‘Charles Foxley was a successful and outgoing man, someone able to deal with big stars and powerful movie company executives. He therefore must have had a great deal of self-confidence. But the flipside of that was his secret visits to a dominatrix. He liked to be abused, humiliated and whipped. The obsessive need for this constant flagellation – sometimes twice in one day – must mean self-hatred was deep-rooted in his psyche. This is an important area we need to uncover in his background. As I said, I have had very little time to familiarize myself with the case to date and will obviously have a lot more to say in due course. But my instinct tells me that this could be a key element in the investigation.’

He paused and removed a small notebook from his pocket. He glanced through it and then put it back.

‘But we are, at this point, without a motive for the killer. So what do we know? The killer is almost certainly male, because of the strength needed to lift and carry the victim to the bathroom, slit his throat and then drag him to the bedroom for the disembowelment. And Foxley was himself a strong, athletic man, so it was unlikely he was overpowered by a female. That said, there is only one clear footprint in the victim’s blood and DS Lawrence has determined that it was a size six Adidas trainer, which could suggest that a female was at the scene.’

A murmur of interest went around the room.

‘Then there are the handcuffs. If we consider the possibility that the killer brought the handcuffs with them, that suggests they knew about his predilections. So we must ask ourselves, did the victim know his assailant? Did he allow entry to the killer because he knew him? The blunt force occurred to the back of his head, close to the front door. The blow would have made him semi-conscious, then two further blows followed and he was dragged to the bathroom.’

Bellamy flicked through a few pages of his notebook. ‘The weapon used for the disembowelment hasn’t been found. Which strongly suggests the killer knew Charles Foxley and went with the sole purpose of committing murder.’

Bellamy glanced around the room and then sat down.

There was a weighty silence as Detective Chief Superintendent Walker got to his feet.

‘You will all now be given your assignments. Weekend leave will be cancelled and half of you will be working late or early shifts each day.’ He gestured to the three detectives sitting next to him. ‘My associates will remain at the station for discussions on moving the investigation forward. Some of you will be assigned one-on-one sessions. That’s all for now. Thank you for your attention.’