‘I was inside the van,’ she explained, as instructed, this issue having been to some extent anticipated. ‘In the front cab. They were making so much noise that I couldn’t tell how many there were, and I was scared. PC Howard told me to stay in the van, because he feared they might get violent.’

In support of the resisting-arrest charge, she told the court: ‘PC Howard and PC McLean got the defendants into the back of the van, but not without a struggle. They were kicking at the doors, thrashing around, trying to prevent themselves being forced inside. I’ve not been on the job very long and I found it terrifying.’

She got a subtle wee nod from Sergeant Morrison, who had come along for moral support. Good girl. She had done well. She was pleased. But then the defence lawyer got up.

‘What kind of noise were they making?’ he asked. ‘Could you be a little more specific?’

It sounded like a curious little query, but she understood later that it was in fact his declaration that he knew she hadn’t been there. The key word was ‘specific’: he knew she’d been put up to this, and specifics were where it would fall apart.

‘Shouting and singing,’ she replied, this much having been discussed between her and her colleagues. ‘All at the tops of their voices, which can happen when you’re drunk. You forget how distressing that can be for everybody else – especially on a quiet night in a residential area.’

‘But what were they shouting? Or singing? Can you give me some examples?’

‘I-I can’t really remember. I just remember how loud it seemed on a quiet night.’

‘Just one thing would suffice. Maybe a name they were shouting, a phrase that stuck in your mind? A sentiment, maybe?’

She caught herself looking at Howard and McLean, then at the Sarge in the public seats.

‘I can’t remember,’ she said pathetically. She wanted to pull her coat over her head and disappear.

‘Obviously it was such a traumatic experience that your subconscious has blanked it out rather than relive the nightmare,’ the lawyer said scornfully. ‘An effect that presumably did not extend to all of your sensory recollections. Indeed your visual acuity seems to have been positively enhanced by your state of terror. You explained how you were cowering in fear in the front cab, keeping yourself out of sight of these noisy and potentially violent young men. This being so, could you explain how you managed to witness their titanic struggle to remain outside the van?’