Carr Burstow at the River Avon on the 1st of February 2009

At about 11:30 on Saturday the 31^st of January 2009 both Marc Riley and David Carr Burstow were charged with murder at Chippenham magistrate’s court and they were both remanded in custody.  Later on Monday the 2^nd of February Marc Riley would go to HMP Bristol and in the case of David Carr Burstow the Youth Offending Institute attached to HMP Gloucester, there they remained until the trial at Bristol Crown Court in September 2009.

During the trial at Bristol Crown Court the prosecution called Steve Fulcher as a witness, Steve Fulcher is the Senior Investigating Officer in charge of operation Mews, the investigation into my mother's murder. This request was contested by the defence; I write this because it offers a clear example of how upside down the law can be. It is enshrined in law that a defendant can not be questioned after he/she has been charged. On this basis Carr Burstow’s defence tried to stop Steve Fulcher taking the witness stand and giving what can only be described as very important and insightful evidence.

On Sunday the 1^st of February after both defendants had been charged Steve Fulcher asked David Carr Burstow if he would accompany him to what was know as the deposition site, this is the spot on the River Avon that Marc Riley had claimed that he and Carr Burstow had disposed of my mother body on the night of the 8^th of January. It was in the public interest that the site be confirmed by the second defendant and that Steve Fulcher could get as much information as possible about were mum's body had been put and what she was wearing, how she was wrapped etcetera so that police divers should be successful in the such that was about to begin. The reason for Carr Burstow’s voluntary accompaniment to the river was not disputed by his defence; it was the nature of the conversation between the two that was questioned.

During the walk down to the river bank and at the rivers edge Steve Fulcher asked Carr Burstow questions as to what Antonietta was wearing, how she had been wrapped and other questions that would help the divers, Carr Burstow while describing how she was wrapped with a shower curtain and bound with electrical flex offered the unsolicited comment “When I saw her, she was twitching; I grabbed the shower curtain and wrapped her in it.” Fulcher did not press Carr Burstow on this, that would constitute an interview.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” well you can understand why his defence would seek to remove this piece of evidence using the cheep excuse that the police are not allowed to interview after charge. The interest of the defence is not the truth, but their client and if that means hiding the truth behind safeguards that exist for other eventualities so be it. Before Steve Fulcher could take the witness stand the whole issue was heard by Judge Tom Crowther QC without the jury present. He agreed with the prosecution that Carr Burstow’s unsolicited comment did not amount to an interview after charge, it had been made during a legitimate trip to confirm the deposition site and the fact that Fulcher had not pressed the defendant on his statement proved it so.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” was heard by the jury. David Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he was not upstairs and then came down to be met with an already dead landlady. In short David Carr Burstow was at the very heart of this crime before, during and after the events of January the 8^th 2009.