Below this was a mugshot labelled ‘O1’. It was in full colour and showed a heavyset male with hair shorn close to his scalp and thin lips surrounded by stubble. He looked to be mid to late thirties. He was shirtless in the photo with most of his torso visible. It showed a large eagle tattoo, its wings pushing out to cover his chest, the top of its head running up the middle of his neck to finish just below his chin. In the photo his thin lips were pushed together in a leer, and his arm was angled down to suggest his hands were in his lap. The photo overall looked like it was taken from a webcam and then cropped: poor quality, but good enough. Danny stared at the smiling eyes in the photo. When he lifted away he found the same eyes in real life. This time there was no sign of a smile. This time his thin lips were forced apart by the barrel of a shotgun.

‘Marcus Olsen.’ His throat was now so dry it hurt. Danny watched the man closely as he uttered the name. There was a reaction, no doubt, as much as he could with his head held tightly in place. He jerked like he was trying to shake it, like this was all a big mistake.

But Danny didn’t think it was. Not for a moment.

He moved back to the folder, where the printed words continued. He read them out now, almost revelling in it.

‘O1 is a twice convicted paedophile. His previous offending is for possession of indecent images of children including examples of the highest grading of indecent image.’ Danny looked up to make eye contact again. ‘Marcus Olsen the Paedophile,’ he spat. He went back to reading: ‘The wider investigation evidenced that he sought to identify a target who could give access to a number of further victims, behaviour that is similar to what we have found with V1 through V5 in this instance.’ Danny continued, ‘There is a period of four years between O1’s release from prison following his second conviction and his first contact with V1. It is highly likely that there was other offending in this time. Marcus Olsen’s behaviour suggests a prolific and committed sex offender whose impact on his victims has been so severe that a number have opted to end their life. Further, it is apparent from his manipulation, specifically in the case of V5, that he actively seeks to groom his victims, then attempts to coerce them to end their own lives, thus removing the traces of his offending.’ Danny ran ahead over the next sentence and had to pause to take it in. He swallowed a couple of times, he wanted to read this bit out loud, but it was like his throat had tightened. He fixed on the man tied down in front of him, then broke away to force the words through gritted teeth. ‘In the case of V5, it is known that O1 sourced the tablets that V5 used in her suicide attempt.’