‘I’ve been told not to say anything, but to hell with that. These cuts and bruises on my face are courtesy of a detective sergeant Tony Marsden. He’s with Scotland Yard’s organised crime task force and he made it clear that he was going to torture me and then kill me. If the other bunch of coppers hadn’t turned up when they did I’d be dead.’

‘So were you told why they kidnapped you?’

‘For sure. The Old Bill are in a panic. They don’t know who’s behind the murders of the Commissioner and those other people. They’ve come up with a list of suspects and I’m one of them. I’ve protested my innocence but they don’t believe me even though they’ve got no evidence proving I’m involved.’

‘That’s a strong accusation to make, Mr Slack.’

‘But it’s true. They’ve had it in for me for years. They say I’m a crook, but they’ve never been able to prove it and they don’t like it.’

‘So you’re denying you had anything to do with the Commissioner’s death and the threats against the other officers.’

Slack nodded. ‘I am. I’m a legit businessmen, not some kind of Mafia godfather who gets his rocks off by paying for coppers to be killed.’

The reporter had told him that the interview was going out live on the BBC. That was good because it meant they couldn’t edit his words or bleep out Marsden’s name. It would infuriate the Met and that made it all the more satisfying.

He decided to take a couple more questions even though he was anxious to get home. His head was pounding and the tablets he’d been given to dull the pain in his stomach hadn’t yet kicked in.

But there was also something he wanted to get out into the open. Something that would make what Marsden had done all the more unpalatable in the eyes of the public.

‘I understand that your injuries have been treated, Mr Slack,’ the reporter said. ‘But why are you going against the doctor’s advice to stay here overnight?’

‘There’s nothing more they can do for me,’ Slack said. ‘I’ve told them to use the bed for someone who’s worse off than I am.’

‘And what about your driver, Mr Walker? We’re told he was also injured.’

‘He was clobbered with a gun when they ambushed us,’ Slack said. ‘He’s got a bad wound to the back of his head and will have to stay in. His wife is at his bedside.’

‘So is there anything else you’d like to tell us about what happened today?’ the reporter asked.