Gray unzipped his combat smock to reveal a waistcoat fashioned from webbing.  Strung from it were three hand grenades, with a cord attached to the pin of the one in the centre. The cord emerged through the lapel of his smock and was attached to a large handle, making it easy to grab.

“In my line of work I have long accepted the fact that death will come, so I do not fear it.

“As the TV and newspapers will no doubt tell you over the coming days and weeks, I spent fourteen years in the Army.  My knowledge of explosives is more than enough to create and prime the device I mentioned, so do not doubt its existence.”

Gray pulled a photo from his combat smock pocket and studied it for a moment before showing it to the camera.

“Seven months after our son died my wife took her own life, so I have no more family.  The choice I had to make was to either live my life in constant mourning, or end it this week while trying to make a difference.

“As you can see, I have made my choice.”

He replaced the photo of his family in his breast pocket and buttoned it up.

“I want to remind the Prime Minister that his government came to power on the promise to get tough on criminals.  Well, now it’s time for him to make his choice:  Let the public watch these transmissions through to their conclusion on Thursday night and save the lives of thousands; or try to save these five career criminals.”

Gray made a weighing motion with his hands.  “Thousands of lives, or five criminals.  All I ask is that you let me finish this, let the country decide the fate of these criminals.  Consider it the ultimate straw poll.

“To you out there in Britain, the voting starts now.  On the left hand side of the screen you will see the profiles and criminal records of the five men here.  The first person to be dealt with will be Simon Arkin, aged twenty one, from Manchester.  Simon has sixty seven convictions but has never been behind bars.  Instead, the courts gave him community service, which he hasn’t carried out.

“If you think he should be set free to commit more crimes, send an email to [email protected].  Put the word ‘Simon’ as the subject and the word ‘Live’ in the body of the email. If you think he has had all the chances a person deserves, replace ‘Live’ with ‘Die’.  Well, do you think he deserves another chance?  I know what I think, but what do you think?

“Voting closes at seven-thirty this evening and I will be back with a live broadcast an hour later to reveal the results.”

The video ended and Lane turned to her colleagues after replacing the image of the website with a photo of Tom Gray.