Page 103 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
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WhatsApp messages between Oliver Menzies and me, 21 July 2021:
Oliver Menzies
Jo wants me to submit an updated proposal. Nagging feeling it’s a step on the ladder that leads to them pulling it. I submit, they reject. Binned.
Amanda Bailey
Perfect time to pick up our research trip. Let’s find some new angel angles.
Oliver Menzies
Not Alperton again.
Amanda Bailey
We haven’t finished. You keeled over and we had to leave, remember? This time we’ll also go to Wembley and Sudbury. Retrace the angels’ steps in reverse.
Oliver Menzies
Didn’t keel over.
Text messages between former social worker Ruth Charalambos and me, 21 July 2021:
Ruth Charalambos
Heard you’re working on the Alperton Angels case. I worked with ‘Holly’ before she absconded from care to live with the angels.
Amanda Bailey
Thanks for getting in touch, Ruth. Is there anything you’d like to say about the case?
Ruth Charalambos
Yes. Holly was a mature young woman who decided for herself where and with whom she wanted to live.
Amanda Bailey
Children in care can seem mature, when they are MORE vulnerable.
Ruth Charalambos
I know that. Not Holly. She was different. Very different actually. If we failed on any count, and I’m not saying we didn’t, it was simply we weren’t used to working with girls like her. In the end, even if we had forcibly removed her from the angels, she would only have gone back to them.
Amanda Bailey
That’s the hold controlling predators have over their victims.
Ruth Charalambos
Holly wasn’t a victim. Not a normal one.
Amanda Bailey
OK. Ruth. This is all off the record. Can you tell me Holly’s real name?
NB She didn’t reply.
