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Apr 15 2024

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial: Couple’s newborn baby ‘did not stand a chance’, court hears | UK News

A newborn baby girl who died after being taken to live in a tent in wintry conditions would still be alive if it was not for her parents’ actions, according to prosecutors.

Constance Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are accused of several charges, including manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child.

Marten had told “big fat lies” over her daughter’s death – lies that “fell from her mouth like confetti in the wind when she gave evidence”, prosecutors alleged, adding Gordon “did not dare” to give evidence, with his “silence deafening”.

Their Old Bailey trial has heard how the couple went on the run from authorities in early 2023 in an attempt to keep baby Victoria after their four older children were taken into care.

They lived off-grid in a “flimsy” tent on the South Downs during last winter, and in her “very short life” Victoria “did not stand a chance”, the court was told.

In a closing speech on Monday, prosecutor Tom Little KC said: “That is the cold, hard, brutal reality of this case. There is no point in soft-soaping it.

“Baby Victoria would still be alive if it was not for the actions and inactions of these two defendants. Nobody else is to blame are they?”

‘Neglected and exposed to dangerous conditions’

Mr Little described Victoria as a “freezing cold baby girl with just a single babygrow and one vest, no hat”, who was “neglected and exposed to dangerous conditions”.

The court heard Victoria was found dead in a supermarket “bag for life” wearing just a soiled nappy and hidden beneath “waste and detritus” in a disused allotment shed in Brighton on 1 March last year.

The pair, who had abandoned their car after it burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January 2023, were arrested in Brighton a few weeks later on 27 February.

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The prosecutor alleged Marten had told “big fat lies”, including her claim that a buggy – bought and discarded in London the same day – had a “sub-zero sleeping bag” on it, unlike the one shown to the jury with a “foot muff”.

Pointing to the replica buggy exhibited in court, Mr Little said: “There was going to be some kind of muff-off in this case between this version, and this mythical version.”

Not only was Marten’s version a “demonstrable lie”, it was delivered with “self-righteous indignation” as part of a “well-crafted” act to “pull the wool” over jurors’ eyes, Mr Little went on.

The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The Old Bailey trial continues.

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Mar 5 2024

Chloe Othen: Model punched 30 times and sustained bites that turned ‘septic’ in attack, court hears | UK News

A Miss Universe finalist was punched in the head at least 30 times and sustained bites that turned “septic” in an attack by her ex-partner, a court has heard.

Model and influencer Chloe Othen, 33, was also strangled and dragged along the floor by her hair by Ricky Lawrence, 32, the Nightingale Crown Court in Holborn, central London, was told on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Sheilagh Davies said Lawrence, of Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, west London, beat Ms Othen, took her phone and stopped her from leaving his flat, during an alleged attack in October 2022.

“As she got up to leave, Ricky Lawrence had grabbed her phone out of her hand and refused to give it back. He then lashed out and punched her,” Ms Davies said.

“He was fighting her, biting her multiple times all over her body.”

Ms Othen and Lawrence’s six-month relationship ended in May 2022 but she told the court the pair were “on and off” after that time and she had last seen Lawrence “a few days” before the alleged assault.

Bora Guccuk, who had begun a relationship with Ms Othen at the time, had tried to call her phone in the flat, but Lawrence answered and threatened him, saying he would “kill him”, the court heard.

Ms Othen ran out of the flat after the attack, calling Mr Guccuk for help, before meeting him and a friend at the Berkeley Hotel, also in Knightsbridge.

She went to A&E on 16 October, where her injuries were documented, and it was shown that one of the bite marks on her neck “turned septic”, the prosecutor said.

‘Manic’ messages exchanged before alleged attack

Ms Othen said she decided to go to Lawrence’s apartment in the early hours of 15 October after she had been at an event as the defendant became “aggressive” by text, adding: “I thought I’d let him calm down and then go over there and see him.”

In WhatsApp messages shown in court, exchanged between Ms Othen and Lawrence from 4.17am to 5.35am on 15 October, Lawrence said: “You f***** up tonight. Watch what I do now you silly c***.”

