‘That’s right. He was standing as a candidate in a by-election and as a former Marine and now a well-known documentary film maker he was a favourite to win. But he had to pull out because of it. The story brought a smile to our faces because we felt that he got what he deserved for dumping Rachel the way he did so close to the wedding.’

‘Do you know why he decided to end the relationship so suddenly?’ James asked.

‘He told her that he realised that he didn’t love her enough, but she suspected he was cheating on her with someone else.’

James took out his notebook and pen. ‘Can you recall when this story appeared in the news, Mr Elliott? His name certainly rings a bell with me.’

‘It was back in October.’

James made a note. ‘I will be looking into the details, but for now can you tell me what exactly he was accused of?’

‘Well, the story first appeared in the Cumbria Gazette, and it exposed his habit of taking illegal drugs,’ Fraser said. ‘They even managed to get a photo of him snorting cocaine at a party.’

James reread the message in the card, and said, ‘So you believe that this could be from him and he’s accusing Rachel of leaking the story.’

‘I can’t think who else would have sent it,’ Fraser responded. ‘And before you ask, Rachel knew about his drug habit. She told us after they split up and we were livid because she said he encouraged her to take them as well.’

‘And did she?’

Fraser shrugged. ‘She claimed she occasionally smoked a cannabis joint when she stayed at his place but steered clear of the cocaine. Unfortunately, we couldn’t be sure she was being truthful with us.’

‘I see.’ James scribbled some notes, before adding, ‘Is it possible that your daughter did tell the paper what she knew about him in order to get her own back?’

Fraser lowered his gaze, as though out of embarrassment, and it was left to his wife to answer the question.

‘When it was announced that Hannigan was going to stand as a candidate in the by-election, she told us she was thinking of doing just that to scupper his chances,’ Denise said. ‘We urged her not to because we didn’t want her to get involved. She promised us she wouldn’t and when the story appeared she insisted that she wasn’t responsible.’

‘Thank you for this,’ James said. ‘We will be talking to him but as you’ve already pointed out, he wasn’t a wedding guest and he’ll probably be able to prove he was somewhere else when it happened. We shouldn’t leap to the conclusion that Douglas Hannigan is the person who killed your daughter.’

James went on to ask more questions about Rachel’s relationship with Hannigan, learning that they’d met through an online dating site and were together for seven months. She often stayed overnight at his house in Kendal, and she had been planning on moving in with him after they married.