DS Fletcher looked at Jed in disbelief. Any nutter could have picked up those poor children yesterday. ‘Do you not realise the seriousness of not reporting the disappearance of children so young? They could have been abducted by a paedophile, run over – anything could have happened to them.’

Jed was beginning to lose his temper now. What was the bitch insinuating – that he was a bad parent? ‘All kids run away. I did it loads of times when I was their age. It’s all part of growing up, ain’t it? Anyway, I’ve had a good chat with them and both Georgie girl and Harry have promised me faithfully that they will never do anything like that again.’

Jed turned to his children. ‘Go on, you tell the policewoman that you won’t run off again, like you told me.’

‘We promise we won’t run off again,’ Georgie said.

‘I won’t, ’cause my legs hurt,’ Harry mumbled.

‘We idolise them kids and you can see that they’re clean, loved and well fed,’ Alice said proudly.

Jimmy put a comforting arm around Jed’s shoulder. If his son lost his temper, which he was quite capable of, the kids might be carted off there and then.

Carol Cullen turned to Jed. ‘Could I speak to you alone for a minute?’

Jed led her out to the kitchen. He’d seen his mum give him a warning look and he knew he had to learn how to control his temper more, especially when dealing with the authorities. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit snappy, but what with my brother being killed and then Luke, my son, it’s been a tough time lately,’ he explained.

Carol nodded understandingly. ‘The reason I’ve come here to see you today is about access for the children to visit their mother. I spoke to Georgie and Harry at length last night and it is clear that they miss their mother dreadfully and, in my opinion, it would be in their best interests if they were to have contact with her.’

Jed stood with his mouth wide open. He couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. ‘Are you serious? Frankie is a loony, a proper nutter. She tried to kill me, for fuck’s sake. Would you want your kids seeing a potential murderer? I love my chavvies and I don’t want them anywhere near that monster of a mother of theirs.’

‘Calm down, Mr O’Hara. If you keep behaving like this, I will have to write a bad report on you and chances are you will lose your children for good.’

Telling Jed he might lose his children was like waving a red rag at a bull. ‘Get out of my house, you fucking shitcunt!’ he shouted as he tried to bundle Carol Cullen towards the front door.

Jimmy, Alice and the two police officers heard the fracas and ran out to the kitchen.