First, he wanted to make a couple of calls. He began with DS Stevens who was still overseeing things at Oaktree Farm. He told him that Neil Savage was now their prime suspect.

‘No one seems to know where he is,’ James said. ‘And from the sound of it he’s a right bad one.’

James ran through the interviews that he and DC Abbott had conducted with Luke and Martha Grooms, and Savage’s mother.

‘I was also cornered a few minutes ago by Gordon Carver, the reporter with the Cumbria Gazette,’ James said.

‘The press has been quick to latch onto this one, guv,’ Stevens responded. ‘A photographer and a television camera crew turned up here about an hour ago. We blocked the lane but they’ve been filming and taking pictures from the road.’

‘That’ll only get worse, but to be fair we need to work with the media on this one. Carver has already tipped me off about someone who also has to be a person of interest to us. And that’s why I’m ringing you now rather than later. The guy in question lives in Kirkby Abbey, and I want you to go and see him right away. His name is Kenneth O’Connor and he worked as a farmhand for the Batemans but was fired earlier this year.’

James relayed the conversation he’d had with the reporter and passed on O’Connor’s address.

‘Take a couple of uniforms with you,’ he went on. ‘We need to establish what his movements have been since Christmas Eve. And if whatever he says doesn’t sound right then bring him in for formal questioning. How are things going at the scene now?’

‘Nothing new has been uncovered and much of the farm still hasn’t been processed,’ Stevens replied. ‘There are fewer forensic officers here now, but they’ll be back in force in the morning. Meanwhile, the bodies have been taken away and Dr Flint said she’ll crack on with the post-mortems as soon as she can tomorrow.’

James ended the call by saying he would send someone to take over at the farm through the night.

His second call was to DCI Tanner, who was still travelling back from Scotland. After being updated, Tanner said he would talk to the press office about issuing a more detailed statement, and he’d tell them to be ready to release the photo of Neil Savage.

‘I agree with you that it makes no sense to hold stuff back,’ Tanner said. ‘We need a quick resolution to this case for all our sakes. A media firestorm is building and if it drags on for any length of time the powers-that-be will pile on the pressure.’

James covered much of the same ground during the team meeting, explaining why Neil Savage was in the frame, but stressing that they did not know for sure if the bloody shoe-prints belonged to him.