‘He went guilty on the possession charge and they figured there was no point pursuing the blackmail. Between Hannah’s bosses and CPS they didn’t think it would make a difference to any conviction and it could only delay things. This was an opportunity to get him to court and dealt with on a guilty plea. If they started pursuing something he had gone not guilty on, it would have delayed the whole thing.’ DS Rose looked resigned, like it was something she had seen many times.

‘What does a delay matter? We should be throwing the book at these people,’ Joel said.

When DS Rose spoke again it was like she was trying to choose her words carefully. ‘Child Protection can be a unique place to work. Anywhere else and you try and stick them on with whatever offence you can find, but I know first-hand that it can be different in there … A blackmail offence committed online … You’re talking a forensic search of his computer, a further search of his house, and you’d still be left with an offence that might be very difficult to prove. A lot more work and probably no change to his sentence.’

‘What was his sentence?’

‘Suspended. For two years.’

‘Suspended!’ Joel huffed. ‘So he didn’t even go to prison. And five victims whose abuser never answers for what he did.’

‘Hannah would agree with you, but that’s how it goes in there. Just a few weeks ago I was on a child protection warrant after we received good intel that the occupant had images on his phone. The warrant got us in but there were strict instructions to only seize the phone and that’s all we did. I saw a computer tower and any number of pen drives in the few minutes I was in there – who knows what other stuff was on them? But we didn’t look. We’re told to prove possession, to get them charged and convicted so they can be monitored. That’s how it works with offenders on the lower end of the scale, and there is some logic there. The department is swamped and we had to prioritise contact offences.’

‘Contact offences?’ Joel said.

‘Men making arrangements to meet up with children, those that aren’t satisfied with pictures alone.’

‘But surely one leads to the other?’

‘It can. I was in a conversation with a DCI once about the very same thing and I still remember what she said: in a sinking ship, do you plug the holes or bail out the water?’

‘Ma’am?’ Joel turned his frustration towards the superintendent, who had fallen silent. She now erupted in a sigh.