‘I know that feeling. Even though I’m stuck in here, I can still smile ’cause I know Peter is dead and he can never hurt me and my children again. I’m really glad I killed him and even if I end up doin’ life, I’ll never regret what I did. A mother’s duty is to protect her children and that’s what I’ll tell the jury at my trial.’

Frankie sat in silence as Babs winded her son and gently laid him in his cot. Something Larry had said to her was playing on her mind and when Babs hugged her, Frankie couldn’t stop herself from crying.

‘What’s the matter? You should be happy you finally goin’ home.’

‘I am, but Larry said that it’s better for my actual court case if we don’t find the O’Haras beforehand. How can I not look for my children, eh, Babs? I think about them every minute of every day. I wonder if they remember me and miss me. Do you think they’re being looked after OK?’

As the sobs racked through Frankie’s body, Babs held her friend tightly. She wished she could promise Frankie that her children were OK, but she couldn’t make promises she didn’t know the answer to herself. It wasn’t right.

Over in Essex, Stanley Smith was cursing under his breath as Joycie barked out yet another order. Not only had the idiotic woman dragged him out of bed at 6 a.m., but now she was giving him directions to a house he used to live in and was also telling him how he should drive.

‘Go a bit faster then, Stanley. We haven’t bought a top-of-the-range Jaguar XJ6 for you to pootle along as though you’re driving some poxy old Skoda.’

‘I’ve got a van in front of me, Joycie. I can’t bleedin’ overtake it; I can’t see what’s coming the other way.’

Joycie tutted and glanced at her watch. Four times she’d made Stanley drive over to Rita and Hilda’s since they’d brought their new car home and four times her friends had been out, or pretended to be.

‘I bet they’re hiding behind the bastard curtains. They’ve always been jealous of me, Stanley,’ Joycie said suspiciously on their last visit.

‘Don’t be so bleedin’ daft. Rita and Hilda ain’t got a jealous bone in their bodies. They’re obviously just out, Joycie. People’s lives don’t revolve around you, you know,’ Stanley reassured her.

Joyce smirked as Stanley turned into the road she and he had once lived in. It was only ten past seven and if Rita and Hilda had been avoiding her, then she would have the last laugh this morning.

‘You wait here, Stanley, while I go and fetch them. Then you can take us all for a nice drive somewhere pleasant.’