Silent Witness season 28 episode 5 sees Nikki and Jack on the case when a female hand is found in a canal. And Nikki discovers she knows the victim...
The episode opens in 2022 with a barristers' protest outside The Royal Courts of Justice in London. A woman barrister declares to the media the strike is about defending the rule of law and fixing the broken justice system.
We are now in 2024 and we see the same female barrister, Faith (Kerrie Hayes), in court. She has a missing witness. Faith asks for an adjournment to find the witness, the best friend of the deceased, but despite her pleading the judge refuses. Outside the courtroom, she bumps into Nikki, who she knows. Faith returns to her chambers and she tells Sally (Tamzin Outhwaite) about a witness again going missing and the case falling apart. Sally says she has faith in her.
Now in the present day, we see Faith getting a missed call. She's driving, a motorbike seems to be following her. The motorbike driver overtakes and starts driving erratically. The motorbike stops in front of her car. Faith gets out of the car to confront the mystery person and then she looks scared as if she recognizes the person and the theme tune starts.
Three days later we see a hand floating in a canal! Nikki is in court, which is leaking water. She's a witness in a case. A male lawyer is trying to argue the victim fell and the injuries were accidental, however, Nikki says the bruising indicates intentional harm. In the dock is the victim's husband. Nikki is caught off guard when the male lawyer starts talking about an academic paper that she hasn't read which concludes injuries of this type are normally accidental.
Meanwhile, Jack is at the canal. He meets DS Blake (Gloria Obianyo) and shows her the hand. Nikki also heads down there and they photograph the hand together, how romantic! We see a mysterious man near the canal.
At the chambers, Sally asks if anyone has seen Faith. A little boy called Josh is watching a video on a phone of himself playing with Faith. Sally phones and asks Lucy, who's with Josh, if Faith is there and Lucy says "No", she left a while ago (turns out the couple has split). Outside Lucy's house, there's a mysterious man.
Nikki notes that the hand was severed by an expert. And says the victim could even still be alive. Sally comes around to Lucy's house and they don't seem to like each other. Lucy says there's no point in Sally leaving court papers with her as Faith has moved out.
Jack has found a possible human bone in the canal.
A package to Faith's family is dropped through the letterbox. At the Lyell, the team investigates the hand. Nikki spots a penmark on the hand in the shape of a heart. DS Blake turns away in disgust when Harriet plucks off the victim's fingernail! They take a fingerprint but there's no match.
Jack and Nikki are at Lucy's home. The package contained a severed ear, cut off in the same way as the hand. When Lucy (Anneika Rose) says her wife's name is Faith, Nikki says she knows Faith. Nikki says she's "formidable in court". Lucy mentions that Faith failed to turn up at work. Nikki notices the heart on Lucy's hand, it looks the same as the one on the severed hand! Lucy looks shocked as she sees what this could mean. We see a man, put a knife to the throat of a woman who was about to take drugs. We seem to have two mystery men, one old and one young.
Back at the Lyell, the team and the cops discuss that Faith's vehicle was last seen on Friday near Epping Forest. DS Blake's boss, DI Fisher (Lisa Palfrey), is quite dismissive of her when she says they should search Epping Forest, but responds well when Jack suggests sending a drone up.
We see someone covering up Faith's car.
Our younger mystery man is seen in a block of flats. He tells someone to turn their music down. He has a bag containing something gruesome, not clear what. He seems too obvious to be involved!
Back at the Lyell, Nikki and Jack take an earprint. He compares it to the one on a toy phone Faith used. Looks like it's Faith's ear. Our young mystery man is watching video footage of Faith from the protest.
Nikki says the same blade was used on the hand and ear. The knife has a distinct feature that will be useful if it's found.
We see our older mystery man. He's outside a nail sailon and wants to speak to his daughter Amber. He gives her some money for the baby. They're awkward together. He's been in prison and she's worried where the money's come from.
Back at the Lyell, they're looking at the bone from the canal which has also been cut cleanly. Could it be the same blade used again? Nikki says she has evidence Faith was using something for extreme anxiety.
DS Blake and Nikki go to see Sally, who introduces them to David, who's the head of chambers. They say that Faith was working very hard, great in defense cases, but had recently started doing prosecutions to pay the bills. Lucy apparently wanted details about Faith's earnings for life insurance purposes. Possible motive?
In a twist, Lucy hides outside the nail bar Amber works at. She wants to speak to the man locking up the shop. It's not clear why she's talking to him.
Nikki and Jack share a pizza in the office. Nikki has some reading material — the report she hadn't read from the trial at the beginning of the episode — she says the trial has been rescheduled. Nikki has doubts about the study.
In the woods, the police are searching. In the Lyell, Kit reveals she's had a bad date. They now know for sure the victim is Faith.
We see our younger mystery man washing blood off his hands.
They break the news to Lucy about Faith. Nikki says she could still be alive. They show Lucy a photo — it's our younger man. His name is Stefan and he's been harassing Faith. Lucy shrugs off the life insurance and says it didn’t get done. She doesn’t want to do a press appeal. Nikki then says she's found some DNA on Faith's hand that belongs to someone else. She wants to swab Josh to check it’s not him. Blake and her boss clash.
We hear chopping noises from Sefan's shed.
Harriet confirms the attacker dumped the bone and then a year or so later dumped Faith's hand. Nikki reveals the DNA under Faith's fingernails matches Stefan's. Stefan watches a news report saying the police want to speak to him followed by an emotional Lucy making a police appeal. Also watching the appeal are Sally and David, who makes a particularly insensitive remark. Is David (Cal Macaninch) involved somehow?
DS Blake arrests Stefan on suspicion of kidnap. Jack searches Stefan's flat. He finds knives with blood on them. Kit helps. They bag up a load of evidence. Jack though notes no blood in the bathroom. Nikki swabs Stefan. She also notes scratch marks on him. The neighbor tells Kit he's smelt strange smells from Stefan's flat — what's he been cooking?!
Stefan used to work as a veterinary nurse before being sacked for assault. His search history reveals he's visited cannabilism sites!
The police question Stefan.
Jack and Kit work out that Stefan was hiring a shed at an allotment. The police arrive at the allotment. Outside is blood and inside there's a dead fox.
Lucy has happy memories of Faith but they’re interupted by memories of them arguing. Lucy starts saying she's sorry and sobs.
Sally gets a package at the chambers and it's Faith's head! It's like the end of the Brad Pitt movie Seven!
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