The trial attracts media coverage across the globe. Sheena finally has her moment on the stand, with Albert’s fate resting in her hands. Nearly 30 years on, Sam explores what’s happened to Albert Walker and the victims he left behind.Listener's guide to Uncover: What season should you cue up next?
Chapter 1: What is the focus of the trial involving Sheena Walker?
Our barrister made the decision that he wanted to open the trial with Sheena.
My lord, the first witness I'm going to call is Sheena Walker. There was an audible gasp as everyone looked to the back door in disbelief. Most of the reporters weren't expecting Sheena Walker to be on the witness stand at all, let alone be first. And she was all alone, because even though Officer Brian Slade had been with her every step, preparing her for this moment...
He was not there in the courtroom to see it.
I didn't go into court because they were worried that she might keep staring at me for reassurance and the defence might pick her up and think, well, who is this person? And try to get a little chink in the armour. Yeah, I was asked not to.
As she moved toward the witness box, all eyes were on her, none more intently than those of her father. His eyes seemed to be reaching out, determined to meet hers, but he was boxed out by the body of a support worker.
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Chapter 2: How did Sheena Walker's testimony impact the trial?
Sheena stumbled as she went up the step, was sworn in, and then when the clerk whispered something that only she could hear, she took the hard candy out of her mouth and wrapped it tightly in a napkin. Your full name is Sheena Elizabeth Walker? Correct. And you were born in Canada? Correct. Was it your choice to accompany your father to England? Yes. You used fake names. Why?
My mother was after custody of my siblings and after my father for financial support. As prosecutor Charles Barton steered her through, Sheena answered every question with conviction. Detective Ian Clenahan was there in the courtroom.
She was very, very calm, very determined, and stood there and gave it like it was. And we knew what she could say. We knew what she'd already told us. And it was a matter of her getting that out in court.
Sheena was only on the stand for a short period of time that day, but she was able to cover a lot of ground. Meeting Elaine and Ron, taking their names. She and her father posing as a married couple. Ron moving back to England. And then, the key timeline detail. Sheena said that the last time she ever saw Ron Platt was at Christmas 1995.
About six months later, in June 1996, Walker told her that Ron had, quote, given up and had traveled across to France, to the Bordeaux region. Sheena told detectives that on July 20th, during their holiday in Devon, Walker went for a solo sale for the entire day. A month after that was when Officer Peter Redman called Walker to inform him that Platt's body was found in the channel.
Sheena was in the room when he called him and described her father as seeming shocked. And what happened then, after the police first called your dad? We made plans to move. But the most important detail Barton wanted Sheena to tell the jury, the reason the police were so keen to have her on the stand, that they worked with the RAF to make it possible, that, of course, was saved for last.
When was the last time you talked to your father? He asked me to change my testimony. He asked me to say that I knew Ron was in Devon, and that I was supposed to know that Ron had been on the boat as well. And with that, the first day was done. It had been a gutsy move to open with Sheena, but the guts Sheena showed on the stand were all anyone was talking about.
On the first day of his murder trial, the key witness against him was his daughter.
Albert Walker's eyes were fixed on his daughter throughout her testimony, but the young woman who once masqueraded as her father's wife never even looked in his direction.
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Chapter 3: What role did Albert Walker's actions play in the trial?
He turned to both attorneys to address the elephant that had entered the courtroom ever since Sheena had said that she was posing as her father's wife and had become pregnant.
Yes, because you're going to ask as a jury member, what is the relationship?
He said, it is obvious that there were matters raised that were not explored in detail. Are you absolutely comfortable that all the matters relevant to the jury's case have been heard? Both agreed they had nothing further.
He's on trial for murder, not for anything else.
The paternity of Sheena's two children was information that never entered the public record. In the center of the storm, she had been credible and poised. While it was obvious that Ferguson had been coached by his client to poke holes in her testimony, Sheena's clear-eyed denial of knowing that Ron had been in Devon painted a damning picture of Albert Walker.
He had intentionally left Sheena, the person he was most honest with, in the dark about Ron Platt's final movements. And there's really only one reason he would do that. Sheena was free to step down, as the detectives who had been on the case for two years were left in awe of her.
I think she'd seen the light, hadn't she? She'd been under his spell for so many years. Once that spell was broken and he was taken away from her... I think then she became aware of how wrong everything was and how manipulative he was. And yeah, I think she made that conscious decision to step out from him and say, look, this is it. This is the end of me being ruled by him.
We were all delighted with how she managed to stand up to it. Just the fact that she had the courage to stand up and fight against their father after what he put her through, I thought it was fabulous.
Sheena had delivered the prosecution an undeniably strong start.
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Chapter 4: What are the key arguments made by Albert Walker during his testimony?
He's listening to this scenario all coming together, and he's probably thinking at that point, I really am in trouble here.
