BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to Limelight. This is Series 2 of Exemplar from BBC Radio 4. Episodes will be released weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes first on BBC Sounds. I don't just mean he's large, but he's heavy-footed, you know? We've got wood floors in our house, and he's always up before me. So the thing that normally wakes me up is the sound of his footsteps stomping around the house.
You see, we've got thin walls and I hear it all. I don't even need to get up. I know exactly what he's doing. He's in the kitchen and I hear the kettle go and the hum of the radio. And then he takes his tea through to the lounge and I can hear the spark of his lighter. He coughs his way through a couple of fogs and then the bath starts running. I wait for the hairdryer before I know the bathroom's free.
So I can never sleep in the mornings. The sounds have a kind of rhythm, you know. It's the same day in, day out. I've been woken up by him my whole life. But it's funny. The thing that wakes me up now is the quiet. I hated the noise. But I hate the silence even more. When did you last hear from your brother? It's been three weeks now. And no one in the family's heard anything? No, but everyone knows they got to him.
I need you to trust me, Kieran. We're not going to let anything happen to you. You don't know these people. All you've got to do is follow the directions and deliver the drugs. No drama. In the meantime, if you have any concerns, give me a call. I'll give you my number, but you can also call the station and they'll put you straight through. Just ask for Serena Gray.
He's 19 as a child. I wouldn't feel too sorry for him. He's a Kelly. Comes from a long line of career criminals. We first picked him up, 12 years old, on his BMX with a kilo of cat in his bag. How have you got him to cooperate? His older brother was murdered by the gang. I mean, we're pretty sure he was. The same organisation he's working for. Jesus. What can you tell us about the operation?
Joint effort, cybercrime and the Roku, the gang are involved in multiple activities including crypto scams. If Kieran can lead us to where they're keeping the drugs, we're hoping we can take them all down. You will be in here with DCI Watson. Luke Watson? You know him? A bit. Yeah, um, bear with me. I'll just grab the briefing notes.
Well, this is a first. I don't think I've monitored a live phone tap before. It'll be fine. We just employ exactly the same critical listening skills as with any other job. So who's Luke Watson? Oh. I spent three days with them at a digital forensics conference last year. Nice guy? No. that didn't warm to him he always found something to moan about and this is unkind but yeah he has a smell
What kind of smell? Not a pleasant one, Maya. A sort of musty, unwashed clothes and tabs smell. Ouch. But it'll be fine. You can sit next to him. Oh, thanks. Jess Wright from Veritas. DCI Watson. I'm the SIO. You were at conference last year. Yeah, that's right. This is Maya. She's a colleague. I'd shake your hand, but I've got a stinking cold. It's fine. Who pulled you in then? I did.
If the cars fail, we've only got audio to go on. Jess and Maya are here as consultants. They've got good ears and they know the area. Okay, everything you need to know is in these briefing documents. Kieran will be waiting on his motorbike in the South Shields crematorium car park. We'll follow him discreetly and hopefully he'll lead us to the storage location. We've got two unmarked cars, but we've got to be careful. The OCG, that's...
organised crime group to you, are paranoid and may well be watching at points. The kid will be sent first to collect the package and then to deliver it. As soon as he's on the move, try to keep on top of his location from the directions. The cars are our first line, but it would be helpful if you can track him via maps where the cars lose eyes. Is there a tracker on him? No.
The CPS is making this a bit tricky. As usual. Apparently he's vulnerable and they're insisting we do everything we can to protect him. So no phones, no tracking devices on him that could be found, no drones. or helicopters, we've got to tail him from a distance. Makes sense. How will the OCG call him? They're passing him a burner at the last minute. He will have the geolocators disabled. But he'll ping us a text. As soon as we know the number, we can enable the tap.
Right. Good luck. I'm going to listen in from my office. See you for the debrief. Well, that's a relief. What? I was worried she'd be sitting in with us. Oh, do you not like her? She's one of those ones, you know. What ones? Overpromoted. Out of her depth. Right. Is there anything you need from us now? Maybe we should go through some protocols. OK. So...
I am the SIO in here, Senior Investigating Officer. If I need something from you, I'll ask you. The rest of the time, I need you to be silent or care. OK, of course. I just need to know you're not going to interfere with operations. Absolutely. Great. We're up at three. I'm going for a fag. Is he the SIO? Oh, um, I'm not sure, am I?
