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‘It took Gav a long time to adjust to moving to Manchester. He’d left all his mates behind in Cowley, and I think he resented that a bit. He didn’t get along that well with his dad either, so I think he was quite lonely. I was definitely his first serious girlfriend, that I do know. He really wasn’t that confident back then – it took him so long to ask me out I was beginning to think he wasn’t interested.’

[JOCELYN]

But once their relationship started, things moved very fast. Within three months Sandra was pregnant, and by the end of that year they were the parents of a baby girl, Dawn.

[DAWN MACLEAN]

‘What’s my first memory of Dad? Probably him teaching me to ride my bike when I was about 6.’

[JOCELYN]

That’s Dawn. She’s a qualified beautician now, married and living in Stirling with two children of her own.

[DAWN]

‘I got the bike for my birthday, and I remember it absolutely poured down all day – you know what Manchester’s like – but he spent hours outside with me in the rain while I wobbled up and down. He wasn’t always that patient though. I remember he hated anything to do with paperwork or filling in forms – Mum always had to deal with Social Services or the council or our schools. I guess he was always a bit wary of people like that. People in authority. He said they were all out to get you. And let’s face it, he wasn’t wrong, was he?’

[JOCELYN]

Sandra and Gavin had two further children in the next ten years. Sandra had a job as a hairdresser but Gavin was still stuck with casual labouring jobs, so money was tight, and they couldn’t get by without benefits. After a while, the strain began to tell.

[DAWN]

‘By the time I was about 11 I knew my dad was struggling. I mean, I wouldn’t have used that word, but I knew he wasn’t happy. He seemed to be angry all the time, and I think he was drinking, and that just made him even more angry. And sad. I remember finding him in tears one day, upstairs in their bedroom. It was the first time I’d ever seen a man cry and it really scared me. It was after that that everything started to go wrong.’

[JOCELYN]

It was 1997. On May 2nd that year, a 16-year-old girl was attacked in Lockhart Avenue, Manchester. She was dragged into the undergrowth, sexually assaulted and left there, on the side of the road.

Three nights later, Sandra got a phone call.

It was Gavin. He was at Greater Manchester Police HQ, and he’d been arrested.

For rape.

[UNDER BED OF ‘I FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON’ – THE CLASH]

I’m Jocelyn Naismith and this is Righting the Wrongs. You can listen to this and other podcasts from The Whole Truth on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[FADE OUT]

* * *

Adam Fawley

7 July 2018

15.49

‘So if you can come with us now, we’ll do the Video-Recorded Interview, and take the samples the CPS will need if the case goes to court.’