Another message said: “I’ll do anything in my power to f*** up the rest of your life. Screenshot that.”

Ms Othen said she thought Lawrence’s behaviour was “manic”, but that receiving abusive messages from him was “quite normal”.

She said she arrived at his flat at 5.35am after getting a taxi from Kensington.

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‘I genuinely thought he was going to kill me’

Asked about Lawrence’s mood when she arrived, Ms Othen said he was “weirdly calm”.

“Ricky was quite strange when I walked in. Within five, 10 minutes, I wanted to leave,” she said.

“I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.”

Ms Othen said Lawrence “punched me about 30 times in the head and the ear” for “about an hour and a half”, after taking her phone away from her.

She said he also “pulled me up and down from the kitchen to the bedroom” by her hair before he “got two kitchen knives from his bedroom and chased me round the dining room”.

Lawrence was arrested at his flat and provided a prepared statement to police in which he said he had “repeatedly asked Chloe to leave but she continued to shout and scream” and he had “sustained a lengthy scratch along my abdomen”, the court heard.

The jury was shown two sets of photographs, one taken by police on 15 October, and more taken the following day, which showed marks and bruising on Ms Othen’s face, neck, elbow, inner thigh, right leg and knee.

Ms Othen said she had a mild cauliflower ear and had to get her jaw unlocked, and had to wear a neck brace from being strangled.

Lawrence, who denies a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, spoke only to confirm his name at Tuesday’s court hearing.

The trial continues.

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Feb 28 2024

Mother accused of murdering her three-year-old son says she caned him because Bible allows it, court hears | UK News

A mother accused of murdering her three-year-old son has claimed she used a bamboo cane to beat him because the Bible told her she could “chastise her child”, a court has heard.

Christina Robinson, 30, called the emergency services to her home in Bracken Court, Durham, in November 2022 and claimed Dwelaniyah had gone limp while eating a cheese bun.

But Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court the boy had suffered a serious, fatal head injury after being shaken violently by his mother.

The prosecution said the child’s legs were heavily bandaged, hiding burns which covered up to 20% of his body and would have caused excruciating pain for several weeks prior to his death, having been forcibly and deliberately scalded in the bath.

Jurors were shown paramedics’ body-worn footage as they tried to save the boy at the house, where Robinson said the youngster had hurt himself in the shower but she had not thought he needed hospital treatment.

Neighbours heard whimpering at night but did not know the source of the sound, the prosecution said.

Dwelaniyah, whose heart had stopped beating, was taken to hospital but could not be saved.

Bruises on his body showed he had been hit by a cylindrical object and tests on a bamboo cane found in the house showed traces of his blood and skin, the court heard.

Mr Wright told jurors: “The defendant admits that she hit him with a weapon but says that she was allowed to do so because the Bible tells her that she should chastise her child.”

A post-mortem revealed he had been the victim of a series of assaults and had sustained several non-accidental injuries, the jury was told.

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The prosecutor said: “The defendant now asserts that beating a child with a cane so that she drew blood was consistent with her being an adherent of the teachings of the Bible.”

Robinson denies murdering Dwelaniyah and child cruelty.

The case was adjourned to Wednesday.

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Feb 23 2024

Christian B: Madeleine McCann suspect beat rape victim and attacked woman while wearing ski mask, court hears | World News

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann raped a woman while wearing a ski mask and beat another rape victim with a whip, a court has heard.

Christian B – whose surname cannot be published due to the country’s privacy laws – faces three counts of rape and two of sexual abuse at his trial in the northern city of Braunschweig.

The 47-year-old German is alleged to have committed the offences in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The allegations do not relate to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007.

He is accused of raping and beating a 70 to 80-year-old woman, after entering her bedroom wearing a ski mask. He also allegedly held a cushion over the woman’s face before leaving.

Under another charge, it’s said Christian B allegedly woke up a 20-year-old from Ireland as she slept, before raping her at her flat in Portugal in June 2004. In the same alleged attack, he is accused of gagging the woman and beating her.

