Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante Read Free Book Online Page B

halfway through a life sentence for rape and manages to just walk out of his hostel to kill another woman without anyone knowing what was going on! The probation services just bleated on about lack of funds and serious staff shortages, especially here in London; well, that doesn’t help us, that doesn’t help us one fucking iota,because that son of a bitch is out there and we know he’s going to do it again!’
    Anna let Sheldon wind down, not that she disagreed with a word he was saying; the entire system was a farce. It was obvious there were serious deficiencies in the way Murphy had been managed.
    ‘I was just wondering, sir, if we have any details on Murphy’s parents, or any relatives? We know he left the hostel in a hurry, and with money left behind, so he has to be on the run somewhere. Maybe someone is hiding or protecting him.’
    ‘What kind of person hides this animal? And don’t give me mother love; if she is hiding him, then she’s as bad as he is.’
    ‘So do we have anything on his parents?’
    ‘Some bitch spawned him, yeah.’ He checked through a file. ‘Father dead eight years ago. Mother is named as Beryl Dunn–God only knows where she is. Brother also dead, but younger sister, Gail Dunn, living at an undisclosed address. We can check her out, but I want you to get onto his probation department and get them to give us as many details as they can.’
    Murphy’s probation officer, one of a team allocated to him and numerous others, was surprisingly young. She was slim and neat with large rimless glasses, and very much on the defensive.
    ‘You know we have two hundred thousand offenders under supervision at any one time.’
    ‘But not in the specific area.’ Anna tried not to sound angry.
    ‘No, of course not, but we do have over a hundred. What I was going to say was that, out of that two hundred thousand, we know that only about a hundredwill commit a further serious offence. That is a fraction of one per cent.’
    Anna gritted her teeth. ‘I am here about one specific offender, Arthur George Murphy.’
    ‘Yes, yes, I know that, but I am trying to explain to you: we get so much pressure–blame, in reality–when we do not have the resources to monitor offenders, even those that we have been told are high or very high risk.’
    Anna took a deep breath. ‘That is irrelevant. The fact is Arthur Murphy was able to walk out of his hostel and kill a poor defenceless woman. I am not here to listen to the problems within the probation services; it sounds very sobering and appalling and for you, obviously, deeply distressing. I need from you any possible friend, relative, any previous known contact of his that he might have been able to get to, anyone who could be protecting him.’
    ‘I am not allowed to divulge personal details.’
    That was it. Anna jumped up and banged on the woman’s desk with the flat of her hand. ‘Irene Phelps was raped and sodomized, her throat cut, her body slashed, and she was found by her twelve-year-old daughter. Now, that child will live for the rest of her life with that nightmarish image of her mother. We need to bring this man in and charge him; we need to put him away and this time, for life, so if you have anything, and I mean anything , that might help us trace him, then would you please assist me to the best of your ability and not make excuses for the total failure of your department!’
     
    Anna slammed the door of her Mini so hard the car rocked. She could not believe the amount of time it had taken to get three possible contacts that their killer mightor might not have approached. His sister, Gail Dunn, had requested anonymity after her brother’s last rape and prison sentence: she had moved away from London in the hope of losing all contact with him. The other two names were recently released prisoners who had spent time with Murphy. Both these men were installed in different hostels in London, one tagged, so they should not be too difficult to