Page 60 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
The Quarr Abbey Files
Amanda Bailey and Oliver Menzies at Quarr Abbey Religious Community (it’s pronounced ‘core’) on the Isle of Wight, and later with interviewee Jonah, 9 July 2021. Transcribed by Ellie Cooper.
AB:Hi, Ellie. You’ll see this interview is in a series of files. Now usually Ilovethat you cut out the chit-chat and small talk. But this time I need a record of the entire day. Please transcribe these files in chronological order and in their entirety. You will be fully reimbursed. Thank you. [You got it. I’ll call these The Quarr Abbey Files. EC] And Oliver’s surname is pronounced Mingis but spelled Menzies.
File 1
OM:Guess how much this ferry costs.
AB:Two, three million.
OM:I mean the trip. The fare across the Solent. Forty-minute journey. Guess how much. Return.
AB:Fifty.
OM:Nowhere near.
AB:Seventy-five.
OM:Try again.
AB:A hundred.
OM:Still in 2001, Mand, no … [dramatic pause. EC] a hundred and fifty.
AB:Seriously?
OM:The most expensive stretch of water in the world. No wonder they built their reclusive monastery on the other side of it.
AB:Sweet?
OM:Hmmm. Mint?
AB:Yep. [A pause here while you both eat sweets. Yuck. You asked for everything to be transcribed, remember. EC]
OM:Good idea we do this together. I’m not as … whatever, as you are. Digging people up. Winkling them out of their shells. I’m more, wham bam.
AB:My style is more charm and disarm. [Love it. EC]
OM:Hmmm.
AB:It wasn’tusI was thinking of when I suggested we do this together. Some of these interviewees are still vulnerable. We have a duty to protect them as best we can. We’re writing about a case that pivots on safeguarding failures, we should at leasttryto observe some protective measures in our own process. Speaking to each of us in turn doubles the number of times a victim has to relive what happened to them. If they only have to endureoneinterview – with both of us – it minimises the number of times that trauma resurfaces.
OM:Yeah, saves time. And we both get to hear their first response. You know how it is when a bod has spoken about something multiple times. They reel it off, don’t say anything original, which is bad for us. Worse still for us, they don’t let things slip. They’re on their guard.
AB:Is that what happened with the squaddie?
OM:He was just a psychopath.Isa psychopath. Every morning, quarter to five, phone rings. Stories he told me of the sickest things you’ve ever imagined run through my head.
AB:Spoken to Don? He may be able to get this guy some help. Special forces must organise counselling or something.
OM:Mentioned it. But how long does that take?
AB:So, turn it round. Get up when he calls. Go for a run. Do some work. Turn a negative into a positive. [Some background noise here. An announcement. Return to your cars. EC]
OM:Feel like I’m about to meet a celebrity. Jonah, the Alperton Angel.
AB:Only, that’s not his name, it’s what the angel cult called him. If we use it, we may trigger anxiety or panic. But at least it will get his attention. Must stop thinking of him as seventeen. He’s thirty-four.
