The next morning was crazy as we packed bags in preparation for our mystery tour to the safe house in the country.
Max and I agreed that Alfie should stay with him while we were away; he often stayed with his dad and we felt it would be too confusing to upset his routine by taking him off to the country. He had been bewildered enough by all the cars in our street and the strangers that had been coming round, and we wanted everything to be as normal as possible for him.
It was the worst packing I have ever done and I ended up leaving loads of things we needed for Lilly at home. What we packed was really quite random. I didn’t have a clue where we were going, or what we would need, and I seemed to have packed loads of one thing and not enough of another. As you may have gathered, my mind wasn’t really on what I was doing!
Jim called to explain how the police planned to make sure we weren’t followed to the safe house. He would pick me up and drive me to Eastbourne police station, where we would then swap cars and go on to pick up Gemma from Gatwick airport before heading for the safe house. Paul was going to come along later with Lilly, while Chloe would follow on with Lee and Maddie the following day.
Jim came to pick me up and at Eastbourne police station we duly swapped cars. I had to duck down in my seat in case any of the reporters there spotted us. It was so surreal. It was only when we got a few miles away from the station that we felt sure we weren’t being followed to the airport.
Meanwhile, Paul was at home with Lilly when all of a sudden he heard car doors slamming out in the road and looked out to see a mass exodus of press speeding off in their cars. They had obviously been tipped off that Gemma was going to be on the flight from Bordeaux that was arriving at Gatwick at 3pm.
I don’t know which route Jim and I took to get to Gatwick, but eventually we pulled up at a small building set apart from the main airport terminal. The building was surrounded by armed police officers, and we were taken inside by two smartly dressed hospitality people. They asked if I needed anything and I nervously asked them if I could have a coffee. The next thing I knew I was being served a coffee in a very nice china cup and saucer. I didn’t realise that we had actually arrived at the Royal Suite and were getting the full VIP treatment!
We were led into an immaculate reception room with leather sofas, televisions on the walls and tables laden with muffins, sweets and drinks. It looked out on to the tarmac at Gatwick and we were told that it is where the royal family and foreign dignitaries fly out from. Next to that room was another airy room with fresh fruit on the table. It was very smart and spotlessly clean. One of the hospitality people told me that it was always kept ready in case a VIP needed to use it, but they were never informed who the VIP was beforehand for security reasons.
While Jim and I waited for Gemma’s flight to arrive, we watched the news on TV and read more of the press coverage of Gemma’s story. The Daily Mail claimed that Gemma had used my passport, which was completely untrue – she had taken her own passport with her. She subsequently threw it away when she and Forrest arrived in Paris, which meant she had to get special clearance to travel back to the UK without one.
After what seemed like the longest wait, the plane landed and Gemma, accompanied by Hannah and Andy Harbour, was brought to us in a minibus.
The next thing I knew, Gemma was standing there in front of me. She dropped her bag and flung her arms around me, and we both cried as we held each other tightly.
She looked tired and drawn; she felt like a bag of bones and smelt unfamiliar. Although she had only been away for a week, I could see on her face that the stress of it all had taken its toll. She had tried to bleach her hair to disguise herself, but it had gone a bit wrong and it was now a strange orange colour. Her clothes had been taken away for DNA testing, so she was wearing clothes that the British consulate had bought for her. They were a bit too big, which only made her look even thinner.
I felt so sorry for her and was so incredibly relieved to have her back.
Switching into mum mode again, I asked her if she had eaten. She told me the first proper meal she had been able to eat was the night before with Hannah and Andy Harbour, who had been looking after her. Hannah had shared a room with her and Andy had kept knocking on the door throughout the night to check she was still there. They were under strict instructions from Mark Ling to make sure she didn’t run away again and Hannah even made sure to sleep by the window in case she decided to try and make an escape. As a result, none of them had slept very well and they all looked completely exhausted.
Meanwhile, the press were waiting in the arrivals hall at the airport, ready to capture our tearful reunion for tomorrow morning’s newspapers. What they didn’t know, of course, was that we were at a different part of the airport, from where we could quickly get away unnoticed.
Once we were in the car and on our way to the safe house, I decided that it would be a good time to let Gemma know that her story had been in the press ‘quite a bit’ – I didn’t want her to get a shock when she saw the headlines. I asked her if she had seen anything about their story in France, but she said she hadn’t been paying attention to French newspapers or TV. She said Forrest had spotted a small news bulletin about them having gone missing when they had visited an internet café, but nothing more.
At that very moment, a news report came on the radio saying that Gemma would be returning to England that afternoon. I remember the expression on her face as the penny dropped and she realised that the story was much bigger than she thought.
After a 45-minute drive, we pulled up at a lovely cottage tucked away from the main road in Tenterden in Kent. It had a small garden that backed on to rolling fields and inside was everything we needed. It felt safe and a million miles away from prying eyes.
As Jim and Hannah left, Paul arrived with Lilly and the hugs and tearful reunions began again. Gemma was so happy to see her baby sister. ‘Now, finally, I can begin to relax,’ I thought, ‘my family is coming back together.’
It was like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I knew there would be a lot of tears and heartache to come, but all that mattered was that Gemma was safe.
Gemma wanted to sleep in the same bedroom as me and so that night we pulled the two twin beds together and cuddled up. She proceeded to pour out her heart to me about what had happened in France. I didn’t ask her to elaborate or start interrogating her, I just allowed her to talk and talk and talk until the early hours of the morning, and she fell asleep in my arms.
I have never told anyone what Gemma said to me that night, and I swore to her then that I never will. A lot of the facts came out in the subsequent court case, but much of that night’s conversation was about her innermost thoughts and feelings. It is a moment that I will always treasure.
The following morning, Lee and Maddie arrived with Chloe. I was worried that the kids would tell Gemma too much about what had been going on while she was away, or bombard her with questions, but they were really respectful and caring about how she would be feeling. They were so happy to have their sister back and just started up the usual sibling banter, taking the mickey about her hair colour and talking about general teenage stuff. We missed Alfie not being with us, but it made me so happy to see them all bickering again like normal brothers and sisters.