Other charges facing Christian B include:

Beating and sexually assaulting a girl aged at least 14 sometime between December 2000 and April 2006 at his house in Praia da Luz, Portugal
Exposing himself to a 10-year-old German girl at a beach in Salema in the district of Faro in Portugal on 7 April 2007
Exposing himself to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground in Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal on 11 June 2017

During the hearing, Christian B’s lawyer said the defendant “is using his right to remain silent”.

His defence lawyer said he expects his client to be acquitted, dismissing the evidence as “abysmal”.

There are no formal pleas in the German legal system, and defendants are not obliged to respond to the charges.

Christian B is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old in Praia da Luz, the same town where Madeleine disappeared.

He has not been charged in the McCann case and denies involvement, but has been under investigation for the last few years.

Madeleine was three when she went missing on holiday in Portugal in May 2007.

In May last year, German and Portuguese police searched a nearby reservoir that Christian B used to call his “paradise”.

His trial opened a week ago but was swiftly adjourned on its first day after Mr Fulscher filed a challenge against a lay judge on the panel hearing the case, who was alleged once to have spread a call to kill former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on social media.

Prosecutors supported the challenge.

The woman has been removed from the case and now faces an investigation herself on suspicion of making a public call to commit crimes.

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The trial is expected to last four months.

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Oct 24 2023

Shamima Begum’s British citizenship removal was ‘unlawful’, Court of Appeal hears | UK News

The decision to remove Shamima Begum’s British citizenship was “unlawful”, a court has heard, as her latest appeal against the decision begins.

Ms Begum travelled to Syria in 2015 to join Islamic State, when she was aged 15, and her UK citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found in a refugee camp in February 2019.

Earlier this year, Ms Begum, now 24, lost a challenge against the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), meaning she would not be able to return to the UK.

Delivering the ruling in February, Mr Justice Jay said that while there was “credible suspicion that Ms Begum was recruited, transferred and then harboured for the purpose of sexual exploitation”, this did not prevent then-home secretary Sajid Javid from removing her citizenship.

At the Court of Appeal in London on Tuesday, her lawyers began another bid to overturn the decision – which the Home Office is opposing.

Her legal team claims the Home Office failed to consider the legal duties owed to Ms Begum as a potential trafficking victim.

Samantha Knights KC said in written submissions: “[Ms Begum’s] trafficking was a mandatory, relevant consideration in determining whether it was conducive to the public good and proportionate to deprive her of citizenship, but it was not considered by the Home Office.

“As a consequence, the deprivation decision was unlawful.”

Addressing the SIAC’s conclusion that there were “arguable breaches of duty” by state bodies including the Metropolitan Police, Tower Hamlets council and Ms Begum’s school, Ms Knights said these “failures” could have been unlawful and contributed to Ms Begum being trafficked.

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Lawyers for the Home Office have told the court that the SIAC outcome was correct.

Sir James Eadie KC said in written submissions: “The fact that someone is radicalised, and may have been manipulated, is not inconsistent with the assessment that they pose a national security risk.

“Ms Begum contends that national security should not be a ‘trump’ card. But the public should not be exposed to risks to national security because events and circumstances have conspired to give rise to that risk.”

The hearing is expected to last three days with the decision to follow at a later date.

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Aug 29 2023

Sara Sharif’s cause of death still undetermined – but inquest hears it is ‘likely to be unnatural’ | UK News

Sara Sharif’s cause of death is yet to be determined – but an inquest has heard it is “likely to be unnatural”.

The 10-year-old was found dead at her home in Woking on 10 August, with Surrey County Council confirming she was previously known to authorities.

Earlier this month, a post-mortem revealed Sara had “suffered multiple and extensive injuries” that were “likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time”.

Coroner Simon Wickens said inquest proceedings will be adjourned until 29 February 2024 so Surrey Police can continue with their investigations – adding there was an “international” aspect to the case.

He went on to offer his “sincere condolences” to all those “touched by Sara’s short life”.

Sara’s father Urfan – as well as her stepmother, uncle and five children – are believed to have travelled to Islamabad before she was discovered by police.

