Statement made by Darren Parker at Mildenheath Police Station, witnessed by DCI Jack Culverhouse and DS Wendy Knight.
Ever since I first met Miriam, I had been attracted to Danielle. She was only thirteen when I first met her, I admit. There was a spark. An inexplicable attraction. What does age matter, anyway? I'm not a paedophile. Danielle was sixteen before we had sexual contact of any kind. After the first time, it became regular. Very regular. We had always tried so hard to keep it a secret. I used to come home from work early or we'd meet in secret locations. It was far from ideal, but it's all we had. Through it all, I loved Miriam. You must believe that.
It was only recently that Miriam found out what had been going on. That Friday lunchtime, I was home already. I was in the garden when Danielle came home. We were so stupid. It was just one of those things. We were having sex in the living room and Miriam came home early. We heard the door unlock and both scrambled to get dressed and look innocent like a bad scene from a film. It was too late, though. She had worked out what was going on. That's when all hell broke loose.
There was a scuffle and Miriam ended up tripping over. I can still hear the crack her skull made as it hit the marble mantelpiece. There was no blood; that's the funniest thing. It was as if someone had just flipped the switch. I don't know why, but my first instinct was to make sure she was dead. We dragged her out into the garage and I laid her body on some polythene sheeting and slit her throat with a razor blade. It was as if I hadn't done anything. The blood barely trickled. Even so, I needed to... I needed to make sure she was dead. So I brought the sledgehammer down on her head. You’ll find it at the bottom of Sharplow Lake. We didn't know what to do, but I knew we had to get rid of the body.
It was Danielle's idea for her to take on Miriam's identity. They both looked incredibly alike, but Miriam's hair was shorter. Once she wore her make-up and clothes, you could barely tell the difference. We even managed to fool our new neighbours, although they'd only met her a handful of times. It was easy enough to pass it off with a new haircut. We didn't think the body would be found, but we left Danielle's belongings nearby just in case.
It was when the family said they'd come down for the funeral that we started to panic. That's when we decided we would go abroad. We planned to start a new life together.
I had known for a few weeks about Miriam and Bob Arthurs. If the truth be told, the bug had bitten. Death is addictive. It was me who killed Bob Arthurs and poured the acid on his body. I used a baseball bat on him first, then took him to the unit and got him to open it up and give me the alarm code. When we were inside, I hit him again. He was still alive when I began to pour the acid. It was only then that I had the idea of doing the same to Miriam's body, just in case it could still be identified. We dissolved the limbs and head first. They took an absolute age. It was like watching her dying all over again.
When the officers came round and asked for Danielle’s hairbrush and an item of clothing, I gave them Miriam’s. That’s why the DNA matched the body. When the body was identified as Danielle's, we thought we were home and dry. I covered my tracks by making it seems as though Gary McCann was responsible for both murders. I wanted that bastard to hang for what he did to Danielle. Everyone knows he killed his wife. A criminal is a criminal, and he deserved to go down for murder, not me.
It was me who planted Danielle's hairs in Gary McCann's house and car. I had been fitting a carpet in his dining room and living room and had the perfect opportunity. I couldn't believe it when he called me and asked me to do the job. He just got my number out of the paper. I guess he didn't know who I was. I never told him my surname. I knew who he was, though. Stupid bastard even left his car keys hanging by the front door. It was easy. Too easy.