Alex Radford gave a low whistle. He’d been fascinated by the case which was well documented in the media at the time and he’d followed it keenly.

‘The case was never closed and it was the older child, Elise, who recognised her sister and persuaded us to reopen it. It’s strange how such an incident affects families in different ways. The Brysons drew closer together, stronger in the face of such adversity, although the loss of their youngest daughter overshadowed those fourteen years. In this more recent case, however, the parents couldn’t seem to work together and I’m not sure their marriage will survive, even now when their daughter’s back home with them.’

‘So what makes you think your case might be the same crew as ours?’ Radford asked.

‘It doesn’t fit the regular MO of a kidnapping. The glaring point we first connected is the low ransom demand. I believe your case is three hundred thousand?’

Alex nodded.

‘Ours was four hundred and the case in Liverpool three hundred and fifty. The victims are all children of roughly the same age and snatched while walking to or from school. In all three cases, the parents are professional people, not rich or famous, just ordinary families. It simply doesn’t make sense to go to all the bother of kidnapping for a relatively small amount.

‘So my thinking now is that they plan to kidnap several children in different areas for a comparatively small ransom in the hope the parents will pay up, perhaps even before going to the police. To be honest, if it were one of my children, I’d pay up – get my son back and then track the bastards down to bring them to justice. It also makes me wonder if they’ve got away with other kidnappings which haven’t been reported. If a child were returned unharmed, the threat of repeating the crime if the family reported it would be intimidating enough to ensure their silence.’

Dave’s words resonated with both Alex and Graham. They’d also wondered about the low ransom demand; it was almost as if the kidnappers had deliberately set a figure they knew to be within their victims’ means.

‘These kidnappers didn’t make their demands until the following morning, by which time we’d been on the case for several hours,’ Alex explained.

‘Yes, that fits in with our case too. The girl was twelve – she was snatched after school, but no demand was made until the following day. Her parents had already involved us by then, just as with you. I think the kidnappers are cocky – they believe they can outwit us.

‘Hayley’s parents are both doctors – consultants in their chosen fields – and the money wasn’t an issue. They managed to get it together and went along with the kidnappers’ instructions for the handover only to have the arrangement changed at the last minute.