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 Intro

   My name is Ken Richards, I'm a 46 year old man brought up just north of
Eastbourne, East Sussex in the south east of England, I stand just under 6'
2", I work out at a gym when I can and used to do Karate up till I left
home so I can look after myself and with working outside a lot in all
weathers I seem to have a permanent tan, at least where the sun hits, I'm a
freelance Construction Manager and I have worked overseas for a while and
had enjoyed it up to now, I had just finished a contract for the local
government in the Falkland Islands and that's the reason I had the time to
buy the lottery ticket and check the numbers.  Oh!  Yes, I won the Euro
Millions jackpot, all £35 million.  Well unlike the American lottery
there's no tax on ours so I got the lot to myself all in one lump sum. 
What a shocker and no one to celebrate with, oh boy!!!  I had been adopted
as soon as I was born, near as dammit, by a wonderful childless couple who
had passed away 2 years ago about 3 months apart so I don't have any family
that I know about, I suppose you would think that because I had all that
money now, I would start trying to find my biological family but that
didn't occur to me at that time, what I immediately thought of was building
a home, well most of the last 15 years I had been living in construction
camps, hotels and boarding houses so once the financial whizz-kids had
explained about all the wise investments I could and should put my money
into they started to leave me to my own devices.  I have been in the
construction industry all my working life, I had started out as a carpenter
like my adoptive Dad, but had quickly realised that the best opportunities
were in management so a couple of years after finishing my apprenticeship I
applied for and got the company I was working for to sponsor me to go to
college and I finished up with letters after my name.  My Mum and Dad were
so proud.  So anyway there I was at 46 years old, single and so much money
I don't know what to do with and having travelled the world and seen the
sights and been paid for it so don't fancy doing it all again on my own so
I concentrated my efforts on finding the ideal location for a home, well
that is after buying a top-of-the-range red Saab convertible to run around
in, it's really nice jumping up to the kind of credit card with no limit
and have a debit card to die for, you've no idea how many doors they open.
Well I found an old farm house and surrounding buildings with a nice bit of
land attached just outside a village in East Sussex between two towns,
Lewes and Polegate on a hill that would give great views and then I found a
young local architect, she was just starting out and very feminine but not
into men, but she was willing to work with me in designing a home fit for a
king.  My wants were simple, 5 bedrooms (well you never know maybe somebody
will visit sometime) all ensuite, a couple of large reception rooms, a
study/office and a big kitchen with all mod-cons and a breakfast bar and a
large dining area, with one of the reception rooms and the master bedroom
facing the view with long covered verandas, out the back a small swimming
pool, hot tub and gym and a games room with full sized snooker table. 
There also had to be a large two car garage and workshop.  What I also had
to wait for was planning permission to knock down the old buildings and
build my castle, I took my time in finding local companies to supply most
of the materials and labour.  I made myself the Project Manager after all
I'd earned my living doing that for a long time.  It all seemed to take
forever but in reality it took just over a year and at the beginning of
March I moved in with all the souvenirs I had got from my travels that I
had kept in my parents old house, now I could put it on the market, sad to
see it go but I didn't want to stay there anymore, too many memories. 
