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‘Jeez. What kid of eight actuallydoesthat? Sets out to deliberately deceive her own parents?’
‘I know, tell me about it. The more we found out about Daisy, the weirder it got. The other girl on that list, Portia Dawson? She’d been Daisy’s bestie until Daisy eavesdropped on Portia’s parents and told the kid her own dad thought she was thick. Even had his Ulster accent off pat so it sounded exactly like him.’
Roberts makes a face. ‘They fuck you up, your BFFs.’
Baxter doesn’t quite get the reference, but the sentiment – he gets that, all right. ‘What about the teachers at Bishop Christopher’s – any of them still there from 2016?’
‘The head is,’ says Roberts, ‘Alison Stevens. And Daisy’s form teacher that year, Kieran Jennings – he’s in Wantage, so not far away.’
Baxter frowns. ‘I thought the form teacher was a woman, or am I remembering that wrong?’
Roberts goes back to his computer and scans down the screen. ‘Yup, you’re right. Kate Madigan. Though she was a supply and only there for a term because Jennings broke his leg. I’ll try and find out where she is now.’
‘And in the meantime,’ says Baxter, ‘someone needs to go and see those three girls.’
Roberts glances across. ‘You’ll need an Appropriate Adult, won’t you? They’re all still minors. Not to mention, having your dead mate come back to life after eight years – that’d flip anyone out.’
***
Phone interview with Elizabeth Harris, Crown Prosecution Service
25/07/2024, 6.57 p.m.
On the call, DS C. Gislingham
CG:Hello – Mrs Harris? This is DS Chris Gislingham, Thames Valley Police. Sorry to bother you so late but I wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions about an old case of yours that’s come up in connection with a new investigation. It was back in 2017 –
EH:Oh, the balmy days BC.
CG:Sorry?
EH:BC. Before Covid. Sorry – go on.
CG:It was a Possession of Child Pornography charge, Barry Graham Mason.
EH:It’s not ringing any bells. Do you have a case number?
CG:Hang on – yes, 6422314/KB3.
EH:[sounds of a keyboard being tapped]
Sorry, this machine takes longer to crank up than a grandfather clock. Oh yes, I see. It’s all coming back to me. I remember Mr Mason now. Cocky little sod, wasn’t he?
CG:You could say that.
EH:Insisted on pleading Not Guilty, despiteprima facieevidence against him and the extreme nature of the material. That’s why he got the custodial sentence, even though it was a first offence and he was of previous good character. Though given he was a builder, ‘good character’ may be stretching it a bit.
[laughs]
Mind you, as it turned out, he was right. He didn’t do it.
CG:So what did he say had happened? In court, I mean?
EH:Like they always say: ‘It wasn’t me’. He had no idea how the porn got on the phone, it must have been either by accident or someone else put it there.
CG:Did he have a theory about who?
EH:We did press him on that, but all he could come up with was ‘my daughter’, ‘as a joke’. Which, given that she was only eight years old, and was actually dead by the time of the trial, hardly did him any favours with the jury.