There is a sharp intake of breath from Karen but she doesn’t say anything. I feel numb, as if all this is happening to somebody else.

PC Oaks continues. ‘While it is a little difficult to build up a full picture as all this happened some time ago, we have ascertained from various sources that Mr Mugton’s partner and daughter sadly died in a car crash. This happened around six months before you were abducted.’

My hand flies to my mouth. Dad had a girlfriend and child who died? Tears spring to my eyes. Poor Dad. All those years, he kept that to himself. I glance at Karen, who is drinking her tea, stony-faced. Ellie reaches over and takes my hand. ‘Do you want PC Oaks to continue?’ she asks gently.

I nod.

‘It is believed from talking to people who knew him at the time, though we have no concrete proof, Mr Mugton may have suffered a breakdown following the death of his own daughter in the crash, and snatched you as a consequence. At the time you were taken, you would have been around the same age as his little girl who died. Her name was Laura, too.’

PC Oaks looks down at her notes and continues in the same, officious tone. ‘By this point, Mr Mugton had entirely disappeared from his previous life. As far as we can ascertain, it was widely assumed that he had been consumed by grief and had killed himself, especially when his car was found abandoned at a known suicide point on the coast.

‘There are no medical records for Mr Johnson – it seems likely that he never registered with a doctor using that name – and there are obviously none for Mr Mugton following his presumed death. A birth certificate for Mr Mugton was eventually found at the house he was living in, as well as limited papers pertaining to his new identity. There appears to be no trace of him beyond that after his presumed death, and no documentation relating to you living at the house with him at all.’

PC Oaks glances up at me and then back at her notes. I feel tears come into my eyes and roll down my cheeks. Poor Dad. He must have suffered so much. I had no idea. He literally gave up everything to look after me, to give me the life he thought I should have.

‘You appear to have left the house where you were living with Mr Mugton on 20 July 2013 and were hit by a car,’ she continues. ‘We currently have no idea whether it was your decision to leave, or if there was something else at play, or anyone else involved. However, it seems likely that, knowing your abduction was now likely to be discovered, Mr Mugton took his own life.’

Karen lets out a loud sob, puts down her tea and bolts from the room.