As the foreman of the jury – a middle-aged man with receding hair and thick, heavy-rimmed spectacles – stands to deliver the verdict, I feel Georgie’s hand clasp mine. This is the moment. This is what I have been waiting for. The man stumbles slightly as he begins to speak, coughs and then says the word we have been hoping for, but never thought would come.

Guilty.

Georgie sweeps me into her arms. Behind me, I hear Connor’s mother hiss some expletive. I feel strangely calm, almost numb.

A couple of minutes pass in a blur and as the verdict sinks in I recall the Victim Impact Statement I had written with my barrister, Nicole.