Page 28 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
AB:Of course, you said.
MD:We got a lot of flack at the time and I don’t want to fan old flames.
AB:No, no. I know it’s sensitive.
MD:What did Neil and Fareed say?
AB:Well, I’d rather hear your side first, as their superior officer. Don’t want to invoke the power of suggestion.
MD:OK then. [He sounds weary. EC] Well, they answered an emergency call to a girl who sounded disturbed and said she had a baby. Neil and Fareed arrived, cancelled the ambulance. Then took their time driving her to hospital. When she arrived, staff there saw she had a baby. The officers hadn’t found it. They were called out to a girl with a baby, the baby was in a plastic carrier bag and they didn’t see it. Luckily the bag had holes and the kid was warmly dressed, so it was fine. But it might not’ve been. What if itneeded resus? Those few minutes could’ve meant life or death.
AB:That’s not quite what they told me. Neil says they were distracted by strange symbols on the floor. Fareed now says he saw only a circle. What was going on?
MD:A very bad attempt to cover up what they were really doing.
AB:Which was?
MD:Smoking, chatting and looking out over the canal. They got to the call-out, didn’t evaluate the crime scene or properly examine the victim, and while they had a few moments to themselves, wandered off for a tab. Smoking in patrol cars had just been banned.
AB:How do you know that’s what they did?
MD:Because the girl told us, and I believe her. [He sighs long and hard. EC] The two officers weren’t our most conscientious. Probably shouldn’t have been rostered together. Off the record, both have been disciplined since, on unconnected cases. If you ask me, they realised they were in the shit for negligence, and made up a story about occult signs to detract. All they saw was blasts of spray paint in a sort-of circle, probably a graffiti vandal testing his can. Fareed couldn’t keep up the deceit, so he eventually climbed down. Neil has stuck to his account for so long now he can’t admit it was all a smokescreen.
AB:And they didn’t see the angels’ bodies?
MD:They were discovered later, in the basement.
AB:Who found them?
MD:I believe we got another 999 call. Or maybe it was something the girl said to hospital staff? Don’t remember now.
AB:Was that the first time you heard of the Alperton Angels? Only, they attended the local church and I wonder if they were well-known faces.
MD:[Pause. Does he shake his head here? EC] A while earlier than that, when I was new on the force and to the area.
AB:OK.
MD:A girl came in and said the archangel Gabriel wanted her to steal a credit card.
AB:That must’ve been entertaining. What did you say?
MD:Told her to get the … away from him and go back to her mumand dad. She’d refused to do what this bloke wanted so no crime had been committed. Nothing came of it.
AB:What was her name?
MD:Holly.
[I cut out your goodbyes. He’s interesting. Holly tried to report Gabriel much earlier and didn’t get anywhere. She must’ve gone back to the cult. EC]
WhatsApp messages between true crime author Minnie Davis and me, 24 June 2021:
Minnie Davis
Hello, gorgeous girl! How goes it?
Amanda Bailey
Middle of interviews. Shaking the tree. Seeing what falls out. You?
