harry6

The verdict is due on the case of the Hammer & Tongs two as the jury have been sent to the Holiday Inn whilst they await Monday morning to pass their verdict.

The Basingstoke court room was called to silence as the judge roamed royally into the court his wig bouncing from side to side of his ancient shoulders. He commenced his opening comments with a loud hurumph as if to signify that he was ready for proceedings to continue.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" he prounced to an expectant audience, "I have come across some rather disturbing news that has forced me to reassess the progress of this case and I hereby adjourn proceedings for today whilst I hear from counsel further details. You may reassemble here tomorrow for further detail." And with that he arose from his chair and without a glance across the court exited. As soon as the door swung behind him the silence of the court turned to a murmour and the cresendo rose as a debate commenced amongst the awaited crowd as to what would have occurred to delay the juries verdict.

What had happened can be revealed here. After Harry learned from Jason, the evil landlord of the White Hart, that the game had been called off and nobody had bothered to tell him, thereby allowing him to walk to the ground and back for no reason. Harry had taken leave of himself and had walked down London Road to the Skewers whereupon he ordered a Fosters. He then sat in a corner and slowly drank it, one pint turned into two and then three. With this his previous bad attitude mellowed and he found the world to be a friendlier place and started to make conversation with some of the other customers. One such person was Tara a rather portly but nevertheless friendly lady of approximately 40 years of age. The conversation started with a general chat about the weather but soon got a little more personal as they discussed their families. Harry explained that he had moved down from London and other than his desire to play for the Hart he had no real ambition or friends. Tara similarly was down on her luck having recently split with her husband. Tara feeling some sympathy toward Harry invited him to Sunday night singles night at the Holiday Inn. Harry was just glad of the friendship and happiliy followed along.

That night as Tara and Harry shared a pint Harry agreed to take the microphone and sing an REM song on the karoke. After he finished the assembled crowd handed out a generous round of applause. It was at this stage that Claire introduced herself to Harry and was extremely complimentary about his singing, she even went so far as to say that she was not offended by ginger haired people. This was the first time anybody had shown him any sort of affection and Harry became quite enamoured with Claire. It was lucky for Harry that he was wearing his beer glasses because in truth Claire was no ornament and despite her clever way with words she wouldn't ordinarily be attractive to men. As the night proceeded Claire told Harry that she was actually a guest at the hotel and invited him to her room. A request he readily accepted. As Claire and Harry fumbled with each others garments as they staggered to their room they passed Bill. Bill was a fellow jurer of Claires and he was soon on the phone to PC Slater to advise him that he had just seen the main court witness enter a room with a fellow jurer. PC Slater was quick to attend and forced the hotel management to enter the room and with his digital camera caught Claire and Harry as they embraced naked on the hotel bed.

It wasn't long before the judge was made aware and hence the following day the judge ordererd that a member of the jury had been tampered with and called a halt ot the case.

By the Friday the photograph of Harry had made it to the inside pages of the Gazette under the title of Ginger Witness Knobbles Juror....The article explained how Harry had been enticed to Claires room and had been caught performing a leud act. It also explained that Harry was a pot collector in the White Hart.

That lunch hour the pub was overflowing with customers anxious to see Harry and ridicule him for his misfortune. Similarly that evening the pub was full of youngsters keen to have a quick jibe at Harry.

This continued all weekend and it didn't stop on the football pitch as Harry struggled alone up front in a makeshift team. By half time the White Hart were losing in the Basingstoke cup 2-0 to the Basingstoke Saints.

It was then that Harry cast aside his moulded studs and changed into a pair of special Addidas Predators. In that second half he hit balls that curled around defenders and hit the wood work and with more curling freekicks and passes played a half of football that only his father could have managed in the comic books. The White Hart left the pitch 4-2 victors and Harry had scored all four.

Up went the cheer, hurrah for Harry of the Hart, and as a special treat Harry was given the kit to wash.

Is this the turn in fortune Harry has long deserved thanks to his special Predator boots or will his expose in the Gazette return to haunt him. Find out in episode 7.