Cork stood. ‘I would now like to call Detective Sergeant Jack Alexander. He has confirmed that at the time of the arrest he was working as part of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, and acted as Supervisor on the raid on the defendant’s home on Saturday December 1st last year, and subsequently on his office premises.’

A tall, slim man in his late twenties, carrying a bundle of documents and a small laptop, entered the witness box and took the oath. He had a calm and composed manner, and looked around the room, giving the jurors a polite, warm smile as he stated his name, rank and station.

At that moment, Meg noticed Gready staring directly at her, as if fixing her with his gaze. She looked away, hastily and uncomfortably.

Jack Alexander gave his evidence, describing how he had gone to the home address in the early hours of the morning on the date in question under the terms of a warrant issued by a local magistrate. He went into some detail telling the jury what had happened when they had arrived at the defendant’s home.

‘Now, Detective Sergeant, would you please tell this court what you found there?’ Cork asked.

The DS spoke with a clear, educated voice. ‘Yes, the first items of significance, which a search officer discovered concealed inside a bedpost in a spare bedroom, were an SD card and a number of phones.’ He held up his bundle. ‘I have here the detailed report from Aiden Gilbert of the Sussex Police Digital Forensics Unit on what was recovered. The burner phones had never been used, and the contents of the SD card have been analysed thoroughly. To summarize briefly – the full details are in the documents that both the defence and the jury have copies of – they include email communications with a company called Schafft-Steinmetz based in Düsseldorf, Germany, and receipts from this company for the work they carried out.’

‘And what was the nature of this work, Detective Sergeant?’ Cork asked.

‘It was to build, as inexpensively as possible, a replica – or perhaps a more accurate description would be a facsimile – 1962 Ferrari 250 SWB.’

‘And was this in order to try to pass off this fake car as the real thing and to sell it?’

‘No, the instructions to Schafft-Steinmetz were to provide as many voids within the chassis, frame, doors and roof as possible.’

‘And did the company at any time question the reasons for this?’ Cork asked.

‘Yes, they did. They were informed that they had a client who wished to use the vehicle for long-distance endurance rallies, and the spaces were for storage of fuel and provisions.’

Cork nodded. ‘I see. And was anything else discovered on this SD card?’