Gerry reflected on his own words. The picture wasn’t an unusual one but it was pitiful. A series of one-night stands when Kate Milne was out of her head on one thing or another had led to too many pregnancies–sometimes she could be bothered to terminate, sometimes not. None of the men stuck around, and she often brought in others to her life who stayed but who had nothing to do with the children in the household. The actions of these men bordered on abuse of various types, and the children who had been in care at times were generally sent back to the same sort of hell. It was no wonder that Kevin had asked to be taken into care permanently at one point. Donna Cook wasn’t the only one who would be wishing he’d had his wishes granted.

Limington grabbed his attention back.

‘What else have you discovered about Child X?’

‘He has been a victim of physical and mental abuse throughout his life. There are medical records of unresolved injuries since he was nine months old. This is a feature that runs through the histories of his siblings as well. He has been neglected, underfed, lived in dirty, unhygienic surroundings and allowed to miss out on a great deal of education. Through speaking to neighbours, the police uncovered a number of occasions on which Kate Milne left her children for days on end to fend for themselves. They were often seen running wild, and would knock on neighbours’ doors asking for food.’ The entire courtroom seemed to look at Kate Milne, who sat with her head held high as her life was laid out in front of the world. If they were waiting for her to cry, to apologize, they’d have a long wait.

‘And this situation was allowed to go…unchecked?’ asked Limington.

‘To a degree,’ answered Gerry. ‘As I’ve said, some of the children were taken into care at different times, and the mother has been charged on a number of occasions, but this isn’t my area of professional expertise, so I can only summarize what I have read in reports.’

‘Yes, quite,’ sniffed Limington. ‘I believe that there will be a number of questions raised from this case. However, to return to the matter in hand,’ he said, as if he hadn’t been the one to digress in the first place, ‘what did you uncover that is of direct relevance to Kevin Milne’s alleged crime?’