‘That’s my husband. He arrived just before you. Anyway, the party was coming to an end – the party at my friend Sarah’s. My husband had popped out and was meant to pick me up but I couldn’t get hold of him so I went for a walk. I knew he’d call me back soon.’ The woman paused. ‘I’d had a few glasses of champagne and was feeling a little tipsy, not drunk though. I can easily do over a bottle of wine before I need to go to bed and the glasses of champagne were small. Everyone was leaving and I didn’t want to put anyone out so I thought I’d just wait around outside.’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘I was just walking along the river. A few minutes later, I felt like there was someone there, someone behind me. I thought it was just one of the partygoers leaving and playing a bit of a joke so I wasn’t too worried. It was then I saw a figure approaching in the dark.’ Sophie closed her eyes and began to tremble as she recalled what had happened. ‘I asked who they were and there was no reply. They just kept taking photos of me. The flash, it was so bright, I couldn’t see a thing after the photos were taken. I was getting worried at this point. I’d been walking for several minutes and there was nothing and no one around. I saw headlamps in the distance so thought I’d run for the road. I thought it would be my husband actually.’ She opened her eyes and wiped a tear from her face.
‘What happened next Mrs Dobbins?’ Gina sat patiently, waiting for her to continue speaking.
The woman rubbed her head, brow furrowed as she tried to think. ‘It all seemed to go so quickly. I couldn’t work out who it was. He started chasing me. At one point I pushed a branch out of the way and I’m sure it flicked back on him. It would be between where I was found in the road, where the ambulance finally arrived, and the river. I followed quite a direct route. I really thought he was going to rape me or kill me. He went to grab me. I took my shoe off and hit him with it. I remember him backing off at this point. This is when I ran to the road. I dropped my wedge where it happened, I remember that much.’
‘Where did you strike him?’
‘I’m not sure, I couldn’t really see. The side of his head maybe, his neck…’
Gina glanced at the floor and saw one wedge-style shoe placed under the bed. She nodded at Jennifer. Another thing to bag. ‘You’re doing really well, Mrs Dobbins. So you ran towards the road. What happened then?’
‘When I got there, I thought the car that I could see was my husband’s but it was just someone driving past. A man who’d just finished a night shift somewhere. I was hysterical when he pulled over, thinking my attacker had come for me again. Anyway, he let me sit in his car while he called an ambulance and that was it.’
‘Where was your husband at this point?’
She looked away and began fiddling with a mucky tissue that she’d been dabbing one of her sores with. ‘He’d been for a drive.’
‘We know about the party you attended. We know it was a Swap Fun party. Can you tell us if you spoke to anyone in particular during the course of the evening? Or did any one give you reason to be concerned?’
Her frail shoulders dropped. ‘My husband met a woman there and they hit it off. It’s something we enjoy doing but I don’t expect you to understand.’
Gina smiled warmly. ‘We’re not judging you, Mrs Dobbins. We want to find out who attacked you. The more truthful you can be, the better.’
She wiped her nose and pulled the sheet up over her shoulders. The room was warm but Gina could tell that Sophie Dobbins was trying to hide how vulnerable she felt. Her secret life now exposed to outsiders. ‘I was angry with him, that’s Ralph, my husband. He went and left me for ages. He said about an hour but he was longer and the party was coming to a close. I didn’t really know anyone there as it was my first time in this particular group. Who did I speak to? I suppose I spoke to most people there but I spent longer speaking to a man in a hat, some sort of trilby. He took it off inside but carried the thing around like it was his baby. Then this idiot kept coming over to me. I kept trying to shake him off but he was loud, telling me he could give me the best knee trembler I’d ever had around the side of the house. I know I’m up for these things, but I do like being treated with respect. He was over suggestive, over touchy, I think I slapped his hand away at one point and told him to shove off. His girlfriend kept almost staring me out as if she hated me. Then she began flirting with Ralph.’
Gina just knew. She looked across at Briggs.
‘What was his name?’ Briggs asked.