He went on to call 999 from Pakistan on the day she was found, expressing concern for his eldest daughter’s safety.

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Police in the country have been trying their “level best” to locate Sara’s family.

Detectives have told Sky correspondent Sabah Choudhry they are “blind” in their search for Sara’s father, uncle and stepmother – and reports of officers being close to finding them are “fake news”.

Meanwhile, Sara’s grandfather has urged his son to hand himself over to police as part of the investigation.

Back here, detectives have been piecing together a picture of her lifestyle before she died – and her mother Olga is being supported by specialist officers.

Lawyers in the UK have said Pakistan’s government is unlikely to block an extradition request in connection to Sara’s death.

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Jun 27 2023

Nicola Bulley: ‘Nothing’ in medical records to suggest mother-of-two was suicidal, inquest hears | UK News

There was “nothing” in Nicola Bulley’s medical records to suggest she was suicidal, her former GP has told an inquest into her death.

Dr Rebecca Gray told the hearing at County Hall, Preston, that Ms Bulley had spoken to her about feeling a “low mood and anxiety” since 2018, later speaking of headaches, fatigue and lack of sleep.

But there was “nothing on the notes or records from 2012 where there’s been any mention of her feeling suicidal or of self-harm”, Dr Gray added.

Ms Bulley was sent to A&E on 11 January due to an injury to her head, Dr Gray said.

The mother-of-two attended a walk-in centre after a fall complaining of increased drowsiness and vomiting and was sent to A&E, where a CT scan came back normal, the inquest heard.

A mental health clinician said Ms Bulley did not appear depressed despite concerns over her increased drinking.

Theresa Lewis Leevy told the inquest she attended Ms Bulley’s house on 10 January along with a police officer and paramedic following concerns about her welfare.

Ms Bulley appeared intoxicated on her bed and spoke of having lost weight.

However, when asked if she appeared depressed, Ms Leevy said: “No, no, not that I could ascertain at the time.”

Ms Bulley’s sister cried as she spoke during the inquest.

“Nikki was my big sister…very much a planner,” Louise Cunningham said

“She started her career again, a busy mum, as most people are, juggling a career and family life. She always had things under her control.”

Ms Cunningham said her sister had spoken to her about having problems sleeping.

Asked if she spoke about menopausal symptoms with her, Ms Cunningham said: “She discussed having some symptoms with the HRT, it was back in the summer (of 2022).

“She was having headaches, she couldn’t get the balance exactly right, she mentioned having struggles sleeping.

“She was taking lavender spray, herbal tea, anything that would relax her before bed.”

‘High risk’ missing person

Ms Bulley vanished while walking her dog after she had dropped her two daughters off at school in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, on the morning of 27 January.

The 45-year-old mortgage adviser from Inskip was immediately deemed a “high risk” missing person and her disappearance sparked an intensive search operation before her body was eventually found more than three weeks later in the River Wyre.

No evidence Bulley harmed before she drowned

On Tuesday, the inquest heard there was no evidence Ms Bulley was harmed before she drowned in the River Wyre.

Dr Alison Armour, a Home Office pathologist, said watery fluid and fragments of dirt found inside her body were “typical features we see in cases of drowning”.

Ms Bulley was alive when she fell into the water and had not been drinking before her death, she added.

An expert said the temperature of the River Wyre was around 3-5C and it would have taken “one or two breaths” of water to kill Ms Bulley.

“For somebody of Nicola’s size, it would have taken one or two breaths in of water to be a lethal dose,” Professor Michael Tipton said.

Another cold water expert, Dr Patrick Morgan, said Ms Bulley may have only been able to hold her breath for “one or two seconds at best” in the river.

Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, asked the Home Office pathologist: “Is there any evidence of third-party involvement playing any part in her death?”

Dr Armour replied: “No, there was not.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.

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May 3 2023

Chris Packham fears hate-fuelled psychopath could kill him in woods, libel trial hears | UK News

Chris Packham has told a court he fears for his and his family’s security – and that he does not “expect to live a long life free from violence and intimidation”.