Go ahead. Subject has reached the south-west corner of the grammatorium car park. Received, Victor 9. Hold position. It's nearly three. Everyone standing by? Yeah, we're ready. The push bike has just entered by south-east entrance. The kid is passed. Subject, a mobile phone and an earpiece. Subject is putting on. Received. All units hold positions. Quiet, everyone. That's the text. 7, 8, 2, 2. Right, we're in.
Hi. Just stick to the route exactly as I direct you. Stay on the line and don't say anything that could reveal where you are. Can you do that? I can do that. Okay, I want you to leave by the main entrance to the car park. Turn left. Turn left. Yes. Okay. Got it. Subject is on the move. Turning west out onto John Reid Road. Repeat west on John Reid. All units hold positions until I say. Hold positions. Take the...
Third exit on the roundabout. Okay, I've got that on the map. He's west on the A1300. All units hold positions. He's gonna lose them. Straight over the next roundabout. Okay Victor 9, head west on John Reid. Stay well out of sight. Papa 6, hold position. There's a roundabout coming up. The signal's not great. You're going to take... I can't really hear you. Next roundabout, take... Which?
I don't know if I'm on the right road. What should I do? How do I know if I'm on the right road? I see a school coming up on your left, Kieran. No, I can't see anything. Oh, wait, yes. Yes, there's a scope. Oh, he's stopping. Why is he stopping? Lights. No, he's in trouble. Victor 9, hold position. I can't hear anything. I keep losing you. I don't know if I can do this. What's he doing? He's terrified. Kieran?
Kieran, do I have to remind you what will happen? Come on, Kieran, love. All right, all right. Just give me a moment. I've got it. Copper Mill Primary School. He's west on the A119 approaching Lindisfarne. Victor 9, continue and turn west onto the A119. West on A119. Coming up to another big roundabout.
Which way do I go? Where is he? Lindisfarne, roundabout. There are three exits. This will either send him north to Howden, east to Felgate or south to Bolden. OK, Kieran, listen closely and take your time. There are three exits at the interchange. One has a billboard with an advert for Samsung mobile phones. Take the exit to the right of that billboard. An advert for mobile phones? Yeah, that's right. Maya, look at Street View. See which exit has a billboard.
Three of them do. No posters for phones on street view. Well, he's on a man-road. He's in a high gear and the traffic sounds like heavy goods. He's on an air-road. They're all A-roads. Victor 9, do you have visual on subject? What were the options? That can either be Leam Lane west to Felgate, south to Bolden, or north to... Leam Lane. They're heading into Felgate or Mountain. You don't know that. Several OCGs with bases in the area. It's a safe bet.
Victor 9, head west towards Moncton and Fellgate. West, west, west towards Moncton and Fellgate. Papa 6, north to intercept subject on Leam Lane. This is a mistake. Thank you for your opinion. Papa Six, hold on the intersection of Hedworth Road and Leam Lane. Hedworth Road and Leam Lane. Watch for the subject. Are you still there? Yes, Kieran, we're here. Stay on this road.
There haven't been any lights. What are you talking about? He's still in a high gear. Either he's been very lucky with the lights or he hasn't been through a junction. Loads of junctions on Leam Lane. You've sent them the wrong way. You've sent them the wrong way. You're in a consult. Stay in your lane. Lima control. No sign of subject. He's not coming. Victor 9, what's your position?
Hold there. All units hold your positions. So where is he now, then? He's either heading south to Bolden or north on the A19, but you could start by sending them back to Jarrell. All units head back to east, east to Jarrow. East, east, east to Lindisfarne Roundabout. Received. OK, Kieran, listen up. We might lose signal soon. If we do, stay on this road.
Okay. What did she say? That they might lose signal. How does she know? How does she know? We're losing them. So do something then. Do something. About the mobile phone network. That's it. He's gone. Well, this is a disaster. How did she know the signal would die? She'll call back, won't she? He's underneath the Tyne. It's the Tyne Tunnel. They won't have a signal in the tunnel. That's how they knew. Right. He's heading north. Yeah. DC High Watson, he's heading north to Howden. Yeah, right, OK.
All units, when you get to the Lindisfarne roundabout, take the A19 North to Howden. Repeat, A19 North to Howden. Are you there? Yeah. I'm here. He'll be coming up to the Haldun interchange. Come off to the right. OK. What do I do now? When you get to the next junction... All units report position. Report position. What are you doing? I completely missed that. Which exit? Which exit did he take? He's got to be... Can you just shut up? For a moment, please.
