Chapter 4 Jenkins & Higgins, part 3

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The Beginning; Prologue - The Attic

Higgins felt sudden relief & walked from the room passed the terrified secretary who had wet herself & was hiding under her desk. The stench of fresh urine, mixed with a waft of gun smoke that had followed him out, filled the air as the secretary sobbed. Higgins was obvious to all of it as he went. Elated, as death hung in the air, it felt as if this act was his sole contribution to mankind; a matter of destiny to rid the world of such a man. To be honest if you had ever met Waspmen you would have probably agreed!

Later at the murder trial the Judge had uttered some words of sympathy concerning his predicament. The massive loss of his wife, who had been 8 months pregnant, had no doubt affected him immensely, causing irreparable damage. However, the Judge conceded that his atrocious act of murder, which claimed the life of Leon Waspmen was one of the worst he had ever witnessed the description of in court during his years. Without mercy Higgins had taken the life of an unarmed man in the bloodiest manner imaginable. Waspmen’s secretary, who had entered the room in shock soon after Higgins had calmly left the building, was still in hospital heavily sedated, the Judge informed. The Police on arrival described what they termed as “a scene from a slaughter house, a blood bath.” Higgins’ lawyer pushed for a plea of diminished responsibility & the Judge awarded a charge of premeditated murder, instead of man slaughter, as hoped. So Tony Higgins was sentenced to a life term & sent to the psychiatric wing of Exeter prison initially.

During his short spell at Exeter he claimed that he was provoked after he assaulted a warder. He was placed in solitary confinement for three months, after which his aggressive somewhat irrational behaviour escalated, with more punishment to follow. Without repent, even after multiple warnings from the prison Governor, he was eventually transferred to the nearest high security prison. The Governor’s patience had been tried once too often & now it was to be the end of the line for him!
                On transfer his induction to his new home was carried out in the ancient C Wing. It was considered by many of the authoritarians in the prison, to be a good way of welcoming new inmates to the harsh reality of life there. Without sanitation & electricity, the single cells were indescribably bad. Many times there had been recommendations made by The Board of Visitors, when accessing the prison’s living conditions, that C Wing, still Victorian in nature, should be immediately closed. Due to government spending, or the lack of it, this of course never happened. After two weeks Higgins was moved to F-Wing, on his 40th birthday. Although it was a terrible Wing its advantages over the infamous C Wing were that there were shared cells, with modern amenities, psychiatric help & it allowed more contact with the staff & other convicts alike. This is where Higgins met Jenkins for the first time & soon after they were paired together in the same cell, which resulted in them becoming close; for it didn’t take Higgins long before he realised the need to protect his new found friend. The decency in Higgins shone like a beacon.

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Written by T.R.Vinnicombe (aka Dr. Peter Hodgkins) ©2009 all rights reserved & none of the contents of this site can be copied or used in any way without the written consent of the author. Published online by MicroHotStar 2009.