Danny declared St Bede’s to be awesome with at least five times the number of pupils than the junior school he’d attended. He was finally growing up and even his parents treated him differently. He owned his first mobile phone and was allowed to walk to and from school alone, a journey of almost half an hour – a pain in bad weather, yet exciting. Danny was also the proud owner of a door key, so he could let himself in to wait until his mother finished work instead of going to the homework club. It was only for an hour or so and Danny was pleased his parents trusted him to be in the house alone.

As he made his way home on Monday afternoon, Danny’s head was bowed against the driving rain, the hood of his parka limiting his vision with nothing visible except the pavement in front of him. He heard a vehicle pull up nearby but thought nothing of it until he was grabbed from behind.

Wriggling and kicking, Danny did his best to break free, but whoever held him was strong. As he was lifted into the van, the doors slammed shut behind him and a hood of some kind was roughly pulled over his head – he could see nothing.

Danny’s heart sounded like a drum throbbing in his ears. He shouted to be released, but the effort only earned him a slap on the side of his head and a man’s voice growled at him to shut up. Then he was roughly tied with his hands by his side so he couldn’t move his arms or pull the hood off his head.

Danny began crying. He couldn’t help it – then feeling a warm wetness trickle down his legs, he realised he’d peed himself. Shaking and sobbing, utter helplessness overwhelmed him and he was ashamed for letting the man grab him without putting up more of a fight.

The van seemed to drive for ages, although it was probably little more than an hour. The road became bumpy and Danny was tossed about in the back of the van, curled up, wet, cold and whimpering. With his arms bound by his side, there was no way to stop himself from rolling about on the dirty van floor, occasionally bumping into the man and receiving a shove when he did. The smell of oil and burnt rubber made him feel quite nauseous, but he knew it would only add to his discomfort if he were sick. Danny had never before been so afraid, and he longed for his parents and the warm comfort of their home.