The remaining three of us walked down the northern side of the castle keep and through the gatehouse, now brightly lit up not only by the searchlight from above but also by several floodlights positioned on the outside.

‘Put your hands up,’ shouted someone through a megaphone when they saw us appear.

Asquith and Chico put theirs up and I lifted my left, while holding my right away from my body so that they could see it was empty. I was slightly disturbed to notice that Asquith’s hands were now bare. He had somehow disposed of his brown leather gloves.

‘Come forward over the drawbridge,’ the megaphone instructed, ‘then lie down, face down on the grass with your hands out in front of your heads.’

We did as asked, although I was not sure I would be able to get up again on my own.

Several shadowy figures dressed all in black approached us, their metallic machine guns glistening in the lights.

Asquith didn’t hold back.

‘Officers,’ he shouted loudly at them, ‘thank God you are here. I have been kidnapped and attacked by these two men.’ Then he pointed at me. ‘Watch out for that one. He’s got a gun in his coat pocket.’

Mention of a gun galvanised the police into even greater action. I suddenly had three or four of them standing over me, pointing their own weapons down at me from just a few inches away.

‘You are under arrest on suspicion of offences contrary to the 1968 Firearms Act,’ one of them said formally. ‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

Another of them grabbed my hands and roughly bent them round behind my back, securing them one above the other in stiff, painful handcuffs. The pain in my right hand was excruciating.

‘It’s not me you should be arresting,’ I shouted at them angrily. ‘It was he who shot me. Look at my right hand.’

They didn’t seem to take any notice but, in fact, they handcuffed all three of us. Meanwhile, one of the other officers knelt on my back and searched through my pockets, finding first Valance’s mobile phone, and then the Webley revolver, which caused much excitement. Both the phone and the gun were placed carefully into plastic evidence bags and carried away.

But Asquith wasn’t finished yet.

‘There’s a friend of mine still lying somewhere in the castle,’ he shouted. ‘He’s had his skull crushed by this one.’ He jerked his head towards Chico. ‘They are both murderers.’

‘It’s all right, sir,’ one of the policeman said to him. ‘You are now perfectly safe. We have both of them in custody.’