‘Morning. There are several deaf staff at the school, and of course the other students are deaf, so there are some points you need to be aware of. Firstly, not all deaf people communicate in the same way. Some speak, and don’t use any sign language, making use of either hearing aids or cochlear implants. Some don’t use any aids at all and rely completely on BSL. But many will use a combination of the two. Please don’t make any assumptions – at the start of each interview, check how the deaf person would like to communicate. It might be that they’re happy to speak their answers to you, but would prefer me to sign what you’re saying to be certain they’ve understood. They might prefer to sign their answers, in which case I’ll speak for them. Or they might not want an interpreter at all. Making assumptions can cause offence, which can then affect how the person concerned cooperates with you.’

I saw Forest nodding out of the corner of my eye, and felt my confidence increase slightly. ‘When you work with spoken language interpreters, you’ll often have to wait for them to interpret what you’ve said after you’ve finished a question, but with BSL I can interpret at the same time. However, I still require time to process what you’ve said and interpret it, so there might be times when I ask you to slow down, pause, or repeat something for clarity. As always, when working with an interpreter, please address the person you’re interviewing, not me. I’m not the one answering the questions. The deaf person might only look at me when you’re speaking, or they might choose to look between us, using your lip patterns, facial expression and body language to support their understanding.’

Someone at the back put their hand up, and I nodded at her, not expecting questions.

‘While you’re here, can you teach us some basic signs?’

Forest answered before I got a chance to. ‘I’m happy to put in a request to those on high for some BSL classes, but while Paige is here we’re paying her to facilitate our interviews, not teach you the alphabet.’

A snigger passed around the room, but everyone soon went silent again. I couldn’t think of anything else relevant to say, so I stepped back and let Forest take over again.

‘Right, if that’s everything, we’d better get on and do our jobs. If you come across anything you believe to be relevant to the case, please pass it directly to DS Singh.’

There was a sudden noise as several chairs scraped back and everyone moved to get on with the tasks they’d been assigned. I waited until Singh had finished speaking to Forest, then he beckoned to me to join them.