IN giving evidence later, Andy Maxton swore it was the hoot of an owl that woke him. For some moments he lay motionless, his body relaxed, his mind on that vague borderland between sleeping and waking, conscious of nothing save the liquid whisper of water hissing softly in his ears. ...

On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 7th, Wendy Burge takes the bus from the country town of Deaning to the village of Goose Common, where until recently she lived with her husband Peter, to make her usual collection for the County Hospital. From this journey she never returns. Her ...