‘I’m sure it was Stevie Boy; that was his profile. I kept trying to get him out of my way. I actually liked the man with the bald head who had come with the woman in the blonde wig. I kept trying to shake off this letch but he wouldn’t leave me alone.’
Gina glanced at Briggs again. They both knew she was talking about PCs Smith and Kapoor.
‘I told him to leave me alone and he even followed me to the toilet. Creeped me out a bit. He rubbed his crotch and sort of grinned with his tongue out. Yuck. That poor woman who came with him. I thought it could be him or Trilby man to begin with, sorry I didn’t catch his name.’
Gina didn’t need to know. It was Rex, the man she’d met on Tinder and dated a couple of times. She also knew that he was a little strange. Obsessive? She wasn’t quite sure yet. If he had sent the flowers and chocolates, maybe he was a little thoughtless. He had turned up at her house without an invite a couple of times. She made a mental note to check through the rest of her CCTV footage. It was something she’d failed to do properly on a regular basis since getting the system installed. She wanted to know if he had been at other times. ‘Can you describe your attacker at all?’
The woman shook her head and lay on the crisp white pillow which rustled as she got comfortable. ‘No. I only thought it may be either of them. I could tell it was a man from his shape. I can’t work out whether he was tall or any features, the flashes kept messing with my vision. He crushed my hand with his foot.’ She held her bandaged hand up. ‘He was wearing work boots with steel toecaps, hence my two broken fingers. I felt the tip of the boot as I tried to free my hand; absolutely rock solid they were. But I didn’t see anyone at the party wearing that type of footwear.’
‘Did you see what else your attacker was wearing?’
She shook her head. ‘As I said, at first it was dark, then I was blinded by the camera flashes. I wish I had.’
Whoever arrived by car could have kept a pair of work boots in the car. She remembered Rex turning up in a taxi. How premeditated could this attack have been? Could the boots and a bag of tools to commit the attack have been left there earlier in the day, even before they arrived to watch the house? Had he planned to attack Sophie Dobbins in particular or would anyone have done? Her mind ticked over as all potential scenarios ran through it. Sophie may not have been a definite target. No one knew that her husband would hook up and take longer than anticipated with his swap partner. They were also new to the meet and hadn’t met anyone there before. The attacker also hadn’t really seemed to be as in control, like he didn’t know the person he’d been pursuing. Had he not been quite as bothered about Sophie? Maybe he was angry a certain other person hadn’t arrived. Who? Her thoughts reeled back to Steven. He was definitely capable and was as misogynistic as his brother. Gina knew all too well how he liked to treat a woman.
‘Thank you so much, Mrs Dobbins. We’ll leave you in the capable hands of our CSI, Jennifer. I’ll call a doctor or nurse over to be here with you both. When you are feeling better, please come down to the station to give a formal statement and call me immediately if you think of anything else.’ Gina pulled a card from her bag and handed it to the woman.
‘Could it be the same person who killed that woman in Cleevesford? They were all taking about it at the party. I heard people asking about her, about the couple, Jade and Noah. They were all saying how it was just bad luck and that the killer was probably someone random that had followed her around the streets that night. Some of them thought it might be the man she was paired with, someone called Rhys who no one’s heard from since. This is all what I heard. That probably doesn’t help you much.’
‘Everything helps us to build a picture. You’ve been so helpful.’ Gina stood and smiled as she gestured to Jennifer. She needed all these samples to be sent to the lab and quickly.
As Briggs left her to search for the toilets, she headed towards the exit. She did a double take and spotted Mr Dobbins pushing the coffee machine around. ‘I don’t think hitting it will help.’
‘It’s just swallowed up my only pound and not given me a drink. Damn it!’
‘Here.’ Gina pulled a coin out of her pocket and gave it to him. She had a minute to spare while Briggs was in the men’s room. After, they were due at Bidford to meet up with Bernard and see where the attack had taken place. ‘Mrs Dobbins has been through a lot tonight.’
He held his palm to his head and closed his eyes. ‘I can’t believe I was late. If only I’d been on time this would never have happened.’
