‘Apparently not. They brought Tom Farnham in to introduce some new enterprises. They could see that Pity Wood would never survive as a livestock farm alone. That was quite perceptive of them, you know. I mean, it’s obvious to everyone now, but in those days a lot of the old farmers were just crossing their fingers and hoping things would pick up. Most of them couldn’t face the idea of changing their way of life. A farm like Pity Wood, that’s been in the same family for generations – well, it would take someone very forward-looking to see what was necessary at such an early stage. From what I’ve heard of Raymond Sutton, he doesn’t seem that sort of person. He’s very traditional.’

‘It would have to be Derek, then. He was the younger brother, after all.’

‘Maybe,’ said Cooper. ‘How old would Derek have been at the time?’

Fry did a quick calculation. ‘Fifty-six when Tom Farnham came into the business.’

‘Mmm. I think we should ask Farnham how he met the Suttons. Did they invite him into the business, or did he do a sales pitch on them?’

‘You think he might be some kind of con man?’ asked Fry.

‘I think the Sutton brothers might have been an easy target for a clever talker.’

‘Would that fit your assessment of him?’

‘Possibly,’ said Cooper.

‘By the way, did you get anything from the IND?’

‘Hold on, let me check my notes.’ Cooper flicked back through his notebook. ‘OK, Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act. The law makes it a criminal offence to employ a person who is subject to immigration controls and has no permission to work in the UK. The only statutory defence is if the employer can show that they carried out checks on the documents of potential employees. The confusing area seems to be the A8 countries, Diane.’

‘The accession states.’

‘Yes. The Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia and Slovenia. Individuals from those countries are entitled to come to the UK and work, but they have to register with the Home Office. Once you’ve been working legally in the UK for twelve months you have full rights of free movement and you no longer need to be on the Worker Registration Scheme.’

‘Twelve months?’

‘It’s a critical time period, isn’t it?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘The thing is, some employees don’t bother. It works well for the larger firms, but not for the smaller ones who employ a couple of people. And this isn’t exactly Bernard Matthews.’

‘The turkey man?’