Trouble is after I moved in I found myself with nothing much to do and
quickly became bored (that should be illegal, boredom).  I was never one to
sit around and vegetate but anyway there I was about 2 weeks after moving
in, watching a programme on TV and it was about a multi-millionaire going
to a strange (to him) town and volunteering his services to small local
charities like drop-in centres, soup kitchens and the like that were
struggling to keep going and then finishing up going round afterwards,
owning up to be a multi-millionaire and giving out some of his wealth to
keep these places going, plus it gave him a good feeling to be able to
help, this struck a cord with me after all I didn't earn these millions I
had and I could well afford to help some people and I needed something to
do, so the following day I contacted the channel that was running the
programme to see if I could help in any way.  The first thing they asked if
they could send a researcher and a camera man, I said "Yes and they can
stay at my home if they don't mind my cooking" so I invited them to stay
for a few days, this would give them plenty of time to suss me out.  Day 1
(Monday 24th May) So now you know why in the month of May I've been
roughing it in a cheap bedsit in Partick, Glasgow and going around
volunteering here and there for a week and now it's my last day.  Yes, I
enjoyed it, didn't think I would, but I found some wonderful dedicated
people who I am sure will remain friends for a long time, so anyway there I
was about 10:30am just stepping out of the door having presented the last
cheque when this young blonde girl runs into me and grabs hold crying,
"Help me please, they are after me", well my instinct is to hold onto her
and get her back into the place I had just left and find a quiet corner for
her to calm down in.  She looks to be about 15, maybe 16 years old, slim
build and comes to just above my shoulder and she is bleeding from cuts on
her face and she doesn't look very well and seems to be in pain wherever I
try to hold her.  She is pretty agitated and keeps looking towards the door
we have just came in, so I asked Jim (the guy in charge of the drop-in
centre) if I could take her to his office out of the way, he said, "Yes and
I'll get a couple of the lads to watch out for whoever's chasing her and
steer them away from here", I replied my thanks and guided her through to
the office.  I asked her after she was seated, where and why it hurt and
she said that she had escaped from them by jumping out of a moving van, I
wondered what kind of arseholes would do that to a young girl, then when
she slowly realised that she was indeed safe from her abusers she calmed
down a bit and after I had told her my name she started to tell me her
story, I asked if she didn't want to go to an A and E department or to see
a doctor first and she said that they might find her there and that she was
frightened and that she felt safer here with me and that she didn't think
anything was broken anyway.  She calmed down a little and told me her name
was Libby (short for Elizabeth) Murray and that her widowed Mum had
remarried about a year previously to a man who had a small ironmongers shop
in Partick, not far from where we were and during the last 3 months the
shop hadn't been doing so well, now she didn't get on very well with him as
he kept looking at her in a funny way and when she had told her Mother that
she felt uncomfortable in his presence, her Mother had thought her loving
husband had just been trying to be friendly.  One evening a couple of days
ago when coming out of the lounge she had heard him on the phone to someone
talking about a sum of money, namely £15,000 but didn't think any more of
it.  Then this morning as she was walking to school a van had drawn up
beside her and she thought the man was going to ask directions but she
found herself being manhandled into the back of the van, she had no time to
scream as a hand was over her mouth then she felt tape being put over her
lips.  She hadn't been driven very far and seemed to be in a back lane
somewhere but she saw very little as she was bundled into a warehouse-like
building and tied to a chair with more of the tape.  There were three men
in their thirties with one of them better dressed than the others and he
said, "Now, that wasn't too bad was it and we didn't hurt you, did we?" He
went on, "You're here now `cause I bought you and you're going to work for
me, you're going to be a nice little earner for me, is that clear?  I
bought you're innocence my little virgin, I'm the boss around here and my
name is Danny and they (pointing to the 2 men) are Tommy and Bobby" Then he
told them to take her to one of the other rooms and lock her in, so the
straps were cut and the tape taken off her mouth then she was taken and put
in a room that just had an old table and chair in but no windows and as the
men were leaving one said "It's no good screaming, it's only us that will
hear you, you'll get fed shortly after we get you to `the house' then
you'll get told how things are going to be from now on" About a ½ hour
later Tommy and Bobby came back into the room and took her right outside
and bundled her into the back of the van again.  Danny was driving and
cursing about a hold up on the road ahead, then the van slowed down and
they were talking about an accident that was slowing traffic, the two men
in the back started stretching their necks to ogle through the drivers
window at the accident as they drove past, at that moment Libby dived at
the back doors of the van, hit the handle and fell out of the back onto the
road just as the van started to speed up again, there was a hell of a
commotion behind her but she had a good start on them, not thinking of any
injuries she might have incurred she ran for her life and then on running
round a corner that's when she ran into me!  So here I was with a
frightened young girl, afraid to even go to a doctor, what was I to do? 
