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07/08/91
- RECORD OF TAPE RECORDED INTERVIEW of MICHELLE ANNE TAYLOR
RECORD OF TAPE RECORDED INTERVIEW
Person interviewed: Michelle Anne Taylor
Custody No: 2764
place of interview: Interview Room, Wandsworth Police Station
Date of interview: 7th August 1991
Interviewing Officer: DC G. GALLAGHER
Time commenced: 12.39pm.
Time concluded: 13.00pm.
Other person(s) present: DC SUMMERS, Patricia LISTER - Solicitor
DC SUMMERS
The date today is still 7th August 1991, by my watch it
is now 12.39pm. The last interview finished at 12.38 and
during the time the tape machine was turned off no-one has
entered or left the room. Is that correct?
M TAYLOR
That's correct.
DC S
Nobody has asked you any questions about the matter for
which you are being interviewed is that correct?
MT
That's correct.
DC S
I must remind you that you are still under caution and the
questions are going to continue.
DC GALLAGHER
How do you feel at the minute?
MT
Okay.
DC G
You're sure?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
Now you've had nothing to eat to my knowledge tonight and
nothing to drink. Do you want a drink?
MT
No.
DC G
I'm mindful that we've been going for an hour and a half
as well, and I shall make a decision shortly about, stopping,
for a break.
MT
Yes.
DC G
Just to recap. You've arrived back at 62 its arrange that
Lisa is going to stay the night and we're up to a point
where you are going off to your flower arranging.
MT
Yeah.
DC G
It's your Monday night flower arranging with John. What
time did you leave JJ and Lisa?
MT
Six o'clock, just before six o'clock.
DC G
JJ is Jeanette TAPP?
MT
Yeah
DC G
And everybody calls her JJ and the statements I'll refer
to her as JJ so you know who I'm talking about don't you?
MT
Yes.
DC G
And where did you go?
MT
To the Churchill Clinic.
DC G
Where exactly.
MT
To the smoking room, just in front of the smoking room.
DC G
And what did you do there?
MT
I met John there, John was there and there was, and we were
arranging some of the vases for the dining room.
DC G
Where do these flowers come from?
MT
Buster EDWARDS' stall in Waterloo.
DC G
Who, who picks them up?
MT
John or me.
DC G
Who decides who's going to pick them up what days, or is
there?
MT
No it just depends on what's happening that day.
DC G
So who had arranged to pick them up that day?
MT
John.
DC G
And how did he know for example, that you were'nt going
to get them?
MT
I phoned him that day.
DC G
What time was that?
MT
In the afternoon.
DC G
Where from?
MT
Phone box.
DC G
Which phone box?
MT
The one that's just near, near the Fire Station. We drove
along in front of the phone box and I pulled in and phoned
there.
DC G
And what time was that at?
MT
About quarter to two, round there.
DC G
And what did you speak to him on the phone about?
MT
That I wouldn't be back to do the flowers, like to pick
up the flowers, be back around six o'clock.
DC G
So you spoke to him to say that you wouldn't be able to
pick up the flowers?
MT
Flowers, yeah.
DC G
I'm with you. Did you tell him why? Or did he ask you why?
MT
I think I just said I was going to the shops.
DC G
Did you tell him what shops you were going to?
MT
No
DC G
Whereabouts was this phone box?
MT
It was along the road somewhere when we was driving back.
DC G
From Sanderstead to Forest Hill?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
How far from the Fire Station?
MT
The first one that we come across.
DC G
On the right or the left?
MT
I can't remember what side it was. I don't know if I've
said it in an earlier statement if I remembered then.
DC G
Was it a phone card or coins?
MT
Coins, I don't have a phone card.
DC G
So what did you talk to John about when you were flower
arranging that evening?
MT
Um, mainly we was just talking about how him and Alison
were going out to some do, I didn't know what it was for.
It was on the Barclays bank side. Um, what had happened
at work that day, um,
DC G
Did you go back to your room afterwards?
MT
No.
DC G
How were you feeling about John at this time?
MT
Nothing.
DC G
Nothing? No emotion?
MT
No, not really. I'm just feeling hurt in the way that what
my Mum and Dad have found out and
P LISTER
I think you're at cross purposes, sorry. What was your question?
DC G
Yeah? My question was what was your feelings towards John
and I
DC G
was specifically talking about how you felt that Monday
night.
