ACCOUNT PUBLISHED IN "THE LEGENDARY JOE MEEK"
He mentions a Dr. Crispe. Attempts to identify a GP of that name who was operating in the North London area at that time have been unsuccessful, and the B.M.A. has no records of him. Other theories include Dr. Crispe being a psychiatrist or other specialist (although I am not aware of any other medical conditions from which Joe suffered that may have required a specialist's attention), or possibly even a drug dealer, which seems unlikely. Although a lot of drugs were found on the premises after Joe's death, there is no evidence that any of them were illegal or non- prescription.
He states that Joe looked over the banisters on the second floor landing. Due to the layout of the flat, he could not possibly have done this (but see notes in part 3 of this section).

ACCOUNT GIVEN ON ARENA DOCUMENTARY (See below)
In this account, Pink says Joe ate toast for breakfast; in the book he is adamant that he had nothing.There is no mention of Michael, or of Joe sending for Mrs. Shenton; here it appears she went to see Joe of her own accord.
In this account, Pink says he was in the office when the shootings took place; in the book he says he was wandering around the first floor, in and out of the waiting room (reminder for US readers: in the UK, the first floor is called the ground floor, which would be the shop. The first floor would be the office, living room etc. and so on.)

POLICE STATEMENTS ACCORDING TO CONTEMPORARY NEWS REPORTS
According to statements Pink made immediately after the event to detectives, which were widely reported in the newspapers with no variations, the sequence of events went like this:
Pink arrived at the studio at around 10.15 am with Thomas MacNamara, another studio employee. Joe seemed depressed and told them not to hang about too long. Pink was in the studio [my italics] when he heard a bang and thought the lights had fused. He went out of the studio in time to see Mrs. Shenton falling down the stairs. He could see she was hurt so he went to dial 999 and get an ambulance. While he was on the phone [my italics] he heard the second bang. He realised by then it was gunfire, and when he went upstairs, he found Joe's body on the landing with his head 'blown off' and the shotgun beside him.

Here he claims he was not at the studio over night. (He lived a couple of minute's walk away.) This may have been an intentional fib to the police, so that they didn't know he had stayed there. Homosexuality was still illegal in the UK at that time (the bill legalising it was passed on July 4th 1967) and, whether he was involved with Joe or not, the implications are obvious. Having said that, there actually doesn't seem to be any real evidence that he was involved with Joe, so maybe he really didn't stay there the night before.
He says he was on the phone at the time of the second shooting, not on the stairs as he later states. (Presumably the phone was in the office, which is a separate room.)
His statement here that he was in the studio moves the whole shooting up a floor, to the third floor landing. Incidentally, this would make it possible for Joe to have looked over the banisters.

The book and 'Arena' versions are essentially the same story, with only minor variations (like whether Joe had breakfast, although that is a potentially important forensic point). Pink has told this basic story for many years now, the earliest known re-telling being circa 1974. The statements at the time, though, are markedly different, placing everyone in different parts of the flat, and with Pink claiming to have witnessed a lot less than he claims now. I would usually imagine the earliest report to be the most accurate, made when it was still horribly clear on his mind; on the other hand, it is common for people to remember details of events months or years afterwards, particularly with something as traumatic as the violent death of a friend.

Another minor variation in Pink's story has been that he was halfway up the stairs (which stairs, he doesn't specify) when Mrs. Shenton was shot, and she collided with him as she fell, bringing them both crashing to the bottom in a tangle of limbs and blood. This would make his estimates of the timing of the whole sequence of events, which is further examined in the section on the gun, even longer as he untangled himself, and his estimate is already pushing the boundaries of possibility.

PATRICK PINK'S ACCOUNT AS GIVEN ON ARENA
"Well, I woke up about eight o'clock. I went downstairs and he was cooking toast, he had toast going and it was burning. I made some fresh toast, put it on the table with some coffee and Joe drank it and ate the toast. He wasn't talking to me at all by now...he must have been well pilled up. He took a painting off the wall, one that he had painted himself, put it next to the electric fire, and he said "They're not f***ing well getting this." And then he gave me the final note; "I'm leaving now." "I'm going now", I think it said, "Goodbye." And he went upstairs, and the next thing I could hear, I could hear music again. Two or three minutes later, up come Mrs. Shenton, and she just whispered to me "What's going on?" you know, "What sort of mood is he in today?" I said, "Oh God, you know, he's in a terrible mood today." She said, "Oh, I'll sort him out, love, where is he?" I said, "He's up in the studio." "Oh, don't worry," she said, "I'll sort him out." With that, she gave me the cigarette she was smoking, she said "Can you hold on to that for a minute, please", meaning she was only going to be up there a second. I took the cigarette from her. I walked into the office and put it in the ashtray. And she was upstairs, and all of a sudden I could hear "Calm down, Joe!" "Where's the book? Joe said, "I want the book!" I've always drawn the conclusion that it was the rent book because there'd been a lot of problems with the rent being paid, and the lease on the building was about to run out. And I'd just walked back into the office when I heard the bang - and it was an almighty bang. I ran out, I was just about to run up the stairs and Mrs. Shenton was falling, and she fell right down to the bottom of the stairs into my arms. And I was instantly shocked, I really didn't know what had happened. I gently sort of pulled her down and I just shouted up "She's dead!" - you know, I assumed she was dead, I've no idea if she was, but I assumed she must have been. I attempted to run up the stairs when I heard the second bang. And I sort of looked over and I could see Joe lying on the floor with gun beside him.

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