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‘From the low-level blood spatter on the cabinet door and castoff trail on the ceiling.’

Chapman looked up and saw the blood trail marks, which he hadn’t noticed until now.

Diane used her hands to demonstrate. She held her right hand out and closed her fingers. ‘Think of my fist as the weapon,’ she then held out the palm of her left hand, ‘and this is his head.’ She banged her fist a couple of times onto her palm. ‘When a blunt object makes contact with a bleeding head, it forces the blood to travel outwards and upwards, causing the impact spatter stains on the cabinet door. If I swing it backwards, the blood on the object flies off and travels upwards . . . resulting in the cast-off bloodstains on the ceiling.’ She again used her fist and palm to demonstrate the effect.

Chapman still looked confused. ‘If he was first hit when standing by the knife block, why isn’t there any impact or cast-off blood on the ceiling there?’

‘Because there was no bleeding head injury when the first blow was struck, but after that impact, there would be.’

‘I get it now. Thanks for explaining. It’s fascinating,’ he said.

Diane continued, ‘From the blood smearing and pooling on the floor, De Klerk was either dragged forward a few feet or pulled himself forward. The blood spatter on the next cabinet along and on the floor suggests this is the area where he was stabbed and found by the first attending officers. The directionof matching bloody footprints implies that the assailant stepped in the blood after stabbing De Klerk. I should also add that the assailant may have pulled the knife from the block, or De Klerk dropped it, and the assailant picked it up.’

‘There are signs of a disturbance in the living room,’ Jessica said. ‘The coffee table looks as if it has been pushed over and there are items on the floor.’

‘So, the struggle could have started there,’ Diane said. ‘De Klerk ran to the kitchen to get a knife to defend himself and was struck on the back of the head while trying to do so.

I can’t find any blood distribution that suggests the assailant was injured, but I’ve taken samples in different areas for DNA profiling. I found a mobile phone with smeared blood on it under the dining table, which I assume belongs to De Klerk. It’s boxed and bagged for DNA and prints.’

‘Will you do digital forensics on it as well?’ Chapman asked.

‘No one on the team is an expert in that field, but we can give it to the lab’s digital unit for examination. Will they need a warrant to do it?’ Jessica asked.

Chapman shook his head. ‘No. There are reasonable grounds to believe De Klerk’s last calls, texts and messages might contain information relevant to the investigation, so my approval to examine the data is fine.’

‘What about the laptop?’ Diane asked.

‘We don’t know if it’s De Klerk’s yet, so we may need to apply for a warrant there, but that’s for Anderson to decide.’

Taff walked in through the patio doors from the garden.

‘Good timing, Taff,’ Jessica said, leaving him looking puzzled. She explained her theory about a struggle in the living room and asked Taff to examine the kitchen floor, from the left side of the living room entrance up to the knife block, for signs of bare footprints with the suspect’s footwear overlaying them.

‘What will that tell us?’ Chapman asked.

‘I can’t say precisely when any barefoot prints got there, but if they are overlapped by what we believe to be the suspect’s footmarks, it strengthens Jessica’s theory that De Klerk went towards the knife block and was followed by the assailant,’ Taff replied.

‘Anything of value in the garden, Taff?’ Jessica asked.

‘I found a detailed footprint in the soil of the raised bedding area in the far-right corner of the garden. It matches those in the blood and the hallway. I’ve taken some photos but I need to do a plaster cast. The intruder must have climbed over the wall from Homer Road. There are also jemmy marks on the sliding patio door, which I’ve yet to photograph.’

Jessica followed Taff, briefly pausing by the sliding door to look at the jemmy marks. The brick wall looked at least nine feet high. A raised brick bedding area filled with colourful roses and plants ran along it. To her left, there was a stone-paved area with a shed, brick-built barbecue and luxury garden furniture. To her right, in the adjoining corner wall, there was a tall wooden gate that led to Homer Road.

Jessica noticed a marker cone in the bedding by the gate, which Taff had clearly placed as an indicator of the footmark when taking a photo from a distance. She looked at the mark in the soil, which was from a left foot. The right foot had landed on the flowers and crushed them. The gate had two sliding bolt locks, and the top was lined with anti-climb spiking. She looked back at the house and couldn’t see any CCTV cameras or alarm boxes.

‘Whoever broke in must be fit and agile to climb over that wall,’ Jessica remarked.

‘Can you take some soil and plant samples from the footprint and crushed plant, Taff?’

‘Already done. Bagged and tagged and in the van,’ Taff said.

‘I’m going to have a look from the Homer Road side,’ Jessica said, opening the gate and walking to the opposite side of the road. It was now clear how the intruder had got over the wall. The house in Homer Road, which backed onto the De Klerks’ garden, had a four-foot brick wall at the front, which abutted the De Klerks’ wall, with an eight-foot metal gate attached to it, which she assumed led to the neighbour’s side alley and rear of their house. She looked around, although the house opposite had CCTV at the rear, it was pointed away from the De Klerks’ garden gate.

Jessica returned to the garden and spoke with Taff, who was pouring fast-setting plaster on the footmark. ‘I don’t think it was as difficult as we first thought for the intruder to get over the wall. By standing on the neighbour’s wall, he could use their gate to pull himself up and then drop down into the De Klerks’ garden.’

‘OK, I’ll get the telescopic ladder from the van and examine the top of the metal gate for fingerprints and footmarks,’ Taff said.

‘Great. I need to make some more notes. I’ll be in the kitchen. Give me a shout if you need any help.’