Undue Influence

In the English coastal borough of Old Winton and Winton on Sea the investigation by police Professional Standards officers into a sexual assault on WPC Janet Tate by PC Steven Porter is abandoned when vital evidence is allegedly lost. Porter is reinstated. On late shift both Tate and Porter are called to a road traffic incident. They quarrel. Tate draws her baton and savagely beats Porter who, after signing himself out of A&E, dies in his sleep.

Grandstanding Councillor Cedric Hailey, Old Winton’s council member for law and order, is scoring political points by calling for no stone to be unturned to find Porter’s killer. Having quickly discovered the truth behind Porter’s death, detectives DS Constancia Dunne and DC Jason Kelly play for time to build a case of mitigating circumstances. Backed by their boss DCI Jeremy Mellis, aided by Tate’s female colleagues and disaffected citizens of Old Winton they work to discover if the Professional Standards investigation was derailed by Undue Influence.