PL
In June
MT
I thought you meant now
PL
My client was thinking you meant,
DC G
Oh no. I'm sorry if I have mislead you,
PL
Yes, yeah.
DC G
and thanks for picking that up. It was how were you feeling
on 3rd June? You're standing doing your flowers and how
were you feeling that night?
MT
Fine.
DC G
Still got a soft spot for him? Or was it bigger than a soft
spot? Still madly in love with him, what?
MT
Not madly in love with him, no. I hadn't been since I was
trying to get away.
DC G
Yeah,
MT
It's hard to tell how it was then.
DC G
What time do you finish the flower arranging?
MT
Eight o'clock.
DC G
Was there many people around at this time.
MT
Eight o'clock? Yeah Domestics were around and reception
was around.
DC G
Did you see many of these people?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
Did they see you?
MT
Yeah
DC G
See you and John together?
MT
Yeah..
DC G
And when you finished the flower arranging what did you
do?
MT
Told John that I'd meet him at the car for quarter past
eight.
DC G
Did that happen?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
Did you speak bo JJ or Lisa before that?
MT
Yeah, I went home at eight o'clock and I went to use the
toilet and then I went up and spoke to Lisa and JJ until
quarter past.
DC G
Was there any special reason why you had to use the toilet?
MT
Yeah, I had diahorreah.
DC G
How long had that been playing you up?
MT
Most of the day. I'm, if you drink a lot of orange juice
or when I drink a lot of orange juice and then I get diahorreah.
DC G
And had you done that this day, drunk a lot of orange juice?
MT
Yeah, the day before. It's either orange juice or water
that I drink.
DC G
And was it affecting you bad that day?
MT
Yeah, it had given me the runs quite a few times.
DC G
And, really I don't want to sound stupid here, but whenever
that problem has affected me it's pretty uncomfortable and
you've got to get to a toilet pretty quick as well.
MT
Uhmm.
DC G
So you've been to the toilet, you've spoken to JJ and Lisa
and what did you do then?
MT
Went out to the car at quarter past eight.
DC G
Yeah? And where was John?
MT
Just coming down the drive.
DC G
And where did you go?
MT
To his house.
DC G
At Vardens Road?
MT
Yes.
DC G
What journey, or what route did you take?
MT
Um, the Wandsworth Road to Lavender Hill and then into Vardens
Road.
DC G
And how long does that take?
MT
Took about fifteen minutes.
DC G
What time did you get to his house then?
MT
Must have been about eight thirty.
DC G
Where did you park?
MT
Um, just round the back of the road, the road goes round.
DC G
How did you drive into Vardens Road? You come along the
main drag
MT
And then you turn left and go into Vardens Road.
DC G
Turn straight left into Vardens? Drive down Vardens?
MT
And then just round the corner 'cos it goes round and just
parks it back.
DC G
Round to? Which side?
MT
Now I just can't remember.
DC G
You parked up and what happened then?
MT
We both got out the car and walked to the house.
DC G
Could you just run through briefly what happened then?
MT
Ah, we walked up the steps to the front door, and um, John
had to, well he put his key in to undouble lock the door,
and he said, "That's funny, Alison always locks the
door," and we opened the door and we went through and
there's another door that leads into the flat itself, and
he opened that part and then he went up the stairs and I
followed him up the stairs and um he hit the top first landing
before I did and he shouted, "Alison" her name
a couple of times, and he run up the next lot of steps.
By this time I was on the landing and I could see that Alison
was on the floor.
DC G
You reckon These are all right. What happened then Michelle?
MT
I went up the stairs and I was standing behind Alison and
I tried to pull Alison towards me. I couldn't lift Alison.
Trying to remember this now is just a bit difficult. I can't
remember everything to exact detail now of what was happening
next or what was done next. I could probably remember it
more clearly on the night when it happened.
DC G
Sure, but as you recall it, it doesn't have to be the proper
sequence, but as you recall it now after this time, what
happened.
MT
Hm, yes. John passed me on the stairs to come back down
and he kept saying, "I don't know what's happened."
I went on the the other side of Alison and I checked to
see if she was breathing so I put my mouth, my hand in front
of her mouth, checked her pulse on her neck and wrist and
then when I was touching her arm she was like stone, she
was just stone cold and um, she had blood in her mouth.
