‘Rhiannon left the pub at half past ten that night and someone must have seen her,’ said Superintendent Thomas. ‘I’m appealing to members of the public who have information about her whereabouts to get in contact.’

There were plenty of other articles about Rhiannon Jenkins published in the weeks and months following her disappearance. Newspapers followed the twists and turns of the investigation very closely, and the unlikely connection of reality heart-throb Danny ‘Abs’ Cruikshank to Rhiannon’s last known appearance meant the story picked up a lot of national coverage. There were further appeals for information, a reconstruction of the young woman’s last known movements. Hopeful sightings of Rhiannon poured in from all parts of Wales, and the length and breadth of the UK.

Her uncle, Davey Jenkins, made a number of veiled comments in various papers about what he would like to do to the people who were responsible for Rhiannon’s disappearance. A Mail article published later that year featured an interview with the girl’s father.

‘I’M AN ALCOHOLIC AND A GAMBLING ADDICT – AND I FEAR I FAILED MY DAUGHTER’

Heartbreak of Missing Welsh Lass Rhiannon’s Father

Owen Jenkins was photographed in his small Cardiff flat looking pale and unwell, and surrounded by numerous mementoes and photos of Rhiannon. In the interview, he spoke at great length, and with terrible anguish, about how he felt he had not been a good parent since the passing of his wife. Rhiannon’s mother had died when his daughter was only a little girl.

But with each passing month the flood of news stories became a trickle, and within a year they dried up completely, along with all viable lines of inquiry. The case was never solved – the investigation was kept open, but Rhiannon remained missing.

In all of the coverage, Andrew Dean – if he was indeed the same man who was found dead on the train tracks at Hockley – was nothing more than a footnote. But there were plenty of stories about Danny Cruikshank, the man everybody in the country knew simply as Abs.

The celebrity connection to the mystery of Rhiannon’s disappearance, as tangential as it appeared, was catnip to journalists, who couldn’t resist shoehorning the famous star of reality show Laid In Essex! into every story about the missing girl. Every single report mentioned the good-looking young celebrity, and every article was inevitably accompanied by a photo of Abs.

In those images, publicity shots from the show, Abs was usually leaning against the bar in a club, looking rakish and charming. Beneath perfect eyebrows, which arched like fighting alley cats, his come-to-bed eyes twinkled mischievously – look at me, they said, I’m full of youth and sex and fun. He had a thick head of hair, which was swept back over his brow and tied in a knot at the crown, and his tombstone teeth were so dazzling they appeared almost radioactive. Abs had a bit of bumfluff under his chin, which could have been intentional, but Sasha wasn’t sure. He wore a stylish jacket over a hoodie, and jeans with fashionable jagged holes at the knees and on the thighs, some of which were so big it was a wonder the jeans didn’t disintegrate. On his feet were the whitest trainers Sasha had ever seen.