smile. ‘You two go and talk shop. I’m not completely incapable. Not yet, anyway.’
When we get to the kitchen Osbourne flicks on the kettle and turns to face me.
‘How long’s it been?’
‘Since the diagnosis? We knew about that before I retired. It’s why I went six months early.’
I did wonder; we all did. Everyone noticed a change in him, towards the end – a weariness, a sense that he really didn’t care much any more. But we just thought it was the job. That it had finally ground him down.
‘We weren’t doing badly until she started needing the chair. That was last autumn. Since then, it’s not been so easy.’
I remember the state of the garden, and I try not to make it obvious that I can now see the kitchen could do with a proper clean and there’s an over-full bin reeking by the back door.
‘I’m sorry – if I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered you.’
He shakes his head. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Life may be tougher but it still goes on. And Viv’s the last person who’d want treating like an invalid. You should know that.’
He turns and reaches into a cupboard for teabags.
‘So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?’
And here we are. No-way-back time.
‘Gavin Parrie.’
He pours the boiling water, stirs both mugs, puts the kettle back down and then, and only then, turns to face me.
* * *
Daily Mail
21st December 1999
‘ROADSIDE RAPIST’ GETS LIFE
Judge calls Gavin Parrie ‘evil, unrepentant and depraved’
By John Smithson
The predator dubbed the ‘Roadside Rapist’ was given a life sentence yesterday, after a nine-week trial at the Old Bailey. Judge Peter Healey condemned Parrie as ‘evil, unrepentant and depraved’ and recommended he serve a minimum of 15 years. There was uproar in the court after the sentence was announced, with abuse directed at both judge and jury from members of Parrie’s family in the public gallery.
Parrie has always insisted that he is innocent of the rape and attempted rape of seven young women in the Oxford area between January and December 1998. One of his victims, 19-year-old Emma Goddard, committed suicide some months after her ordeal. Parrie contends he was framed by Thames Valley Police and, as he was led away, he was heard issuing death threats against the officer who had been instrumental in his apprehension, saying he would ‘get him’ and he and his family would ‘spend the rest of their lives watching their backs’. The officer in question, Detective Sergeant Adam Fawley, has received a commendation from the Chief Constable for his work on the case.
Speaking after the verdict, Chief Superintendent Michael Oswald of Thames Valley Police said he was confident that the right man had been convicted and confirmed that no other credible suspect had ever been identified in the course of what became a county-wide investigation. ‘I am proud of the work done by my team. They went to enormous lengths to find the perpetrator of these appalling crimes and bring him to justice, and it is absolutely unacceptable that they should be subject to either threats or intimidation. Police officers put their lives on the line on a regular basis to protect the public, and you may rest assured that we take all necessary steps to ensure the continued safety of our officers and their families.’
Emma Goddard’s mother, Jennifer, spoke to reporters outside the court after the verdict, saying that nothing was ever going to bring her daughter back, but she hoped she could now rest in peace, knowing the man who destroyed her life was going to pay the price for what he had done.
* * *
‘Alan Challow found it. It was on the girl’s shoes.’
Osbourne smiles. ‘How is the recalcitrant old bugger?’
‘OK. Bit heavier, bit balder, but otherwise much the same.’
He laughs briefly at the memory. But only briefly. ‘And those test results – there’s no doubt?’
I shake my head.
He digs the teabags out and hands one of the mugs to me. There are bits floating on the surface, as if the milk is on the turn.
‘But that’s not such a huge deal, is it?’ he says.
I feel my jaw tightening. ‘It could be. You know the plaster dust thing was always controversial. We never found any of it in that van of his. Or the lock-up.’
‘But the brother was a builder, wasn’t he? Parrie could easily have borrowed his van if his own was off the road.’
Which is precisely what we told the court, and what the jury must have decided to