Most attorneys would advise their client in the situation, even when you're perceived to be losing, not to take the witness stand. Exposing yourself to cross-examination is no joke, and most defendants will wilt under the pressure of a talented prosecutor like Barton. But most defendants are not Albert Walker.
Oh, high drama this morning. Richard Ferguson, the defence QC, had quite a considered preamble where he looked directly at the jury and he told them, you will hear very shortly from Albert Walker, but what I want to say to you is that the prosecution case is really a list of maybes. The prosecution have propounded a load of theories and speculation.
Albert Walker had sat for days biting his tongue as Sheena and Elaine and neighbors and colleagues, one after the other, effectively painted him in the least flattering and most incriminating of lights. According to them, he was a liar, a ruthless, duplicitous villain.
If he is guilty, this is a man throwing a gigantic dice. This is a huge gamble.
Everything he'd gotten in life, earned or not, was by persuading people that he was an honest and caring man. It didn't matter what people in his Canadian past or what his daughter or police or what the press or barristers thought of him. All that mattered was the jury, and he was determined to change their minds.
These mere eight women and four men, regular citizens, held the rest of his life in their hands. Walker knew that no reasonable person would have thought that he was innocent after what they'd heard thus far. But he also knew that he possessed a gift, and therefore a puncher's chance. Ferguson called his client to the stand.
So then he goes into the witness box. Smart, dark suit, red and blue striped tie. This is a distinguished looking man, grey hair, full beard. crossed his legs, cradled his chin between thumb and forefinger, and looked very at ease, I'm bound to say.
And so, for the next several hours, he had the opportunity, with strategic prompts from his attorney, to present his version of his time in England, beginning in December 1990. He told the jury that he didn't want Sheena to join him in the UK, but she pleaded that
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Chapter 5: How did the defense challenge the prosecution's case?
His story was a meandering, hairy one, filled with tangents. Ferguson tried to keep him on track, but Albert seemed to relish finally having the stage to himself. He smiled often, tried to keep it light, and it was obvious to those in the courtroom, like Elaine watching from the gallery, that his confidence was growing as he went.
And there was a point in his evidence when they stopped for a break. And in that break, he's sat there in his suit looking like a perfect gentleman, businessman. And he scans and he's looking around the court, cool as a cucumber, and he catches my eye. And I actually think, I'm going to beat you. I'm going to beat you, mate. And I tried to stare him out.
And I stared and I stared and he stared as well. And I couldn't do it any longer. I just had to turn away. So he beat me. He beat me.
But when he reached the part of the story of most consequence, everyone in the courtroom leaned forward because this is where the prosecution and defense's stories were most at odds. The prosecution had alleged that Walker killed Ron on July 20th, but Walker claimed that the last full day he spent with Ron was 10 days before that.
Walker's story was that he'd enlisted Ron to help him sail the Lady Jane all the way from Devon to Essex, but when they set out on July 9th, they immediately had trouble. Their plan was to sail the first 60 miles to a place called Portland Bill. But Ron Platt got seasick and then in the choppy waters had hurt himself. They had to abort the trip and turn the Lady Jane around.
The next day, Walker had said, maybe it's best that you just go to France and gave Ron enough money to be on his way. And he alleges that he never saw him again after that. He claimed that he told all of this over the phone to Sheena that night. But he said that Sheena tends to forget things.
Ferguson ended his time with Albert in the witness box by asking him to describe the nature of his relationship with Ron when he became overcome with emotion. Walker said, he was a friend, somebody I felt a responsibility to, to take care of. I have never hit anyone in my life, nor have I ever been hit by anyone in my life. I'm a very passive person. I had no reason in the world to kill him.
I do remember him crying when he started to shed some tears over the fact that how could anyone possibly think that he could hurt anyone, let alone his best friend, Ron Platt.
His version drew to a close, and the general impression was that he'd done what he'd set out to do. He offered a clear and plausible version of events.
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Chapter 6: What was the turning point in Albert Walker's defense strategy?
The police knocking on the wrong door. The anchor not selling at the boot sale. Each of these carried meaning by virtue of their unlikelihood. It was as if someone or something was watching over them, guiding them to be the ones to bring this man to justice.
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Before sending them to deliberate, Judge Butterfield addressed the jury. He said that while the prosecution had presented a case nearly solely of circumstantial evidence, that they should consider all these factors not in isolation, but in combination. He said, now take your notebooks and pencils into the jury room with you.
But above all, take with you your common sense and your knowledge of the world. And then for all involved, it was nail-biting time.
It had to be unanimous, a unanimous verdict. And I thought, oh gosh, this is going to be hard. What if one person, what if that little old dear in that corner decides that he might be innocent?
The general rule in cases like this is the longer the deliberations, the better the outcome for the defence.
Everybody went to the local cafe in the courtyard there and were all waiting and speculating.
Normally in a murder case, you would anticipate them being out for maybe a day, maybe a couple of days.
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