established a lobby group, Decency, to try to undo some of the damage he had inflicted on the world. When he heard Eva Donaldson had become a member of the church, he immediately recruited her to the cause. For the remaining year of her life she became the public face of the campaign: her scarred beauty a symbol of the ugliness of pornography; her first-hand testimony of being abused for profit a stain on the conscience of every man who heard her.
The world's media and politicians were stunned by the level of public enthusiasm for Decency's cause. Liberals poured scorn on what they dismissed as an old-fashioned moral backlash, but facing down her critics in what would become her most famous network television interview, Eva Donaldson said, 'Do you think it's right that images of me having sex with men and women I barely knew, committing acts I sometimes had to drug myself to perform, are available to your child at the click of a mouse?' She left her opponents floundering.
Jenny reminded her visitor of the time. His fifteen minutes were up.
'I'm giving you the history, Mrs Cooper,' Father Starr said, 'to emphasize how many people there were with a motive to silence her.'
'But hasn't she been made a martyr? I've read there's a good chance the Decency Bill they've been agitating for might actually become law.'
The priest leaned forward in his chair. 'Look at the circumstances of her murder. There were no signs of forced entry, indicating she opened her door to a caller. She was stabbed once, in the kitchen, with a weapon which has never been recovered. There was no evidence of sexual violation. At the time of her death Mr Craven was residing in a bedsit in Redland, over seven miles from her home. Read the transcript of his police interview - he couldn't state her address or even describe the route he would have taken to it.'
'I've not read the whole file,' Jenny said, 'but I do recall that Craven gave himself up at a police station, confessed freely, and that his DNA was found in the grounds of Miss Donaldson's house.'
'The DNA is unreliable. They say he urinated on the doorstep. I have spoken to experts who say there are very few cells excreted in urine.'
'Then it sounds as if you've grounds for appeal. An uncorroborated confession by a man in a fragile state of mind isn't usually sufficient for a conviction.'
'The psychiatrists say there's nothing wrong with him. I know otherwise, but what notice would the courts take of a priest?'
'Surely Craven's had good lawyers representing him. What do they think?'
'He told them he was guilty. Now he insists he isn't, they are professionally embarrassed and he has to instruct new ones. But without some evidence, some lead, he won't get legal aid. I understand that leaves him at the mercy of the Criminal Appeal Cases Review Commission. Who knows when they might get to his case - months, years?'
'Look,' Jenny said, 'where there's been a conviction a coroner is entitled to investigate the circumstances of the death, but the law states that I mustn't return a verdict which undermines a finding of the criminal court, and that includes a guilty plea.'
'I've informed myself on the point,' Father Starr said. 'But as I understand it, you would be acting perfectly lawfully in investigating the circumstances of Miss Donaldson's death. And if you were to discover evidence exonerating Mr Craven, it would be grounds for an appeal.'
Jenny smiled. 'I can't fault your optimism, Father. But is that all you've got? Tell me what makes you so sure Craven didn't kill her.'
The priest studied her, carefully weighing his words. 'When he was a vulnerable and disturbed teenager Paul Craven killed a young woman. I have now known him for five years. I know him more intimately than any other human being: I am his confessor. I have seen him turn to God and I have seen God change and redeem him. I ask you to believe me when I say I can divine whether he's lying about such a profound matter as whether he committed murder.'
'Then why did he confess?'
'I think it's best that you ask him that. It's not possible to judge a man until you have met, don't you think?'
'I can certainly send my officer to take a statement—'
'Please,' Father Starr interjected, gesturing with his hands, 'I ask this one thing of you, that you interview him in person. Then, I guarantee, you