MT
round her lips, and her eyes were open and she had blood
in her eyes.
DC G
Was it obvious to you that she was dead?
MT
When I first saw her, I thought she had collapsed and when
I felt for no pulse and there was no pulse in her wrist,
no pulse there was no breathing and her eyes were all bloodshot,
then it occurred to me that she was dead.
DC G
Did you see any wounds on her body?
MT
I remember her tights being ripped, I can't remember seeing
if there was blood on them, but no.
DC G
So you checked her for signs of life and you haven't found
any?
MT
No.
DC G
And what did you do then?
MT
Um, John said he was going down to get Mr CASEY and call
an ambulance, and I remembered a policeman walking, coming
down the road when we come into the house, so I went out
to get him, into the main road, but he wasn't there. So
I run over to the pub and I asked the lady behind the bar
to phone the police.
DC G
How soon afterwards did the police arrive?
MT
Not long afterwards. There were some people in the pub that
come back with me to the house. Um, they come into the house
and went upstairs to see Alison and they come back down
and I went back up to Alison and stroking her hair and moving
it out of her face. I pulled her skirt down and I had blood
on my hands and I went and washed my hands in the bathroom.
Then I was sitting with Alison and there was someone watching
me. But I don't know who it was.
DC G
Would some of these people that turned up from the pub?
MT
I don't know there was just a man on the landing watching
me.
DC G
Yeah,
MT
And I come back downstairs and when I come back down, I
opened a window to get some fresh air 'cos I felt I was
going to be sick, and then there was a police woman and
I told her, she come in, that I'd opened a window. And then
everyone was taken out and we were all. I was put into Mr
CASEY's room, my house.
DC G
Why did you actually go into John's house, when you dropped
him off from work, why did you actually go into his house?
MT
To, um, he said that he needed some vases to be picked up
so I was going back to pick them up.
DC G
Yeah?
MT
And um, he said that someone was going to collect them on
Thursday, I don't know what they were for.
DC G
Any other reason?
MT
Yeah, I wanted to use the toilet.
DC G
Oh, 'cos your stomach was?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
playing you up?
MT
Yeah, but I didn't use the toilet.
DC G
You didn't use the toilet?
MT
No.
DC G
You're sure about that?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
And you were nowhere else?
MT
Nowhere else.
DC G
And you're quite positive in your own mind about that?
MT
Yeah.
DC G
I think this would be an appropriate time to break off.
Before we do though, what I want to ask you for, is I want
to make a request for an intimate sample from you and a
non-intimate sample. Your solicitor will explain this to
you when we've finished, but basically, an intimate sample
means a blood sample, and a non-intimate sample means a
sample of your head hair, and
MT
Uh, my Mum knows what my blood thing is, I normally pass
out if I'm having an injection.
DC G
Well we might be able to cater for that some other way.
We might be able to cater for that some other way, we might
get sufficient samples, but the authority for requesting
this intimate and non-intimate sample is based on Detective
Superintendent BURKE's having reasonable grounds for suspecting
your involvement in a serious arrestable offence, namely,
murder and he has authorised that request. The Custody Officer
will write this out in detail on the custody sheet and he
will explain all about calling the doctor about storing
the samples, about the warning about your refusal, etc.,
etc., etc., the Custody Officer will explain all that to
you. Just to prepare you for that and you can
PL
I can yes, I can for sure, yes.
DC G
Right I want to stop the interview now. We'll have a break
and
DC G
I would suggest you have something, some nourishment inside
you. Milk or something, or water or something and I've got
to speak to my colleagues who have been interviewing your
sister and interviewing your friend JJ, and I shall be speaking
to your solicitor later on and maybe later this afternoon,
if you're feeling up to it, I'll come back and talk to you
again.
DC S
Michelle, while the tape is running, is there anything you
wish to add or clarify over what's been said in this last
two hours?
MT
No.
DC S
No. I'll now serve you with a form that I referred to at
the beginning of the interview. It's a form that basically
tells you how you can have access to the tapes and where
they're held. And that's at this police station, and basically,
all you have to do is write in. That's the form there, if
you write in, if you give that to your solicitor before
you leave she will know what to do with it. I now propose
to conclude this interview and the time by my watch is now
exactly 1.00pm. |
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