Very little traffic. He's either heading into Wall's End or out to North Shields. Guaranteed he's on the Hadrian Road to Wall's End. Are you confident, are you? Straight over, next two roundabouts. Victor 9, what's your location now? Received quick as you can. They're nowhere near him. Where are you? Gulls? Is he on the coast road? Could be anywhere. He's right. There are seagulls all over Newcastle. There will be a car park coming up on your left. Pull in and turn off your engine.
Will someone meet me? Just wait there, Kieran. Can you hear that? Clicking, yeah, yeah. What is that clicking sound? I've heard that before. What is it? It's flagpoles. Masts? Ropes on masts. He's by the marina. Yeah, that makes sense. Where's the marina? It's right next to North Shields Port. Yep, I'm on it. All units to North Shields port. East, east, east, North Shields. Hold by the Laurel Keys roundabout.
Well, I guess we've got a few minutes while he collects the parcel. I'm going for a comfort break. Do you want to blow your nose while you're in there? It's stuffy in here, isn't it? That's one way of describing it. I remember he spilled a coffee down his trousers on the first morning of the conference. Came in the next day wearing the same clothes. More than every day. Like I say.
Musty. Shit! What do we do? There's not much we can do. We just do our jobs. Have you got the package? Yep. I've got it. Leave the way you came. Third exit, next roundabout. Which roundabout? That's the Ripley roundabout. Should we let the cars know? Yeah, yes. How do you... Oh, Jesus. All units, this is Lima Control. Lima Control, go ahead. Subject is heading to the Ripley Roundabout. Go there. I mean, to the Ripley Roundabout.
But not too close. Over. Oh, God. I didn't know that was fine. Left at the next junction. Now, stay on that road. Got it. and take the turning by the roadworks. Roadworks? Oh, that's clever. They're avoiding street names. I reckon that's the A193. Why? It's the next big road he's likely to hit. takes him west to Heaton or further east into North Shields. That would make sense. Are we back up already? We think he's on the A193, but we're not sure which direction.
Great. Your cars are by the Ripley roundabout. Send them to the A193. All units head to the intersection of A193 and Ripley Avenue. Hello? Still here, Kieran. That's Christchurch. How do you know? I've known those bells my whole life. He has to be heading east. A193 East. Cairo Road. Yeah, but where? That's a long road. All units east on Cairo Road. East, east, east. Watch for subject. There's something going on here, Maya. He's kicked it up a notch.
Why? Why is it so urgent? There's a car. Black car. Right behind me. He's been there for ages. Don't worry about him. Just listen to me, Kieran. He's really close. Okay, stay clear. Let him pass. He's not passing. Do whatever you need to do, Kieran. Get away from him. All units confirm positions. He's stopped to me like glue. You need to get your units to him now. Now, what are you doing? You're going to get him killed. What's happening? Okay.
D.I. Watson, you need to get those cars to support him now. He is in danger. He's fine. Next junction, there's a pub on the corner. Sharp right. What's that? Is it a train? No. No, it's the metro. And it's slowing. It's got to be near a station. It can only be North Shields. That's it. North Shields Metro. Got them. They're heading south on Nile Street. Sure? Yeah, yeah. They're on Nile Street.
He just pulled him behind me. He's behind me again. What are you waiting for? He's right on me. He's right on me now. I don't know what to do. Get to him now. What's your location? Two streets away. Do not lose the package. Nile Street. Send them now. All units direct to Nile Street. They're south on Nile Street. Repeat, Nile Street, south on Nile Street. What do I do? What do I do? Can someone tell me what to do?
I've got no way to go. Just protect the pack. What do I do? What do I do? Is there a car behind him? Can someone tell me what to do? I've got no way to go. That was six. Can you give me a description of the occupants of the Range Rover? All units, lights on. Proceed to Edward Road urgently. Locate the package. Call for an ambulance. What? Call for an ambulance, you idiot.
This is Lima Control, Northumbria Police requesting an ambulance to Edward Road, near the intersection with Nile Street. We have a suspected RTC and possible injured male, 19 years old. Please respond urgently. Received. Provide what assistance you can. Well, I guess that's that. What a shitshow. You're going to need to keep copies of everything.
