A lean man in his fifties, with brush-cut grey hair and a suit he was clearly unused to wearing, was escorted in, gave his name and took the oath.

‘Can you please tell us your profession?’ Brown said to him.

‘I’m a mechanical engineer and worked full-time at LH Classics with a couple of part-timers.’

‘Do you have a particular speciality?’

‘Yes, restoring classic racing cars.’

‘Were you employed by LH Classics between the years of 2005 and 2018?’ she asked.

‘I was.’

‘And what were your duties during that time?’

‘Working on preparing cars acquired by the company, for sale.’

‘What kind of cars?’

‘Ferraris, Aston Martins, Jaguar E-Types, Chevrolet Corvettes, AC Cobras, Austin Healeys – among others.’

Brown nodded. ‘Who was your boss during the time you worked for LH Classics?’

‘The General Manager, Mr Starr.’

‘Would that be Michael – Mickey – Starr? Sometimes known as Lucky?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you tell me, during these thirteen years, did you ever see Terence Gready on the premises?’

He frowned. ‘Terence Gready?’

She pointed at the dock. ‘That man, there, the defendant?’

Mason-Taylor looked at Gready, then shook his head. ‘No, never.’

‘Did you see his name on any paperwork? Documentation?’

‘Terence Gready?’

‘Yes.’

‘No, never.’

‘You are certain?’

Mason-Taylor smiled. ‘It’s not the kind of name you’d easily forget. No, I never saw it or heard it.’

‘Thank you,’ she said.

The prosecutor asked, ‘Mr Mason-Taylor, during your time with LH Classics, were you ever involved in the construction of fake – or rather replica cars?’

‘A number of times, yes. There is a very legitimate market for replicas of certain models.’

‘A number of times? And did the construction of any of these replicas differ from the originals by having cavities built into them, which would not have been there in the originals?’

‘Yes,’ he said, positively. ‘Quite regularly.’

‘Did you query what the purpose of these were?’

‘No, I knew.’

Cork feigned astonishment. ‘You knew? Really. What exactly did you know?’

Mason-Taylor shrugged. ‘The motor racing world is full of cheats – it always has been – and the world of classic car racing is one of the worst offenders. I always assumed these cavities were about weight loss, to make the vehicles more competitive in races.’

‘Did it ever occur to you,’ Cork continued, ‘that there might be another purpose for these cavities?’

‘Why should it?’ Mason-Taylor responded with genuine innocence. ‘What other purpose do you mean?’

‘The smuggling of drugs.’

The mechanic’s astonished expression was all the response he needed. But he went on. ‘I’m sorry, but that really is absurd. My work for LH was to carry out restoration work on cars intended for sale, and to prepare cars for clients for races.’

‘Even though you knew you were helping some to cheat?’