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Statement by Dr Anastasia Mortlake, retired Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, taken by DS Anna Davenport
I sat down on my usual bench at about twelve forty-five. I was rather tired because the fine weather had seduced me into walking further than usual. I noticed the man whose face appeared in the Oxford Times as Michael Lambert sitting on the next bench along the path on the opposite side from me. By this I mean that I was on a bench about fifty yards closer to the Norham Gardens entrance than the one he was sitting on. I recognised his face because I had seen him there often before, but I did not know his name until I read it in the paper. He was sitting alone on the bench reading a tabloid newspaper. I don’t remember which one, but it was definitely one of the Red Tops.
I ate my lunch and then I threw the wrappings away in the bin next to the bench where Lambert was sitting. He looked up and saw me, but he didn’t say anything. I went back to my bench and got out a book to read. I wanted a rest before starting the walk back.
I was disturbed in my reading by a small dog. It emerged from the bushes at the side of the path opposite me and towards Norham Gardens. It was carrying a large stick, which dragged on the ground as it walked. It walked along the path, passed me and approached the bench where Lambert was sitting. Just then a man, whom I assume must have been its owner, called out from across the grass on the other side of the path. The dog dropped the stick on the path and raced off across the grass.
I watched for a few seconds. Then I was about to go back to my book when I noticed a young woman coming along the path from the direction of the Science Area. She was carrying a smartphone in her left hand and tapping it with her right index finger. I assume she was texting or emailing. I could see that she was not looking where she was going. She caught her right foot on the branch that the dog had left behind and tripped. She tried to right herself, but her high heels made her overbalance and she fell to the ground.
By that time, Lambert had finished his newspaper and was just sitting staring into space. At least that was how it appeared to me. The woman fell down in front of him with her shoulders coming close to his feet. I saw that the newspaper report said that he tripped her up, but that is not possible, because when she fell, she had not yet reached where he was sitting. She fell forward and that is how she came to be in front of him on the ground.
Lambert got down on the ground next to her. I think he was kneeling, but he could have been crouching. He said something that I couldn’t hear and he put out his hand towards her. He may have touched her on the shoulder or the arm, I couldn’t see distinctly.
The woman shouted out in alarm. She sounded frightened. Two men dressed in jogging kit ran up and started shouting. Then more people came running over, all shouting out. Lambert got himself back up and ran off. The two men ran after him. They all ran right past me and on along the path towards Norham Gardens. I watched them go and then I looked back at the cluster of people around the other bench. The woman was sitting on the bench now and there were about a dozen or more people standing around. One of them must have picked up her handbag because I saw her hand it to her. The first woman took the bag and started rummaging around inside it. Then I saw some of the onlookers getting down on their hands and knees and looking under the bench. One of them – a young man, I think – picked up something that I think was the woman’s mobile phone.
Then someone shouted out that the man who had run away had stolen the woman’s purse. Several of the other people started running off in the direction that Lambert had gone. I saw them meet the two runners and Lambert, held fast between them. They stopped and talked for a few seconds and then the two joggers brought Lambert back to the bench and some of the others came with them. I noticed two teenaged girls hanging around by the bushes nearby where the two groups met. They disappeared into the bushes when the joggers started dragging Lambert back.
I did not see the policeman arrive. I watched the joggers take Lambert back to the bench and I saw that there was a policeman in uniform standing there, talking to the woman who had fallen over and the crowd that had gathered around her. I assume that he must have come in by the entrance on Parks Road, near to Keble. Two more police officers came running over from that direction a few minutes later.
The two girls came running past me looking very excited. One of them was carrying something in her hand. They pushed their way through the crowd round the bench. I assume that wanted to speak to the police.
The sun had gone in and it was getting cold sitting outside, so I went home. I did not think that my observations would add anything to what the police already knew. However, when I realised that the man Lambert was begin accused of deliberately attacking the woman in order to steal her purse I decided that I ought to tell the police what I saw. I am sure that he did not trip her up – she fell over the branch dropped by the dog. I cannot be certain that he did not take her purse, but I do not think that he had time to do so before he an off. I am sure that he was not carrying anything in his hand when he ran past me. I did not see the bag until the passer-by handed it to the woman after she had got up on to the bench. I think she may have fallen on top of it and then left it on the ground when she got up, but that is just speculation.
I read in the paper that witnesses saw Lambert throwing the purse away into the bushes as he ran. I did not see him throw anything away, but of course that does not mean that he did not.
Caldwell and Sanders, the two runners, gave almost identical statements. This is not surprising since they had time to compare notes before making them. They neither of them noticed the dog or the stick, but that is not surprising. The dog could have dropped its stick before they came within sight of the bench; or they could simply have not been looking that way when it happened.