Christine continued: ‘The fact that raids have taken place against AVENGE even before the public knew of Rollason’s death makes us look reasonably proactive, which should mitigate criticism.’ Gillard noted a slight nod of agreement from the chief constable.

The conference call began, and the face of DCS Nick D’Angelo of West Mercia police appeared on the screen. Gillard introduced some of the key players from his team and asked the detective chief superintendent to summarise what had occurred overnight.

‘A force of eighty-five officers raided sixteen addresses across the Midlands, with some additional arrests made in Farnborough, Andover and Gateshead. We can call it a truly nationwide operation. Twenty-two people were arrested, including four known active vigilantes. Charges have already been preferred on seven of those people for possession of unlicensed firearms, including a police-issue taser, for assault and for resisting arrest. A number of those held have now been released on police bail, but three are being held in custody pending further investigations.’

‘Alison Rigby here,’ the chief constable called out from the back. ‘You probably can’t see me but I hope you can hear me on the speakerphone. Do you have reason to believe that any of those arrested were involved in the abduction of Mr Rollason?’

‘No ma’am, in fact we are increasingly convinced that they were not,’ D’Angelo responded.

Rigby turned her attentions to Gillard. ‘Craig, I believe you arrested one of the AVENGE members here in Surrey. Are you telling me he wasn’t involved either?’

Gillard smiled and pointed a remote control at the TV screen suspended from the ceiling. ‘This is a short clip from my interview with Nigel Chivers at Aldershot police station just a few hours ago. I think we can judge for ourselves.’

The black-and-white CCTV image showed a square windowless room with four people around an interview table. Chivers was easily the largest, splayed belligerently across a chair, thighs apart, meaty arms folded across his chest. Next to him the duty solicitor looked like a pale shadow of a man. Opposite Chivers sat Gillard and DC Hoskins, documents open in front of them.

The clip began with Gillard asking a question: ‘So you are telling me, Nigel, that you tried to get Rollason, but failed?’

‘Yeah. As God is my witness, I sat upstairs in his house from seven in the morning until midday waiting for the little bastard, but he never showed up. All I heard was the sound of this woman downstairs, who’d let herself in.’

‘How do you know that Rollason wasn’t with her?’ Hoskins asked.

‘Because when she came in she called out for him. I hid under the bed as I thought she was gonna come upstairs and look, but she never did. I was trapped in there for a good hour until she left. It was obvious that she was expecting him to be there.’

‘What did you do next?’