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JIM
Addendum to DI James Clemo’s report for Dr Francesca Manelli.
Transcript recorded by Dr Francesca Manelli.
DI James Clemo and Dr Francesca Manelli in attendance.
Notes to indicate observations on DI Clemo’s state of mind or behaviour, where his remarks alone do
not convey this, are in italics.
FM: So the letter?
JC: We threw everything into it. Obviously.
FM: Was that your call?
JC: It was Fraser’s, actually it was both of ours, and it was the right one.
FM: Was the investigation team excited?
JC: You’re always excited when you’ve got a lead, but you have to be cautious too. You don’t want
mistakes. But it was a development and that was good because by then it had been five days and that
was getting to people. They were tired; the media were going insane around us. We had the blog to
worry about.
FM: What was happening with that?
JC: Behind the scenes Fraser was putting everything she could into finding out who might be behind
it. Amongst others we were looking at Laura Saville and Nicola Forbes as possibles for the leak. We
knew that both of them were involved in online journalism in some way already, and they were
obviously close to the heart of things. She had to be discreet internally though, partly because we
didn’t want to put the wind up anybody if they were up to something, and also because everybody
working the investigation was feeling the pressure, and that kind of thing is very bad for morale,
putting it mildly.
FM: Including you? Were you feeling the pressure?
JC: Of course. There was a kid’s life at stake.
FM: And did you have any strategies to cope with that?
He speaks to me as though I am an imbecile.
JC: A little boy, eight years old, was still missing after five days. We didn’t have time for ‘coping
strategies’.
FM: OK. I understand that it must have been a stressful period for everyone involved in the
investigation. My question is—
He interrupts me; his temper has risen.
JC: Don’t patronise me.