Plot summary
When six-year-old Connor Reid is found strangled to death in a dis-used council flat, suspicion falls onto a mystery man who thirteen-year-old Paige Ward (Annie Cull) and ten-year-old Rose Shaw (Romy Irving) claim to have seen. However, when CCTV footage shows Paige & Rose accompanying Connor into the flat, the pair open up and claim they had been babysitting Connor after his older brother, who was supposed to be babysitting, had left him alone. Eventually, Paige breaks down and names Rose as the killer. When the case gets to court, Rose's brief Kim Sharkey invites the court to accept Paige as the guilty party, as forensics seem to implicate her as the murderess.
However, Alesha finds more evidence to confirm Rose as the killer. Connor's mother, however, claims she doesn't want Rose to be punished – and instead plead that due to her abusive upbringing, the courts have grounds to charge diminished responsibility, and seek psychiatric care for Rose. However Sharkey, after professional glory, wants an all-or-nothing verdict. James puts Rose's vile mother in the witness box to prove the prosecution point and battles to save Rose from a murder charge.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Law & Order: UK series 3. HTML formatting and reference markers removed.