He told her how sorry he was, his voice no more than a whisper.
Sorry for all that she had endured. Sorry for not solving the investigation sooner. Sorry for arriving barely minutes too late.
Sorry.
Forty-Six
At various times ahead of the interview, different members of the team watched Abbi’s killer on a small monitor, his every movement and utterance in the room recorded. A seasonal farm and building labourer by the name of Alex Youngs, he twitched and bit his fingernails while sitting, but preferred to pace the floor, both hands wrapped over the thinning crown of his head. He babbled to himself, a torrent of words strung together into incomprehensible sentences.
A doctor had seen Youngs and adjudged him healthy enough for interview, declaring the obvious high a natural one. The man was left to stew, allowing time for his adrenaline buzz to wear off. Later he spent forty minutes in animated conversation with the duty solicitor before the interview began with the usual introductions and preparation of the recording devices. Detective Constables Hunt and Ansari had used the intervening time to agree upon their mode of attack.
Following the PEACE model of best practice, the planning and preparation stage allowed them to review and assess the available evidence connected to the offence for which he would eventually be charged. This proved to be the first sticking point. Ansari was of the opinion that a statement from Des Knowles in which he implicated Youngs would be something worth delaying the first interview for. Hunt disagreed, believing their man would fold if they got to him quickly. Ansari caved only after it was suggested that their initial twenty-four hours with Youngs might be over before Knowles was discharged from his hospital bed. While additional time in this case was certain to be granted if they applied for it, they went ahead with the aim of feeding off their own momentum.
After identifying everyone in the room for the digital recording, DC Hunt formally revealed the reasons for detaining Youngs for questioning. The engagement and explanation aspect of the PEACE framework completed, Hunt swiftly moved them on to stage three. This essentially amounted to Hunt and Ansari seeking an understanding of events as related by Youngs, during which they would either ask for clarification or challenge him if they knew any part of his account to be false.
For any detective carrying out a suspect interview in a major crime, this was the moment of genuine tension. Either the man from whom they hoped to elicit answers sat back in his uncomfortable chair and reeled off a composed ‘no comment’ to every question, or he’d start jabbering and barely be able to contain himself. As Hunt had expected, Alex Youngs was a naïve braggart who couldn’t wait to unload.
Des Knowles, he informed them, took advantage of dark web chat rooms to advertise unfettered use of his pets. Abbi Turner had not been Alex’s first, he confessed, but he assured everyone in the interview room that when he’d left the previous pet she was alive, though not necessarily well. In answer to Ansari’s follow-up question, Youngs said he had no idea what had become of the other girl – only that the next time he communicated with Knowles, the man revealed he had a new pet begging for attention. When shown a photograph of Majidah Rassooli, he smiled and nodded. When prompted to speak up for the benefit of the recording, he nodded again and answered in the affirmative.
‘She was a great fuck,’ he added. ‘Nice, slim neck.’
In response to being asked if he had killed the young woman in the brick shed earlier that day, Youngs became a little coy. He admitted to having carried out his particular fetish – strangling the girl while having sex with her (a sexual act which, he assured them, would become commonplace and accepted in society at some point in the near future). However, he went on to insist that during the act, his conscious awareness had ranged from hearing her begging him to continue, to his eventual release, but with no realisation of her death occurring in between.
At this point, Ansari sought clarification. He had raped the girl, she pointed out. During that rape he had strangled her with his bare hands. When he was finished brutalising her, the young woman was dead. Youngs did not even glance at his solicitor. He told them in a clear, unfaltering manner that what he had described was his own true recollection of events. He had not intended the pet any enduring harm, had certainly not set out to murder it. Events had simply conspired against them both.
‘And in this case when you say “pet” you mean “woman”,’ Hunt said. ‘When you say “it” you mean “her”.’
Youngs frowned as if he didn’t quite understand. ‘No,’ he said eventually. ‘Those are your terms. Not mine. Don’t put words in my mouth. To me, when they’re locked away or chained up, they’re pets. As simple as that.’
‘But to be clear, we’re talking about a young woman by the name of Abbi Turner. I’m not discounting your preferences, Mr Youngs. I understand that you view these girls as animals and regard them as pets, but before we can move on, we have to establish that we’re talking about the same thing. What you thought of as a pet, the rest of us acknowledge as a human being. Yes?’
The nod was grudging at best. ‘Yes.’
Closure and evaluation – the completion of the PEACE principles – followed soon afterwards. When Hunt called a halt and informed those present that it was time for a break,
