She frowned. ‘We do and that’s why I’m here. Are you the senior brigade officer in attendance?’

‘Yes, I’m the duty crew manager. I’d say the car was deliberately set alight as the smell of petrol was strong when we ripped the garage door off with the winch. It’s fortunate the garages are brick-built with asbestos roofs otherwise the fire could have spread quickly along the whole row.’

‘I’m surprised the petrol tank didn’t explode,’ Jane remarked.

The crew manager grinned. ‘It’s extremely rare for that to happen, other than in the movies. As you can see the petrol cap’s still in place, which suggests your bank robbers wanted time to get away without attracting attention from a petrol tank explosion.’

‘They probably had a changeover car hidden in the garage,’ Dabs added.

The crew manager said the car would need hosing down for a few more minutes, then it should be cool enough for SOCO Morgan to examine. Jane looked inside the garage, but it was now just a wet, sooty shell with nothing in it other than a large pool of black water. The interior of the car was so badly damaged, just the bare metal frames and springs of the seats were left, and both number plates had been destroyed. Dabs took some photographs of the car and pointed to the back footwell.

‘From the shape of it and small remnants of red paint, I’d say that burnt metal object is a petrol can.’

‘Are you going to get the car towed to the lab for examination?’ Jane asked.

‘I’d like to do it here, if possible, then have the vehicle taken to one of our car pounds for closer examination if it’s needed. They get a bit touchy about burnt-out cars being taken up to the lab as they make such a mess.’ He turned to the crew manager. ‘Could you open the bonnet and boot for us, please?’

The crew manager used the hooked end of his fireman’s axe to force the boot open. Inside they could see the congealed remnants of badly burnt clothing, which they agreed were probably what was left of the outfits the robbers wore.

‘They’ll sort out what’s what and take fibre samples at the lab,’ Dabs said as Jane held open an exhibits bag for him to put the bits of burnt clothing in.