A hush descended on the room as James took the team through each photo, using a ruler to point at them. He was aware that about half of those present weren’t at the briefing the previous evening so he’d be repeating much of what was said then.

‘The initial thinking was that this was a murder-suicide,’ he told them. ‘As you can see in the photo Robert Bateman is still holding the shotgun, making it appear that he had shot his wife and then himself. But the bloody shoeprints cast doubt on that scenario. Someone walked out of the house after the killings, which could mean the scene was staged to make it look like a murder-suicide. And there’s also the question of who stabbed Charlotte. Was it one of the parents or the person who fled the scene?

‘We know that Robert Bateman was alive just before 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve because he visited The King’s Head pub, meaning the killings took place some time after that.’

James then tapped the photo of Neil Savage with the ruler.

‘This man, Neil Savage, was Charlotte’s boyfriend and we’ve been told by two people that he was spending Christmas at the farm. However, there’s compelling evidence to suggest that he drove away from there on Christmas Eve and was in such a hurry that his car collided with another vehicle. Given the evidence – which is currently being examined by forensics – we’ll assume for now that Savage did flee the farm in a panic,’ James continued. ‘But we don’t know where he spent that night. We do know that he turned up back at his flat here in town on Christmas Day and that’s when a neighbour noticed the damage to his car. He only stayed a short while, though, and was then seen walking off with a rucksack on his back. Have we had any luck finding Savage on CCTV footage? Do we know where he walked to or if he was picked up by someone in a car?’

‘Not so far, guv,’ someone responded.

‘Well, keep on it and let me know as soon as we find anything.’

James drew everyone’s attention back to the photos and Christmas card found in Savage’s flat.

‘The card was from Charlotte to Savage and inside she wished him a merry Christmas and told him she loved him. And she sprinkled it with kisses. The photos are mostly of her and there’s one of her with her parents. It’s pretty clear that these were ripped up and thrown away by a very angry young man,’ he said. ‘We need to know what caused that anger.’

James then passed things over to DC Abbott so that she could share the notes she’d taken during the interview with Savage’s mother.