On the second day of a libel case which he initiated, the TV star said he was a “victim of a campaign of vile and relentless intimation”, adding: “I do go to walk my dogs in the woods and wonder: is today the day that a psychopath fuelled by all this hate turns up and kills me?”

The BBC Springwatch presenter, 61, is suing three men over allegations in nine articles relating to his involvement in Wildheart Trust, a charity that runs a wildlife sanctuary on the Isle of Wight.

Mr Packham told the High Court trial he believed the “defendants’ unsubstantiated claims have misled, agitated and fuelled a vocal and violent conspiratorial fringe who increasingly post threatening and vile material about me and my family”.

The environmentalist said his post had often been stolen and “random dead animals and human faeces are regularly posted to me”.

“I have become accustomed to the plethora of dead animals people leave at my home,” Mr Packham went on.

The TV naturalist is suing Dominic Wightman, editor of the online site Country Squire Magazine, along with writer Nigel Bean and a third man, Paul Read.

Mr Packham has been accused of defrauding and manipulating people into making donations to the charity to rescue tigers while knowing they were well cared for.

Mr Packham denies the allegations

It is also alleged he dishonestly raised money for the charity at the beginning of COVID while knowing it was due to receive a £500,000 benefit from its insurance. Mr Packham has strongly denied the claims.

Mr Wightman and Mr Bean’s lawyers said the articles in the claim could be defended as true, while Mr Read said he was not responsible for the publications as he was a “mere proofreader”.

In a 50-page witness statement, Mr Packham said: “I genuinely no longer expect to live a long life free from violence and intimidation.

“Because it may only take the one wrong person to read Country Squire Magazine for things to go horribly wrong.”

Mr Packham said his “deeply held views” had attracted criticism from people who shoot and fox hunt – while revealing details of the threats he gets.

Read more: Chris Packham defiant after arsonists target his home

‘Masked attackers burned down gate to his home’

He also said that “masked attackers” in October 2021 set fire to a car and burned down the gate to his home, with police said to believe the arson was carried out by paid professionals.

Nicholas O’Brien, a lawyer for Mr Wightman and Mr Bean, said the allegations in the articles in the claim were true and could also be defended as under the public interest.

The barrister said: “It is clear that the tigers had not been rescued from a circus, were not then in need of rescue, and were not rescued by Mr Packham.”

But Mr Packham said it was correct to use the word “rescue” when talking about the tigers and a move to the sanctuary.

He has called the allegations against him “ridiculous, utterly unfounded, and plainly designed to be as upsetting, threatening and reputationally damaging as possible”.

Mr Packham denied fraudulently raising money for the charity, adding that “we weren’t hopeful that we would be insured against COVID-19 closures”.

The trial before Mr Justice Saini is due to end on 12 May, and a decision is expected at a later date.

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Mar 27 2023

Man accused of Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s murder trying to ‘pull the wool over juror’s eyes’, court hears | UK News

The man accused of killing Olivia Pratt-Korbel is trying to “pull the wool over juror’s eyes”, the prosecution in his trial has claimed.

Meanwhile, the defence has argued that hitmen do not find their target and then “go home for tea”.

Thomas Cashman, 34, is accused of killing the nine-year-old in Liverpool last August as he chased a convicted drug dealer.

In his closing speech on Monday, David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, said it was a “case that shocked not simply a city not too far away from here but also a nation”.

“The news at the time made front-page headlines across the country and this is a case which will live with you forever,” he told the jury of 10 men and two women at Manchester Crown Court.

He said Cashman would have the jury believe that the “strands of evidence put forward by the prosecution” are a “series of misunderstood or random, unconnected events, in short simply a multitude of coincidences that don’t point in the direction of his guilt”.

Mr McLachlan said the prosecution’s conclusion is that Cashman is “not the unluckiest man in the world with all these circumstances conspiring against him”.

“He is not the victim of a woman trying to stitch him up for murder. The man in the dock, we submit, is the gunman who shot Olivia and he is not prepared to own it.

“We say – but you will decide – that Thomas Cashman must think that you were all born yesterday.”

