ID parades in the days when I had just qualified were nerve-racking. There was no training for this sort of thing. The first I attended was one evening in Hornsey police station in London. I was terrified. It was a murder case and I was on my own. Looking back, the incident had occurred on a misty afternoon in December but the parade was held under lights. Totally different conditions; but if you objected then the police could and did hold a face-to-face confrontation.

Morton landscape

James Morton

I remember watching a parade – not my client – when a woman took 45 minutes to make an identification and it stood up in court. I also saw one – my client this time – when each member wore stocking masks and the judge allowed the identification.

There were some rules, but they depended on the whim of the inspector in charge. Some were very relaxed and allowed the suspect to bring his own ‘foils’ to stand with him (in all the years I don’t think I attended an ID parade for a female suspect). I remember once being late getting there and the line-up was almost complete. The man had his cousins and brothers with him and it was only when he waved at me I recognised my client.

Care had to be taken that scars were covered up. You had to enquire whether it was a voice identification otherwise you could find your client had the only northern accent. There was a story that in one parade the suspect was the only Afro-Caribbean. Certainly Joe Beltrami, the renowned Glaswegian solicitor, once found his client to be the only redhead standing. If you were not careful it was possible for witnesses, after they had identified or failed to identify the suspect, to be returned to the room where their fellows were waiting.

I once attended a parade where one of the foils was picked out four times. He was charged and my man released. I never found out what happened.

I also once rang a station to bring my man in for a robbery ID. No, they were far too busy. They would ring back. I never heard any more. Later I found they had just found the remains of one of Dennis Nilsen’s victims.

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