Joanne received six years in prison and her brother, life for the murder of Lewis, and six years for kidnapping, to run concurrently. Neil was given three years, a shortened sentence due to the help he gave the police in building charges against Turner. At least their last-minute pleas of guilty meant that Dan didn’t have to give evidence – he’d suffered enough without having to relive the very worst of times.

Occasionally Dan will mention something which happened during those dark days and I listen without putting him under pressure to disclose more than he’s comfortable with. He saw a counsellor for a couple of months after returning to us, which helped him enormously. She was the impartial ear who encouraged him to allow, and express, his feelings of anger or sadness or confusion and not to think he was weak or somehow at fault.

We have seen an improvement over the year but Dan has been profoundly affected by his experience and I know it will stay with him for the rest of his life. He tries to forget most of the detail or put it behind him, but he certainly does not want to forget Lewis. If things had worked out differently – if Lewis hadn’t died, then who knows what might have happened. Dan told me he’d wanted to help him, to share his own good fortune, an attitude which makes me so proud of my son.

Dan’s grandparents were obviously delighted when he was found. The trauma cast a far-reaching shadow. But what is it they say – every action has a reaction – which was certainly the case with Dan’s kidnapping. My mother visits more frequently now and although she was furious with Richard when she found out about his affair, she’s making an effort to be civil to him. Richard’s parents also suffered during those horrendous few days and see as much of Dan as they can. Each time they leave to return home, I’ve noticed that they hug him and say, ‘I love you’. It’s a habit I’ve adopted too; Dan needs to know he is loved and always will be.

Sometimes, when in a reflective mood, Dan asks about Lewis’s mother. We are as open and honest with him as we can be, and he knows she was arrested and charged for what she did. But, partly due to Dan’s statement and partly because of her loss, she received only a suspended sentence. Immediately after the shooting which killed her son, Sally was given a place in a women’s refuge, a place of safety. She confessed everything to the police and regretted her part in the kidnapping. Sally paid the ultimate price for her complicity.