Well the first thing I did was to ask for Jim's help, after all he had
local knowledge that I didn't.  As I got up to go out of the office Libby
clung onto me but I calmed her saying "It's ok, I'm just going to get the
guy that's in charge of this place to get some advice on how to help you"
With that she still held onto my arm tightly but I was able to move.  I met
Jim as he was coming towards the office and he said "There were two men
pretty agitated outside a while ago but we told them that we knew nothing
of a running girl," I thanked Jim and told him a cut down version of
Libbies story and he said that it goes on a lot and that a lot of girls are
noted down as being runaways when they really weren't.  However I asked Jim
if he knew where we could go to make sure Libby was safe and medically
cared for and he said that if I really was a multi-millionaire I would be
able to get her booked into a local private hospital.  Good old Yellow
Pages came up trumps and Jim made a call to a friend who had a taxi, I
thanked Jim and said I would let him know what was happening as soon as I
could.  Jim let us out a back door "Just in case" he said, then we were in
the taxi and heading away from Partick.  It was about 3 miles to the
hospital on the south side of Glasgow over the Clyde, the taxi came to a
halt outside the reception area and we got out and I leaned over to pay the
driver and he said Jim had sorted it and had warned him to not even think
about taking a tip, I laughed and told him to tell Jim I would be in touch,
whereupon he drove off.  We both walked into reception and I asked if we
could talk to someone privately and we were accompanied to a small
interview room, after a few minutes a nurse came in and I told her that
Libby had fallen from a moving vehicle and said that I would pay for any
medical needs that she may require, so I handed over my American Express
card for her to check me out along with my Passport (which I always carry -
never know when you're going to be offered a job, force of habit), she
returned about 5 minutes later and said a family suite had been made
available for us, I didn't say we weren't family but I shouldn't have been
bothered as the hospital room that Libby was put into was next door to my
suite with a connecting door, I told Libby to just let the medical team
check her out and that I wouldn't be very far away as she seemed to want to
cling onto me all the time.  I went and sat and then my sense of justice
started kicking in, here she was, a sweet innocent girl just going about
doing things normal girls her age did then some arsehole pops up his head
to fuck things up, it just wasn't right and I vowed someone should pay for
doing that to her even if she wasn't family, she had after all relied on me
to help her become safe.  A notepad would help and there was one in the
room, so I wrote down all I remembered of Libbies story.  Then I used my
mobile to call my family lawyer in Sussex, George Wilson, I had used him a
lot in the past for contracts and stuff about my home, I explained that I
wanted a local lawyer in Glasgow if he could recommend one, he said he
would call me back on my mobile and asked if I was in any trouble and I
answered "No it's just something I have to do up here and I need the
services of a local lawyer to help me".  Then we hung up.  The doctor in
attendance entered my room and introduced himself as Dr Stewart Campbell
and asked me how Libby had got her injuries and I explained to him that she
had been abducted and had managed to escape out of the back of the van she
had been in, he said "I think we aught to get the police involved if that's
the case" I replied "I think that's up to Libby, she feels frightened at
the moment and it's not about me or you but if you do mean to bring in
outsiders she may not feel so safe as she does at the moment, but I will
ask how she feels about that" The doctor started to ask me what my
relationship was to Libby, so at that point I thought it best to explain my
role in this and showed him the notepad I had written in.  As he was
reading I got a call from my lawyer and wrote down the name of the local
man that he was recommending and thanked him then hung up after telling him
I would tell him the whole thing later by email.  After reading the notes I
had made the doctor said he still felt the law should be informed, I said
that I was going to contact a local lawyer on Libbies behalf and her Mother
to get things on an even keel, he then asked me why I was becoming involved
and I explained that not all adults were out to get what they could in
life, I already had more money than I needed and wanted to use some of it
to help others less fortunate, and he said that it wasn't every day you
meet someone like me and wanted to shake my hand.  Me, I was embarrassed.
