When Sally Barrowman joined them, Mrs Thorburn kept her head down and neither woman acknowledged the other. ‘Mathew’s ready.’ Jack could hear the unease in Sally’s voice.

‘Mrs Barrowman, I won’t do anything to knowingly upset Mathew. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that your son is the only person to have had any direct contact with the—’

‘Contact?’ she almost yelled. ‘Is that what you’re calling it? He was assaulted. He’s traumatised. He’s tremendously vulnerable, and the second I think he’s had enough of you, you will leave his bedroom. If you can’t promise me that right now, DS Warr, then you can get out of my house!’

The gentle, subservient housewife had gone, to be replaced with a ferociously protective mother. Jack wondered if perhaps George Barrowman was not the head of this household after all.

Sally went on to explain how, at the hospital, even though Mathew was escorted straight through to a side room, he had still been scared and agitated by all of the people and all of the beeping machines they were trying to attach him to. It took them hours to examine him properly and, when it came to persuading him to go into the X-ray room, it was an almost impossible task. ‘He’s had so many bad experiences with hospitals and doctors . . . he can’t help the way he reacts. It’s the same with the police. Matty has been horribly mistreated by some of the police in his time, because they’ve assumed him to be naughty instead of poorly.’

Jack remained respectful in the face of Sally’s motherly fears, but he wasn’t going to completely give in to her. ‘I’m in your home, Mrs Barrowman, asking to interview your vulnerable son; so, you’re the one who’s making the rules here. Create an environment that Mathew will be happy with, then tell me how to behave and I’ll do it. I’m not going to go against your advice. But I’m also not going to leave without speaking to him.’

By the time Jack had finished speaking, Sally had tears in her eyes and he wasn’t sure why. ‘I’ll stay down here.’ Her voice had become nothing more than a whisper. Jack felt compelled to ask her if she was OK. ‘Mathew said he didn’t want me at the hospital, so I haven’t seen his injuries and George won’t tell me anything. Are they terrible? Was he frightened for long, do you think?’ Sally’s eyes begged Jack to say something comforting.

‘I think it was over quickly. I think he didn’t fight back and gave them no reason to continue hurting him. With professional gangs like this, they just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. They would have wanted Mathew to be scared and be quiet . . . which he was.’ Jack hoped she believed him. In reality, he suspected the gang took pleasure in beating Mathew and stealing his pizza, and from the extent of his injuries, that once Mathew was on the ground, the gang continued to beat him.