‘Right, I want to make this a reasonably quick one. We have a complex case, with two very different aspects to it. A young man called Leon Ormerod went missing from a school trip to Normanby Hall, some time between ten thirty on Friday night, when he was last seen, and seven thirty on Saturday morning, when the staff found his bed empty. Leon is fifteen, and profoundly deaf. He wears hearing aids and attends Lincoln School for the Deaf, where he is in care.’

Forest indicated a board behind her, which had a photo of Leon along with the details she’d just given out. Leon looked so small, and I felt a stab of worry for him. Was he running from something? Or had he been taken? I couldn’t bring myself to consider the possibility that he’d killed his teacher.

‘At the moment we don’t know if Leon left Normanby Park or not, and if he did whether he left of his own accord or was abducted. Someone had broken into the cricket pavilion towards the south end of the estate, where we found an item of clothing that a staff member identified as Leon’s. He must have sheltered in there for a short time, but there was no sign of him by the time we searched the building. We’ve been looking through the CCTV covering the park gates, but there are other routes in and out of the park.’

‘We used to climb over the wall as kids.’ A PC near the back had interrupted and Forest glared at him for a moment before nodding.

‘Precisely: there are many points along the park boundary that aren’t covered by CCTV, and Leon could have easily left without being caught on camera. The park is large, however, and with the snow we can’t be certain he left until we’ve searched every part of the grounds. The search of the park was abandoned yesterday afternoon when the snowfall and light became too bad, but will continue today. Some of you will also be speaking to people in the local area to find out if anyone might have seen Leon.’

The DI glanced around the room to make sure she still had everyone’s attention. ‘Whilst searching for Leon, the body of Steve Wilkinson was found. Mr Wilkinson was the head teacher of Leon’s school and was one of the staff supervising the trip. When it was discovered that Leon was missing, Mr Wilkinson went into the grounds to search for him at around eight yesterday morning, and nobody has reported seeing him since then until his body was found.