No one ever asked me why I danced. Everyone was supportive and wanted me to be the best I could be. That’s my school motto. But no one asked me what it was for. They just thought it was what I wanted to do – even Mummy. But if they’d have asked, I would have told them.
It was because it was the only time that I saw my mum and dad together. They always came to watch me dance and sat together and cheered. It was the only time that I saw them like that any more.
And there was the crying. Mummy didn’t know I knew … But I could hear it through the walls. We have a small flat and there’s a small partition between us and sometimes I could hear her crying at night. I never asked what it was, just like she never asked me about dancing. But I knew it was something bad and that it had always been there, even when I was small.
The only time it went away was when I danced.
Jemima Lee
Phoenix Academy of Performing Arts
Surrey Police interview transcript
24 February 2016