Convicted five years earlier of killing three women he met on the Internet,Alan Lane,represented by Emma Watts,is back in court following a successful appeal for a retrial with a new jury. Its members include Paul Brierley,who acts as carer for his elderly mother,unhappily married Krystina Bamford and elderly Jefferey Livingstone,who befriends Sudanese refugee Tahir Takana. Young Rashid gets his summons on his eighteenth birthday whilst Lucy Cartwright is on the jury by default - she was sent to the court by her boss,the designated juror Theresa Vestey,whom she now has to impersonate - and for teacher Katherine Bulmore jury service comes as a welcome escape from the affair she is having with a young pupil. One of the jurors,Ann Skalles,appears to know Lane and,as the trial is adjourned after the first day,sends him a letter telling him to have faith. Paul,meanwhile,is followed home by a mysterious woman.
—don @ minifie-1