Donna walked through the automatic doors and stood in front of a female warder. She held her arms outstretched while the woman felt under her bra line, along her body, and inside the waistband of her skirt. She tidied herself up while the woman went through her shoulder bag. She gave Donna a numbered key, allowed her time to take her purse from the bag and then shut it and its contents into a small locker. Opening the next set of doors, Donna was finally allowed through to the visiting area.

Parkhurst’s visiting area was quite large. It held a small canteen rather like the lock-up fastfood shops you might see on any British Rail station. This sold tea, coffee, soft drinks and sweets. As you walked through the large doors, on your right-hand side was a play area for the children, containing everything from small rocking horses to a Wendy House. Children were already happily playing there, unaware of their environment. Fathers and mothers watched them with delight.

Donna walked over to the left and the table area. The tables were spread as far apart as possible and women sat alone waiting for their spouses or sons to be brought through. Donna took a seat and placed her purse on the table. She smiled at an old woman waiting patiently at the table next to hers. The woman dropped her eyes back to her knitting and Donna sighed.

Already the buzz of conversation was quite loud. When the doors at the back of the room opened, Donna breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Georgio bound through them. He was wearing black jogging bottoms and a Lacoste shirt. He looked fit and healthy, only the lines on his face denoting the strain he was under. She stood up and he kissed her hard.

‘Hello, darlin’. Am I pleased to see you!’ He took her purse off the table and removed a five-pound note from it.

‘What do you want? Coffee?’

Donna nodded and watched him as he purchased two coffees, five Mars bars and one KitKat. The KitKat, she knew already, was for her.

As he sat down once more and gave her the change, looking for all the world like a little boy, she felt a pang of sorrow for him.

‘So what’s been happening, Donna? How’s everything?’

She took a deep breath and said calmly, much more calmly than she felt, ‘Someone trashed the car lot last night. All the cars on the front were destroyed.’

She watched the incredulity on her husband’s face and forced herself to carry on.

‘The police think it was vandals, out in a large Range-Rover with nothing else to do. I don’t think so myself.’

Georgio sipped his coffee, to give himself time to sort out in his mind what his wife was saying.