Just six months ago Slack wouldn’t have cared. He’d never met Terry and had no idea that he’d worked for the Romanians in North London before the gang’s leaders were snared by the task force.

But then, out of the blue, he got a call from an old girlfriend who was in Guy’s Hospital having suffered a severe stroke.

Chloe Malone had begged him to visit her, saying she had something important to tell him. So he’d gone along out of curiosity and she’d revealed that just after they’d split up twenty-six years ago she’d discovered she was pregnant. Eight months later she gave birth to a boy.

‘He’s your son, Roy,’ she’d told him. ‘I want you to know now because there have been serious complications and I might have only days to live. And Terry needs someone to look out for him, otherwise he’ll end up dead or in jail.’

She’d gone on to say that she didn’t tell him about the baby because their relationship had ended badly after he decided to dump her for another woman.

‘It would never have worked out,’ she’d said. ‘You would have wanted the baby but not me. I was sure that you would have made my life a misery or even taken steps to get rid of me.’

To say that he’d been shocked would have been a gross understatement. The revelation had shaken him to the core. He was angry with her even though he knew that what she’d said was true.

Their affair had lasted five months. It was fun but he’d never loved her and when someone better came along he dropped her like a hot brick.

Before he left the hospital she gave him a letter she’d written to Terry in which she disclosed that Slack was his father.

‘I’m not going to tell him before I die,’ she’d said. ‘That wouldn’t be fair, if you decide that you want nothing to do with him. But if you do want to be part of his life then show him the letter.’

Three days later she passed away and for weeks afterwards he wasn’t sure what to do or whether or not to even believe her.

So he made enquiries, found out that Terry was looking for work, and got the lads to recruit him onto the firm. Then he took steps to secretly obtain samples of his DNA, which confirmed what Chloe had said.

That was when it really hit home that he had a son. The effect on him was profound. Julie had never been able to conceive and he had always wanted a child.