IX. The defendant is being cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. Read the dialogue to fulfil the tasks

PROSECUTION: Now according to Police Constable Hawkins, you said you couldn’t remember putting the articles in your bag. Is this really true?

MRS JOHNS: I can’t remember what I said to him. I was upset. He said I was lying. I didn’t like that. I don’t think it’s very nice to be called a liar. I’m not a liar. I don’t tell lies. And I don’t think it was very nice…

PROSECUTION: Quite. Mrs er Johns. Why did you choose to take from the two shops the articles it seems you did take?

MRS JOHNS: I don’t know. I never normally buy my husband’s socks. It was so stupid. And none of my grandchildren are aged nine to eleven. My daughter’s children are er fifteen and … no, fourteen and …

PROSECUTION: Yes, quite. So you would have no reason to want any of the articles found in your bag that afternoon.

MRS JOHNS: No.

PROSECUTION: You don’t eat apples?

MRS JOHNS: Pardon?

PROSECUTION: I asked if you and your family ate apples.

MRS JOHNS: Well, yes.

PROSECUTION: But you just said there was nothing in the bag that you would want or normally buy.

MRS JOHNS: I thought you meant …

PROSECUTION: Yes?

MRS JOHNS: I don’t know.

PROSECUTION: You don’t know?

MRS JOHNS: I er …

DEFENCE: Objection. The prosecution is deliberately trying to confuse the defendant.

JP: Sustained. Delete from the question about apples.

PROSECUTION: Mrs Johns, did you have any money on you that afternoon?

MRS JOHNS: Yes, about eight pounds, I think.

PROSECUTION: In your purse?

MRS JOHNS: Er yes.

PROSECUTION: In your handbag?

MRS JOHNS: Um yes. Why?

PROSECUTION: Do you normally take a basket or trolley round a food store with you when you go shopping?

MRS JOHNS: Yes.

PROSECUTION: And did you on the afternoon in question?

MRS JOHNS: No.

PROSECUTION: Why not?

MRS JOHNS: I don’t know …

X. Would you say that at any time in this extract Mrs Johns sounds: confident? forceful? irritable? nervous? confused? desperate? clear-handed? aggressive? emotional? flippant? Discuss your impressions.

XI. Write a brief newspaper article (no more than 200 words) giving the relevant facts and the outcome of the court case concerning shoplifting. (The verdict will of course be the one your group came to in discussion in task VII). Give your article an appropriate headline (e.g. ‘Woman Guilty of Shoplifting’, ‘Acquittal of Woman Accused of Shoplifting’, etc.).