her relationship with Roy?

[ErrolTheDragon]

Phoebe's relationship with Roy is very good now. She's probably doing stuff with her friends and avoiding becoming a yurt-skivvy.

[CeciledeVolanges]

I would rather hear that than Joe attempting to emotionally blackmail everyone around him, to be frank.

[EmilyDickinson]

Jennie and Phoebe should be doing a trip to their nearest IKEA to stick up around now. Josh should be looking around for extra work to fill his gap year.

[EmilyDickinson]

And I don't think we've heard how George's first day at secondary school went have we? There'll be a lot of catching up to do once the trial's finished.