The Shandon Bells in Ilford was packed out, and Ria and Lena were both feeling the emotion of the day. The kids were running around like maniacs, the seriousness of the occasion long forgotten now that they were away from the church. Tania was dishevelled – her diamante tiara was askew, and her veil was hanging down her back like a rag – but she was triumphant. She had made her First Confession, and her First Holy Communion. It was the beginning of her journey into adulthood, a day she would never forget.

Little Delroy was full of himself, but it was her day really. The boys didn’t get to dress up like the girls and so didn’t get as much attention. She had known she looked gorgeous, and she had liked that feeling.

As she walked through to the toilets, she heard her daddy’s voice and, without thinking, she stopped in the small doorway that heralded the men’s toilets.

She stood there quietly, her eyes wide. Her father had her brother Noel by the throat, and Jamsie was on the floor with his head in his hands and he was bleeding. Noel was trying to escape from her daddy’s grip, dragging and pulling at his father’s hands. She could hear him choking, as if he couldn’t breathe, his face red and flustered.

Her daddy was shouting at him, ‘You fucking idiots! Robbing a fucking security van! Putting yourselves up for a fifteen stretch! You’re a pair of useless cunts!’

Jamsie was shaking his head in denial, and she could see Noel’s eyes popping out of his head. She was frightened, terribly frightened. Her oldest brother Danny was watching it calmly, as if it didn’t mean anything, and Davey, standing next to him, looked appalled.

‘I’ll fucking murder you both! Don’t you ever fucking pull a stunt like this again!’

Daniel Bailey threw his son away from him, and Tania heard the sickening thud as Noel’s head hit the tiles.

Davey pulled himself away from the wall, and he stopped abruptly as he saw his little sister in the mirrors above the sinks. ‘Dad . . .’

‘Stop it, Daddy, stop it.’ Tania was hysterical.

Daniel Bailey turned towards his little daughter, shocked that she was there in the men’s room.

She heard her eldest brother Danny whisper, ‘For fuck’s sake!’

As her daddy walked towards her she backed away from him in fear.

‘Come here, princess, come here, love.’

His voice was low, full of love and she couldn’t believe it was the same voice that had just spouted such hatred, such bile at her brothers.