He told the jury that they “know better than anyone when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes; that’s what the prosecution say Thomas Cashman is trying to do”.

Mr McLachlan also described Cashman’s evidence as a “dummy’s guide to drug dealing in Dovecot”.

CCTV footage of the moment the shots were fired was shown to the court during the prosecution’s closing speech.

Mr McLachlan said: “The evidence will lead you to the truth.

“The prosecution say he’s not prepared to own it, he never will be, but he knows what the truth is and, with respect, great respect, we respectfully submit that you do too.”

Cashman ‘was not the hitman’, defence says

Meanwhile, John Cooper KC, defending, said the prosecution’s argument that Cashman was acting as a “hitman” on the night of Olivia’s death is not the case.

Pointing to the prosecution’s argument that Cashman was “scoping out” an area to shoot Joseph Nee (the intended target of the attack), Mr Cooper said the Crown’s narrative “doesn’t make sense”.

The prosecution has argued Cashman saw Nee’s van on several occasions while travelling around the Dovecot area on the day of the shooting.

Mr Cooper told the jury that when hitmen find “their target, they wait for their target, they don’t go home for tea”.

“Why does he [Cashman] behave that way? Because he was not the hitman,” Mr Cooper argued.

“How can the Crown possibly say they put emotion to one side and keep telling you to put emotion to one side when they finished their speech with playing of the horrific CCTV footage, as if you, members of the jury, hadn’t quite got it. Do you feel a little bit insulted by that?

“You get it, you get the tragedy, you get the brutality. Let’s give you a bit of respect, you don’t need it played four times.”

Mr Cooper went onto accuse the prosecution of “Cinderella syndrome”, telling the jury: “We’ll force this evidence into a shoe that doesn’t fit and we’ll play the banging video again a couple of times.”

Cashman denies murdering Olivia, the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Olivia’s mother, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.

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Mar 14 2023

Eleanor Williams sentencing: Three men tried to take their own lives over woman’s rape lies, court hears | UK News

Three men tried to take their own lives after being falsely accused of rape, a court has heard.

Eleanor Williams accused the trio and others of attacking her and in May 2020 she posted on Facebook she was the victim of an Asian grooming gang, along with photos of injuries the prosecution claims were self-inflicted with a hammer.

The woman’s allegations led to an “unprecedented outcry” and protests in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in public displays of mass anger not seen there for more than 30 years, said police.

There were 151 extra crimes following the social media post, including 83 hate crimes, Preston Crown Court heard.

Some businesses shut and members of the community left their homes because of the outcry, the police added.

Williams, 22, is waiting to learn her fate at a sentencing hearing after being convicted of perverting the course of justice in January this year.

In court on Monday, business owner Mohammed Ramzan said the allegations against him had made his life “hell on earth”.

‘I still bear the scars’

He said he tried to take his life two weeks after being arrested over Williams’ claims and added: “I still bear the scars to this day.”

Mr Ramzan said he had “countless death threats” on social media from people “all over the world”.

His property was damaged and his businesses were “ruined” after he and his family were targeted “in the most horrendous way”, Mr Ramzan told the court.

Read more: How woman’s lies and self-inflicted injuries unleashed hatred and death threats

Another man, Jordan Trengove, said: “The lowest point was when I tried to end my life in August 2020.”

He said in a statement to the court that after Williams alleged he raped her, the word “rapist” was spray painted on his house and his window was smashed.

After he was charged, he said he spent 73 days in prison, sharing a cell with a convicted sex offender.

A third man, Oliver Gardner, said his chance encounter with Williams in Preston led to him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Mr Gardner, who was accused of rape after he met Williams in the city centre, said it was a “real shock” when he was contacted by police and told of her claims.

He said: “It was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

In his statement, he said he tried to end his life before being sectioned. He added: “This whole period in my life has been totally overwhelming.”

Defending Williams, Louise Blackwell KC said: “Miss Williams continues in her allegations against the various people in pretty much the same circumstances.”

On Tuesday, the defendant is due to be sentenced for nine offences of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.

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