‘Where are you going?’ Claire had asked her eldest as casually as she could.

‘To Mark’s house, Mum. Video games.’

‘Do you want me to pick you up later?’

‘No, it’s fine, I’ll walk.’

‘Okay, be back for eleven, okay?’

‘I always am, Mum.’ He winked at her now, indulgent of her daily reminder, and gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Joshua had been friends with Mark for years and Claire thought Mark was a fairly good influence on him. There were several other lads they hung around with from school as well and they’d all gone through senior school together. She hoped it was just video games, but she suspected there would be booze as well. After everything they had been through last year with Joshua, she prayed he had enough sense not to go overboard.

At least he wasn’t driving yet.

Claire knew that the minute he passed his test, she wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink until he was safely back home. She felt a pang for his baby days when there was nothing more to worry about than whether he was hungry or needed his nappy changing. But as Chris was always reminding her, you had to let them grow up. It wasn’t easy though.

Picking up her glass, she pushed the thoughts aside determined to make the most of a quiet Friday night alone. She might as well finish reading her files while Chris was out. She reluctantly picked up the Rose Aiker file. Knowing someone else in the company would handle it, she was half inclined to skip it, but the case pricked at her subconscious. Rape.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the file and began reading.

Case Number: TD / 08 / 67 / 3876

Incident: Rape

Reporting Officer: Constable Andrea Myers

Date of Report: Saturday 11 February 2016

At about 17:00hrs on Sunday 12 February 2016, I met with Ms Rose Aiker at her home address of 61A Sherbourne Road regarding an accusation of rape. Ms Aiker said she had gone out with a female friend in Manchester city centre and then to the opening party of Studio 65, a nightclub, at 23:45hrs. Ms Aiker admitted to drinking alcohol and taking drugs at the venue.

Ms Aiker informed me that at approximately 01:45hrs she left Studio 65 and went on to a party with a group of people. The party was held at 15 Crossway Avenue, approximately a twenty-minute walk from Studio 65. Ms Aiker spent approximately four hours at the party. During this time, Ms Aiker went upstairs to one of the bedrooms to lie down. When she entered there were two males, who she described as anything between eighteen and twenty-five years old. Ms Aiker told me the males wouldn’t leave the room to let her lie down and she was unable to remember if anyone else came into the room. Her recollection of the event is as follows:

Section 4 of transcript 2 of case file TD / 08 / 67 / 3876