‘Officer Barnes, perhaps you would like to talk me through these latest developments?’
‘Yes, sir. Essentially, we believe we have identified the Downs body. Following confirmation from forensics regarding the likely age and origins of the victim’s tattoo, we’ve been coordinating with Europol. More particularly with the Czech police. We requested that an investigation be carried out on their missing-persons records, particularly those concerning minors that disappeared during the last seven years. We presumed that this would more than cover the likely period of incarceration suggested by the three successive pregnancies. Available DNAs were compared with those of the victim, but nothing was discovered. However, the Czech police elected to investigate earlier cases and came up with a partial match with a sibling of Galina Novák, abducted at the age of seven and recorded as having a small heart-shaped tattoo on her left shoulder.’
Director Short shook his head. ‘Seven years old? But this means that the child would have been confined for, what, ten years or more?’
‘Just over eleven years from time of abduction to her death. Apparently, the family have never stopped trying to trace her. Although both parents are now deceased, the search has been taken up by three older siblings. Arrangements are being made for two of the sisters to see the body. This might well be closure for them, although not the kind of closure they’ll be happy with. It’s worth mentioning that the successful match has led to further joint investigations of instances of the abduction of young girls over the last twenty years. And there seems to be another possible: early indications that a young woman washed up in Plymouth last year is a match with a nine-year-old child that went missing in Romania thirteen years ago.’
‘Thirteen years? Barnes, this seems to be an extraordinarily long period of time for these practices to have stayed beneath our radar.’
‘Indeed, sir, and that would, in turn, suggest a very sophisticated level of organisation. And, from what we can gather, a significant amount of professional assistance.’
‘Are you saying you suspect…’
‘Sir, the investigation is ongoing.’