Jenny's left which served as a witness box. The eighty-six-year-old was frail and stooped but walked determinedly and unaided. Wearing a smart navy suit, her hair set for the occasion, she was determined to make the most of her moment in the spotlight. She read the oath clearly and solemnly. No one doubted she intended to tell the truth.
'Mrs Murray,' Jenny said, 'do you have any reason to remember the night of 28 June 2002?'
'I do,' she said adamantly. 'There was a large black car parked outside my house all evening, with two men in the front seats. The longer they were there the more suspicious ! became. At about ten-thirty p.m. I decided to call the police. I'd just picked up the telephone when I heard the engine start up. I went to the window and saw they'd moved off.'
'What sort of car was is it, do you remember?'
'A people carrier, I think you call it.'
'And did you call the police?'
'No, I didn't think it was worth bothering them.'
'But you had a visit later in the year?' Jenny prompted.
'That's right. A man knocked on my door in the December as I recall. He said he was representing the family of a young man who'd last been seen leaving a property further along my road that night. He was going from house to house trying to find witnesses. I told him about the car.'
'You remembered the precise date you saw it, even after six months had elapsed?'
'Yes. It was the last Friday in June. It must have been something about the two men - it just seemed to stick.'
'What about them?'
'They looked threatening somehow. I could see the one in the driver's seat quite clearly. He was stocky with a shaved head.'
'What about the passenger?'
'I didn't get a good look at him. I think he might have had longer hair.'
Jenny noticed Alun Rhys making a note - this seemed to be news to him.
Jenny said, 'Did you see in which direction the car went when it moved off?'
'The way it was facing - to the right.'
Jenny indicated to Alison, who distributed copies of a large- scale map to the jurors and lawyers. It showed Marlowes Road, the street where both Mrs Murray and Anwar Ali had lived at the time. Mrs Murray confirmed that she lived at number 102 on the south side of the street. Anwar Ali's flat, where he hosted the halaqah, was approximately two hundred yards to the west of her house on the north side at number 35. The stop at which Nazim and Jamal would have caught the bus back to campus was thirty yards to the west of her house on the south side. Mrs Murray confirmed that an east- bound bus would have passed the parked car as it left the stop; however, when she was asked if a bus had indeed come past shortly before the car pulled off, she couldn't remember.
'Could you see how many people were in the car as it drove away?' Jenny asked.
'No. I was out of sight of the window at that point,' Mrs Murray said.
'And apart from the private investigator, has anyone else asked you about the events of that night?'
'Never.'
'You've never had a detective knock on your door?'
'No.'
Neither Fraser Havilland or Martha Denton had any questions for the witness. Trevor Collins also declined to cross- examine. Khan, who had grown increasingly excited during her testimony, grilled her for several minutes attempting to extract any identifying detail of the mysterious occupants of the car. Elizabeth Murray did her best, though she said little that Jenny hadn't already gleaned. After fifteen minutes of fruitlessly repeating the same questions, Khan sat down disappointed. He'd had a taste of conspiracy and was hungry for more.
Detective Sergeant Watkins (retired) was the next in the witness box. A grey-haired man who looked older than his fifty-seven years, his beer drinker's stomach sagged over the waistband of his suit trousers. He read the oath card with the tired resignation of a long-serving officer for whom the world could offer few more surprises.
'Mr Watkins, you made a statement on 3 July 2002 following your inspection of the rooms of Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan. Have you read that recently?'
'Yes. Your officer gave me a copy.' Watkins spoke in a thick Bristol accent, and nodded to Alison in recognition.
'Do you recall making those inspections?'
'Vaguely. I'd been on the obbo with DI Pironi, so he asked me to pop over when we'd had word the boys had gone missing.'
Jenny referred to his statement. 'And you found signs of forced entry. Laptops and mobiles were missing from both rooms, but other valuable items such as an MP3 player in Rafi Hassan's room were still there.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'What did that indicate to you?'
Watkins breathed out heavily through closed lips, making a noise like a weary old carthorse. 'Could have been a break- in, I suppose, but the impressions on the door frames were the same on both rooms. It was a bit of a coincidence. Could be they were trying to make it look as if the doors had been forced.'
'On the day you wrote your statement you had no idea what had happened to the two boys - the witness who claims to have seen them on the London train didn't come forward until 20 July.'
'That's right.'
'So what was the police response to your discoveries?'
'I gave my statement to the DI, that was it.'
'Detective Inspector Pironi?'
'Yes.'
'You weren't asked to investigate a potential break-in?'
'No, ma'am.'
'Were you aware that on 8 July another student living in Manor Hall, Miss Dani James, gave a statement saying she'd seen a man in man in a puffy anorak and baseball cap leaving Manor Hall quickly on 28 June at around midnight - the evening the boys went missing?'
'A couple of colleagues and myself had been going round the halls speaking to the students, so I'd heard it mentioned.'
'What steps were taken to find this man?'
Watkins shook his head. 'I couldn't tell you, ma'am. It wasn't much of a description, so I don't suppose very many.'
'Enlighten me, Mr Watkins, was there a sense that this was a major investigation? Were you concerned for the whereabouts of these two young men?'
'As far as I knew there'd been no crime as such. Of course, we knew they'd been keeping bad company if you like - we probably thought it was more likely they'd hopped off somewhere.'
'Did you form that opinion, or was it suggested to you?'
'I think DI Pironi might've said it. We were still on the obbo like, seeing who was coming and going down at the mosque and at Anwar Ali's place.'
'When you say 'bad company', what exactly did you think Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan had been exposed to?'
Watkins shrugged. 'The DI would have been the one reading the intelligence reports. My colleagues and I were just keeping a note of the movements.'
'Did you believe you were observing potential criminals?'
'Yes. Especially at that time. We didn't know what might go off.'
'All the more strange, then, that there wasn't a major manhunt.'
With a half-smile and a glance at Alison, Watkins said, 'I'll leave that one to the DI, I think. I was just one of the foot soldiers.'
Not content, Jenny pressed him. 'What reason were you given for there not being a more concerted effort to find them?'
