Elton Mills was thrilled to be visiting Belmarsh. As far as he was concerned, it was the prison of prisons. And to visit Teddy Carlton, who was Grade-A even on remand, was the highest honour! He had been subjected to a complete rigmarole to get in. First he had to have passport pictures taken, then apply to the Home Office for visitation rights, and finally he had been put through the indignity of having the local police come to his home to ascertain that he was indeed the person he said he was. Out-fucking-rageous was his feeling on the subject. But he swallowed his anger because he knew this was part of a bigger and better plan. The one good thing that did come out of it was that, for the first time, Elton Mills understood the real fucking world of having a capture. It could mean the best years of your life in a six-by-twelve cell, and to visit it meant aggravation of the highest fucking order. His mum would be hard pushed to sort that out without help. But then she would be hard pushed to pass a GCSE; he loved her, but she wasn’t exactly fucking Mastermind material. This shit would frighten her and he had always made sure she was protected from the truth.

This was a learning curve for sure, and he would remember just what was at stake – the main thing being his fucking freedom. There was no way any of Jack Johnson’s lot were going away – if it all fell apart, he would be the one to suffer. On the other hand, if he used his fucking nous then he would be a very rich man and some other poor cunt would one day be sitting where Teddy Carlton was. It was a chance he was willing to take.

He was searched and he was made to wait for long periods. Belmarsh was peopled with the best of the best – not that he felt the POs were in any way worth the proverbial wank. But he was sensible; he needed to look as benign as possible and get through the visit with the minimum of aggravation. There was a very aggressive vibe here that shocked him. It was bad enough that people were locked away – why would anyone want to make it harder than it already was? Young Elton was having his first taste of the British judicial system. He was not impressed. He was also more determined than ever to make sure that this would never be his life.