He spoke quietly, sometimes hardly at all, his hands clasped apologetically together in his lap. But he had been questioned by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of multiple stabbings, in which three middle-aged women had died and a seven-year-old girl had lost an eye. Howsley was currently on bail for an assault on a taxi driver who’d had the temerity to demand his fare.

He was questioned intensively for several hours, allowing for the statutory rest and meals breaks prescribed by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. The details of his movements at the times of the attacks on the three local women were gone over again and again, until all involved became tired of hearing the same questions and the same answers, or the lack of them.

Only when the last dregs of hope had been exhausted and an exercise in futility was staring them in the face did the interviewers falter. They took a break. They consulted with each other, they took advice from upstairs. Then they went back in again.

‘Mr Howsley, you’ve told us that on Sunday 2nd November you were at a pub in Matlock. Which pub was it again?’

‘The White Bull.’

‘And what time did you arrive?’

‘I’ve told you.’

‘What time did you leave?’

‘I’ve told you.’

‘How many drinks did you have? Who were you with? Who did you speak to? Where did you go when you left?’

But Howsley’s answers didn’t vary, no matter how often they asked him. He had clear memories of what he was doing on the days that Jenny Weston and Maggie Crew were attacked, and his statements were consistent. He had been a long way from the area, on his home patch in Greater Manchester.

Only when told about sightings of the stolen car did he seem less confident. He couldn’t be sure where he was when Karen Tavisker was attacked, he said. The interview team had an advantage on this one. The Renault driven by Darren Howsley had been sighted in the Ringham area, and they had two reliable witnesses – the Rangers, Owen Fox and Mark Roper, who had recorded the make, model, colour and false licence plate, as they had been doing with any unfamiliar vehicle near the moor. It was then Howsley asked for his solicitor.

‘I think he wasn’t able to resist falling back into old habits when he read about our two assaults,’ said DCI Tailby afterwards.

‘A copycat,’ said DI Hitchens.

‘In a way. Tavisker was lucky, anyway.’

‘Aren’t we going to try for an identification?’ asked Fry.

‘I don’t think it’s worthwhile. Greater Manchester are keen to get him back. I think we’ll let them have him.’