Satisfied, Tom packed his bag back in the boot and drove up to Forest Gate nick to meet Liam.

*

Liam was already sitting at a table in the corner of the deserted canteen, nursing a tea in a Styrofoam cup, when Tom arrived fifteen minutes later. He looked up as Tom approached and offered a slight smile.

‘Jobs never go as planned, do they, fellah?’ he said as they shook hands.

‘I didn’t have too much choice, Liam. I wasn’t about to let him continue raping that poor girl. Hopefully it’s all recorded and should cause him a little problem.’ He didn’t mention he’d already scanned the footage; it wasn’t strictly correct procedure.

‘Talk me through it then, mate,’ said the Irishman.

Tom went through the whole series of events, giving all the details, including the direct evidence of the trafficking and immigration law breaches, plus what the tape should show relating to the sexual assault.

Liam paused before answering, as if weighing up all the possibilities.

‘It sounds a done deal, mate. Right, you got the SD card?’

Tom plucked it out of his shirt pocket and handed it over. ‘Should all be on there, in HD resolution. Make sure they destroy that fucking creature; he is not nice at all.’

Liam took the card and popped it inside a small, self-seal evidence bag. He tore off the protective strip and sealed the bag, exposing the unique serial number. Tom signed the exhibit label on the bag and gave it his exhibit number, TK/1, making a note of the seal number on a scrap of paper. He would need to refer to the serial number in his statement to keep the evidence legally watertight. The card was of paramount importance, especially in this case when the defendant was a rich solicitor.

‘Right, pal, best get started on your statement. Once you’re done, I’ll whizz it all over to Ilford with the card. I assume the team there will be desperate for it: the PACE clock is ticking.’ PACE: the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, dictated how long a suspect could be held after being charged. Liam handed him an undercover officer’s notebook.

Tom found an empty office on the second floor and spent the next hour making detailed notes in the book, giving precise information about the sequence of events: from his briefing all the way through to extracting the SD card. Together with the card, those notes would comprise the evidence he would supply to Jean and her team, as well as whoever was investigating Jeta’s sexual assault.