They could prove that the van had visited both George and Alexandros’s houses, and the graffiti on the back matched Graeme Millar’s sighting in Portinscale. Soil analysis from the tyres would make it watertight, but that would take time. Fingerprints and DNA had been taken from the three occupants of the van and were being fed through the national database. They were also fed into HOLMES, in the hope of finding a match from evidence gathered at one of their sites of interest. The three men were interviewed at a station in Shoreditch. Each of them was pointing the finger at the other and trying to wriggle out of giving straight answers to straight questions. It was customary to expect this kind of behaviour from groups brought in together: each wondering what the other was saying and shaping their answers to come across in the best light, whilst damning their mates.

CCTV footage showed the three of them in the van near George’s house, and a neighbour had positively identified them from photographs shown to her by a patrol unit. Pieces were falling into place, but for the investigation to move forward, they needed to find something on the big boys. Brown and the three thugs in custody were mere cogs in a wheel. Matt kept a close eye on the interviews by audio and video as he sipped a coffee on the train.

The first hint that they were close to something was when one of the suspects admitted to seeing a gun. The interviewing officers nailed him down, sensing an unravelling. Each interview was linked by audio and video to the SIO and Hendon.

‘Tell us exactly what happened.’

They’d been questioned for five hours, and fatigue was setting in.

‘I didn’t do nothing, I swear. I had no idea what we were going for.’ It was a usual response.

‘Where were you going to do nothing?’

‘Up north.’

‘Specific?’

‘The lake. I can’t remember the name, I was no good at geography, but it took ages to get there. We stayed in a guest house in this tiny town.’

‘Who drove?’

‘Ken.’

‘Kenneth Chubb? For the tape, I’m showing the suspect a photograph of Kenneth Chubb.’

He nodded.

‘For the tape?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was the town Keswick?’

‘Yeah, that’s it. They speak funny up there, couldn’t understand a word.’

‘Carry on.’

‘We got there Friday but I did nothing until Sunday. I went and got fish and chips and sat in a few pubs. They told me to go with them on the Sunday and we drove into the arse end of nowhere. It was pitch black. But I saw that Leo had a gun. He always carries one, man.’

‘For the purposes of the tape, the witness is being shown evidence number LB/02. Was it this gun?’

‘No idea. It was dark.’

‘The witness has not positively identified the weapon. Was it a handgun, though?’

‘Yes.’