An informant was put in harm's way. There'll be an investigation now. I can hardly wait. Hang on, that kid could be dead and that's what you're worried about, Liz. I don't know what's happened to that kid, but that's 14 kilos of Fenty that will be on the street now. All because you couldn't do your job. Do you know something? The air is foul in here. Disgusting. Yeah, and I'm out of here. I'll see you at debrief. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm just wondering who was in that car.
I thought you might want to know. Kieran was pronounced dead in the ambulance. Oh, that poor kid. I know. I'm sorry we couldn't do more. Well, I was listening and the op might have gone tits up, but you two were extraordinary. Where's Maya? She's still in the monitoring room. We can debrief in there. Oh, DS Grey. Jess, come in here. I've got something to show you both. OK. Remember the roadworks? Yeah. Take a listen. Yes. Now listen to this. Still here, Kieran.
And the car alarm. OK. Do you notice anything? Not really. Some weird phasing, maybe. I can't hear anything. It's not phasing. It's like... A slap delay. Like we're hearing it twice. Right. Hear this bang? You can clearly hear it twice. And look. On the spectrogram, you can see two transients in the file. Echo of the buildings? Maybe something in the cellular network processing. No, Jess. Two recordings, both sides of the call. We're hearing what Kieran hears.
And what the caller hears. I don't see what you're getting at. The caller was on the street too? That doesn't make sense. Not on the street. In a vehicle. OK. Bear with me. The speed of sound... is 343 metres per second, right? Yeah. So roughly three milliseconds per metre. The transients are 600 milliseconds apart. That makes a distance of about 200 metres.
She's calling from a vehicle 200 metres behind him. By the time we pass the car alarm, the time difference is shorter. It's 250 milliseconds. 80 metres behind him. She's gaining. And then I notice this. Next junction, there's a pub on the corner, sharp right. All the way, she's directing him. We assume she's sending him on a pre-arranged route. They've scoped it out.
which is how they know about the billboard and roadworks, right? Right. But then we get to this point. There are scores of right turns off Cairo Road. Kieran has been on it for a good couple of minutes. It's a very long road and he could be anywhere. But the caller directs him to the next junction. Next junction, there's a pub on the corner. With the pub on the corner. How does she know where he is unless she can see him? The caller was in the car that hit him. Exactly.
It was the OCG. Maybe. Maybe this whole thing was all for our benefit. You think they staged it for us? They must have known we were listening. They wanted us to think it was a hit by a rival gang. This is incredible. Obviously, we'll have to verify what you've found, but if you're right, I think the big question would be how they knew. It seems like someone's tipped them off.
We were so close. 14 kilos that will now be on the street. I beg your pardon? 14 kilos, wasn't it? Who told you 14 kilos? That's privileged information. Is it? Yes. We've been using a figure of 20 for internal use. No one had that figure, and they can't have without connection to the OCG. Who told you it was 14 kilos? Are we in here for debris? Shall we make it quick? I'm gasping for a pint.
DCI Watson, what was it you said earlier? How many kilos would be on the street because of us? Yeah, I got a bit carried away. Sorry about that. Water under the bridge. We were just trying to recall what you said. I don't remember. Well, remember? Yeah, I think 14 kilos, something like that. No, you said exactly that. 14 kilos of Fenty? I'm guessing that's fentanyl.
Yeah, 14 kilos. So what? How did you know it was 14? It was in the briefing or maybe... No, the figure on the briefing was 20 and no-one specified what the drug was. Do you want to explain how you knew? I don't know. Maybe our guest or... Right. Well, DCI Watson, I think maybe we should go downstairs and continue this conversation in the presence of another officer. Do you know what? It's fine. Come on, then. Jess, Maya, let's catch up in a bit. Whenever you like. And he was so nice.
Shall we pack up and get out of this fetid room? Yeah. Just want to finish up on these files. It's done, Danny. Luke Watson by Malcolm Ridley and Lara by Jessica Taylor. Exemplar was written by Ben and Max Ringham with Dan Repolato. The directors were Polly Thomas and Jade Lewis. Music and sound design were by Ben and Max Ringham with Lucinda Mason-Brown. It was a reduced listening production for BBC Radio 4.
It's Kim Cattrall, and I want to tell you about my new podcast, Central Intelligence, from BBC Radio 4, about the birth of the CIA. Secrets, lies, covert operations. the inside story from a real-life agency legend, starring Ed Harris, Johnny Flynn, and me, Kim Cattrall. To hear Central Intelligence and many other great drama podcasts, Search for Limelight on BBC Sounds.