‘That information is of immense value to companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, as they can use it in all kinds of commercial ways. But –’ he smiled again – ‘it is also of great value to the police when they want to trace someone’s movements. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the expression digital footprints. Most of us who own a mobile phone leave digital footprints wherever we go. I don’t mean just to a town, or even a particular street. The technology today is accurate enough to give us an address. Sometimes even the number of a particular apartment in a block of flats.’

Stephen Cork prompted, ‘It is not in issue that you prepared a report on this matter for this trial. Could you turn to Tab A in the bundle and confirm to the jury what that is?’

Parker took a few moments to leaf through the papers in front of him, then again addressed the jurors, looking even more confident. ‘Mobile phones, just like their owners, tend to be very sociable creatures – they like to find friends wherever they are!’

That brought a smile to most of the jurors’ faces, but not Meg’s; she was frozen in concentration.

‘It’s a bit like that Steven Spielberg film, ET,’ he continued. ‘They constantly send out signals, looking for friends. They get a signal back from the nearest mobile phone mast to them. Like a lot of neurotic people, they need constant reassurance, so they carry on sending out signals – like, Hello, I am here! – until a second mast responds. Then, because they are still neurotic and unsure of themselves, they try for a third mast!’

‘And these conversations of an ET nature,’ Cork asked with a good-humoured smile. ‘What do these phones and the masts chat to each other about? The weather? Politics? Football?’

Parker smiled nervously. ‘The chat is all through electronic signals; it is possible to interrogate and establish from them the location of a specific phone.’

‘And what were you tasked with in this report?’

‘I was tasked with providing an account of the movements of the mobile phone belonging to Mr Michael Starr between the dates of January 1st and Monday November 26th of last year.’

‘What can you tell us about Mr Starr’s movements?’

‘During this period, Michael Starr made trips most days from an area identified as his home, in Chichester, West Sussex, to an area which includes the offices of the classic car dealership, LH Classics, just outside Bosham. By further interrogation of Wi-Fi signals, I was able to establish that the precise location Mr Starr attended was indeed the offices of LH Classics.’

‘Apart from weekends and holidays, were there any variations to this routine? Any other places Mr Starr visited occasionally other than the Bosham premises of LH Classics?’ Cork queried.