last Building Inspector’s report he’s doing the work himself.
We’re bringing him in again. I’ve also applied for warrants for the cottage and the Oxford house, and for the car. And I reckon we’re going to get them.
GQ
* * *
Interview with Graeme Scott, conducted at St Aldate’s Police Station, Oxford
7 April 2018, 2.50 p.m.
In attendance, DS C. Gislingham, DC G. Quinn, Mrs D. Owen (solicitor)
CG: For the benefit of the tape, Mr Scott was arrested at 1.15 this afternoon on suspicion of involvement in the abduction and murder of Sasha Alice Blake. A full forensic search is underway at Mr Scott’s home in Oxford and on his car, and Dyfed-Powys Police are carrying out a similar search at his property in Wales. Mr Scott is accompanied for this interview by his solicitor, Mrs Deborah Owen.
GS: I’ve already told you, I had absolutely nothing to do with any of this. I was at home Wednesday night, and I’ve never touched Sasha Blake. And as for that Faith Appleton girl, or whatever her name is, I told you before I’ve never even heard of her –
CG: [pushes across a photograph]
She lives less than a mile from you and uses the bus stop on Cherwell Drive. You’ve almost certainly seen her in the vicinity, even if you don’t know her name.
GS: [pushing the photo away]
I told you already – I’ve never seen her before in my life.
CG: The cottage in Wales – you’re renovating it, I believe.
GS: [warily]
Yes, so what?
CG: You’re doing the work yourself?
GS: It’s the only way I can afford it.
CG: Including specialist jobs like electrics and plasterwork?
GS: Yes, with the odd helping hand every now and again. But I still don’t see –
CG: When we did a forensic analysis of Faith Appleford’s clothes, we found minute traces of plaster dust. I suspect we will find exactly the same compound in the back of your car.
GS: I’m sure you will. But all that will prove is that I’ve done some sodding plastering. What you will not bloody well find is any DNA from that Faith girl, or from Sasha Blake for that matter. Not unless you plant it your bloody selves. Because they were never there –
CG: Faith told us there was some sort of loose covering on the floor of the vehicle. We’re assuming that her attacker laid down either plastic sheeting or a tarpaulin, to prevent the transfer of physical evidence. So even if we don’t find the girls’ DNA, it doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
DO: That’s not evidence, Sergeant.
CG: No. But this is.
[shows witness an evidence bag]
Do you recognize this, Mr Scott?
GS: [silence]
CG: Mr Scott?
GS: [silence]
CG: For the tape, the item is a girl’s hair elastic. It’s pink, with a small flower and a bit of diamanté in the middle. This struck us as a very odd thing for you to have, Mr Scott.
GS: [silence]
CG: Do you have a daughter? A niece?
GS: You know damn well I don’t.
CG: So how do you account for it?
DO: Where was this found, Sergeant?
GQ: In Mr Scott’s locker at Summertown High. The head gave us permission to search it.
GS: Look, I found it, OK?
DO: Has this item been conclusively identified as belonging to either of the two girls?
GQ: We’re awaiting DNA results, but Sasha’s mother says her daughter definitely had one just like this, which she can’t now find. So it’s looking pretty likely, if you ask me.
GS: Like I said, I found it. It was at school, after a class. That’s why it was in the locker.
CG: Did you know it was Sasha’s?
GS: [flustered]
I don’t know. I might have done.
CG: So why not give it back to her? Or at the very least hand it to Lost Property?
GS: I don’t know. Look, I must have just stuffed it in my pocket. I forgot all about the bloody thing.
GQ: Er, I don’t think so, mate.
GS: I’m not your ‘mate’ –
GQ: You took it out of your pocket and put it in your locker, where you’d see it half a dozen times a day. That doesn’t sound like ‘forgetting all about it’ to me.
DO: Either way, it doesn’t prove my client was involved in any way with Sasha Blake’s tragic death. The fact that he was in possession of the hair tie – assuming it is indeed ascertained to be hers – would be significant if and only if she was wearing it when she went missing. Do you have any evidence of that?
CG: [pause]
No, we don’t.
DO: But you must have a description of