BEITH, RONALD (1964 – 1990) Pervert, Blackmailer, Instigator. I've often argued that petty acts of malice accumulate to contribute more to human unhappiness than any Mafia. A compulsive liar or cheat is as destructive in his way as a murderer. The experienced investigator recognises this. Once we have established a man's poor character we can cease to be surprised by the full extent of his depravities. Ronald's character was evident to me on our first meeting when he was presented as my personal tutor. My immediate objection to his presence, however, was pooh-poohed.

At the time, my own stock was low. Ridiculed in The People Who Saw Tomorrow television series and excluded from the education system in the aftermath of the Karen Gardner affair, my judgement was considered flawed. My parents, beleaguered by public disapproval were determined to curb my investigative instincts while my aunt, normally my staunchest supporter, was absent, suffering the effects of nervous exhaustion. Beith's interview was further complicated by the presence of a social worker who turned out to be a relative. “Stop staring at Ronald like that,” she snapped as I tried to intuit something more specific than the overwhelming sensation of dampness prompted by his presence. As Beith stammered and compulsively swallowed his way through the interview, I tried to interject with questions of my own: “Who is Nicola?” I demanded. “Why is her tongue so dry?” Before I could reach a satisfactory conclusion, though, Beith's relative intervened. I was ordered from the room – my own family sitting room! – and he was employed in my absence. Thus began a relationship that, in its way, was as intimate as any marriage. Until his demise in a fume filled garage five years later, Ronald Beith was to establish himself as my Moriarty. Without my constant attention, Beith, whose malign genius ensured brief careers in St Andrews, Durham and Swansea, would have attained a position from which he might have wrought chaos on a grand scale. Legal constraints and the discretion essential to any effective investigator prevent me from being more specific. When eventually submitted to the public domain, however, my complete Beith files will present a portrait of a monster.

Ronald Beith

 

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