Once the tea was made and they’d all sat down, Mo continued with her account of what had occurred. ‘We stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights, but you know what my Sam is like about spending money, so we came home. It was obvious they’d already been ’cos the front door was smashed in. Your door had been forced open as well, but it seems they didn’t do any damage in here. Shame I can’t say the same for upstairs.’

‘How bad was it?’ George asked.

‘It was awful, they’d completely trashed the place. All of Sam’s paintings were ripped up, my mattress, the sofa … everything. They slashed the lot, but as Samuel said, it’s just things and better they knifed all the furniture than us. It was a scary thought though, ’cos it showed they’d come armed and meaning to get us.’

George felt his blood run cold. Sarah could have been in the house and come to serious harm.

‘Sam worried about them coming back and he didn’t want to leave me alone here. He took the week off work on the sick and got his brother to come and stay too. His brother brought a mate with him, Tony. He’s a bare-knuckle fighter. Turns out he’s a bit of a legend in the East End, and as hard as bleedin’ nails. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but we managed and I felt quite safe with three big blokes in my room.’

‘You should have put them down here,’ Sarah said.

‘To be honest, I did think about it but I didn’t want to take liberties. Anyhow, later that night, just as Samuel had predicted, Danny and my dad came back, but we were ready for them. When they saw they were outnumbered, they ran off. Sam said to give it a couple of hours, and then they’d be back again. He wasn’t wrong. Only this time there was seven of them. Honestly, Sarah, when I saw them marching towards the house, I’ve never been so scared. I could see they had weapons too, bats, hammers, all sorts.’

‘Oh, Mo, no wonder you were scared.’