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Back The Woman in the Wood Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by M.K. Hill
  3. THE WOMAN IN THE WOOD
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Epigraph
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. 50
  58. 51
  59. 52
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. About the Author
  62. An Invitation from the Publisher

There was a furious knocking on the front door, relentless banging – Sasha didn’t know how long it had been going on – and Abs stumbled across the kitchen on bendy legs to answer it, leaving a trail of blood from where the thermometer still pierced his hand.

‘Is she going to be alright? Is Mummy going to live?’ Jez wailed, afraid to touch Rachel as her body jumped and spasmed. ‘Please don’t leave me again, Mummy, please don’t!’

51

Following psychological treatment, Jeremy Weston made a full confession to police about the women he had abducted and killed – three, in the years since he murdered Rhiannon Jenkins.

He took Sasha and her team to the chalet in the wood where he had kept them prisoner, and showed them where the bodies of the women were buried. Following DNA analysis, the identities of the three victims – Imogen Owen, Bernadette Dunne, Annabel Kalinik – were all confirmed, and their families informed.

Weston was currently awaiting trial for the four murders, and the abduction of Sarah Tovey, and his mother, Rachel – recovered from her heart attack – for the deaths of Andrew Dean and Tony Gardner, and the attempted murder of Danny ‘Abs’ Cruikshank.

There was still a lot of work to be done, as Sasha and the MIT pulled together a timeline of Jeremy Weston’s movements, gathering CCTV, phone data and GPS information from his car, to connect him to the disappearance of each of the three women. An abundance of evidence – rope, digging tools, chloroform, traces of blood and DNA – had been found at his home, in the boot of his car, and in the chalet.

Based on Jeremy’s confession and the abundance of evidence, the threads of the two investigations – the crimes committed by mother and son – came slowly together, and Sasha and her team put in plenty of overtime to build a watertight case.

Rhiannon Jenkins’s father was gravely ill – doctors didn’t expect him to survive his cancer for much longer – but he had at least lived long enough to learn the truth about the fate of his daughter. Reconciled, Owen and Davey Jenkins held a proper burial for Rhiannon, which was attended by close family.

Immediately initiating divorce proceedings, Bethany Weston had moved back in with her mum and dad. But not at the home near Danbury, yards from the scene of her husband’s grisly murders. As the police erected white tents in various parts of the wood, and lamps to flood the space with light, Bethany and her parents quickly arranged to relocate to Cheshire.

One Friday night, five weeks after the arrest of Rachel and Jeremy, Sasha was sitting alone at her desk in the office when she became aware of a hulking figure standing behind her, and she yelped with fright.

‘Vaughn!’ She put a hand to her chest. ‘You frightened the life out of me.’