Tracks (Law & Order: UK)
| "Tracks" | |
|---|---|
| Law and Order: UK episode | |
 | |
| Episode no. |
Season 7 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Mat King |
| Story by | Emilia di Girolamo |
| Original air date | July 14, 2013 |
Tracks is an episode on the television series Law and Order: UK; first airing in the United Kingdom on 14 July 2013 and 7 August 2013 in the United States on BBC America. It is the first episode of the seventh season, and the 40th episode overall.
Plot
The episode begins on a crowded train, with a mother talking to her son about a future visit with his father, who is revealed to have been serving in Afghanistan. The train crashes into an SUV that had been parked on the train tracks. The death toll is put at 15 people overall.
The SUV was caught on CCTV crashing through security gates leading onto the tracks, but the driver could not be identified. The car's licence plates trace back to a man named Michael Gennis, who was previously charged with assaulting his wife. The jury in his case could not reach a verdict, and he claims he had nothing to do with the accident; insisting that his car was stolen.
As the CCTV footage never showed the driver fleeing over the fences, the police conclude that (s)he must have blended in with the passengers of the crash. The investigation leads to Finn Tyler, a depressed man who recently separated with his wife and daughter after holding them hostage at knife point.After being pressed on the accident, he confesses to driving the car onto the tracks. He has been cutting himself recently, and says that he was only trying to kill himself. He maintains the claim that he did not mean to kill anyone else. The defence, led by Kate Barker, attempts to go through a plea bargain and lower the charges from 15 counts of murder and 128 counts of attempted murder to 15 counts of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
The Jury eventually finds Mr. Tyler "not guilty" on all 15 cases on murder and all 128 cases of attempted murder, finding him guilty of 15 cases of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.