‘Hard to say. It was the strangest situation I had ever been in. I felt as if I was a part of his fantasy world. If he had told me the time I would have checked my watch and still not been sure.’

‘Did you take a statement from him?’

‘Not on this occasion. Although he spoke freely, I was afraid that if I took any notes he would clam up. I asked him if I could return later to take a formal statement and he agreed.’

‘Did you see him again?’

‘One week later.’

‘And?’

‘Nothing. He sat in the interview room and would not utter a word. He just refused to speak – at all.’

‘What did you do then?’

‘Well, now I had a real problem. I was in possession of the most crucial information but I could not verify it and it was going to be my word against his. That would not get us through the front door of the Court of Appeal. I was very busy with other cases and it was three to four weeks before I had the chance to visit him again.’

‘What happened this time?’

‘I had put together an affidavit based on my recollection of our first conversation. However, the meeting started off in the most bizarre fashion. He began to scream and shout that I was threatening him, that I had forced him to make up a story, that his life was in danger. He was ranting so much that a prison officer came into the room. He instantly calmed down. When the officer left, his whole attitude changed.’

‘Did anything occur to you?’

‘I felt at the time that he was putting on a performance and once he was sure that he had been overheard, he was quite satisfied.’

‘What did he say to you?’

‘He asked if I had brought a statement for him to sign. When I said that I had, he asked me what he was to get. How much it would be worth. I asked what he meant and he told me he could be in big trouble for retracting his statement, so he wanted big money. He asked for £100,000.’

‘What was your response?’

‘I told him that this was a ridiculous amount of money and, in any event, I would not pay him for a statement. Not a penny.’

‘What was his reaction?’