However the doctor did say he would hold off calling the police until he
heard back from me and then left to carry out his duties elsewhere.  So I
made the phone call to the lawyer and he said he knew a little about me
from the call he got from my own lawyer, he said that they had been at
university together and that's how they knew each other, I then asked for
an emergency appointment and he said that he had a spare hour that
afternoon at 2pm and gave me his office address in the city, it being just
12:30pm I was surprised at the time and realised I had only known Libby for
a couple of hours and what a couple of hours that had been.
I went and found the reception and asked what the arrangements were for
feeding the patients and she said that owing to there being no reason for
Libby to have a special diet they had ordered a meal be sent to Libby, she
asked if I wanted anything from their kitchens and showed me a menu, it was
quite substantial and I ordered a main course along with a pot of coffee to
be sent to my room and said for it and Libbies meal to be charged to my
bill, she said an account had already been set up for me with the hospital
and that they had my credit card details all it required was my pin number

or signature which I would give them on leaving.  At 1:55pm I arrived at
the lawyers' office and introduced myself to the receptionist.  Nice
office, it showed someone had either good taste or a good designer, I was
asked to wait a moment before being shown into his inner sanctum.  He
greeted me with a firm handshake and introduced himself as Donald McKay but
added that it was Donnie to his friends and now me.  I took a seat on the
other side of his desk and started by explaining why I was in Glasgow and
about the TV programme, he said he knew the programme and that it was very
popular, then I told him that I had just handed the last cheque over and
that he should then read the notes I had made in the notepad and gave it to
him to read.  It didn't take long, he then asked what had happened after
Libby had run into me and I bought him up to date.  He asked the same
question Dr Campbell had asked and I gave him the same answer.  He said
that my lawyer had told him I would stand up and take no nonsense from
anyone.  He asked me to wait in his office for a moment and left me and
returned quite quickly and said he had cancelled his next meeting, said it
wasn't as important as this was.  Libby had given me her Mum's home and
mobile phone numbers before I had left her (in tears), so Donnie tried her
home number first on his hands-free desk phone, let it ring for a moment or
two then he hung up and dialled the mobile number, it was immediately
answered and I heard a woman with a soft Scottish accented voice say,
"Hello, this is Mrs Murray can I help you" Then Donnie said "It's me that
can help you Mrs Murray, I am a lawyer and a client of mine has found
you're daughter safe and reasonably well, we would like you to come to my
office in the city so we can get you both back together again, I'm going to
make an unusual request and that we would prefer it if you didn't tell
you're husband until after we meet, we will explain when you get here" She
hurriedly replied that she was already in the city planning on going into a
police station to report her daughter missing and that she would be at his
office shortly, he gave her the address and said he would reimburse the cab
fare, she said that wouldn't be necessary and was already looking for a
taxi.  So as we waited I had a conversation with Donnie and he caught up
with how his friend, George, my lawyer was, he is a year older than Donnie
at 45 years old.  15 minutes hadn't passed before a very harassed good
looking, slim and well dressed blonde lady in her early thirties was shown
into the office and introduced as Mrs Ellen Murray, Donnie shook her hand
first and introduced himself then he turned towards me and said that I was
her `Knight in Shining Armour' and she came and gave me such a hug with
tears in her eyes and asked where Libby was and why wasn't she here.  So I
asked her to sit down and told her she wasn't to worry and that she was in
a local private hospital just being looked after.  I asked her to have
patience then I would take her to the hospital, so I told her my name and
related my story to her and then said she would know soon why we asked that
she shouldn't contact her husband and Donnie handed her the notes I had
made about Libbies story Ellen Murray got more and more agitated as she
read them and stood at the end and said "This can't be true, it's a lie, my
husband isn't like that, he wouldn't, he got the money from the bank, he
told me so and he was upset when I told him the school had phoned and asked
if Libby was OK because she hadn't arrived at school but when I said I was
going to report her missing he said that it was much too early and that she
would probably turn up later, I knew she wouldn't miss school, she is
bright and loved it and had lots of friends so I just went ahead and was
just about to step in to the police station to do that when you called me"
I then explained what I had done to get her out of the danger she felt she
was in, Mrs Murray said she knew the hospital I had taken her to but that
they would never be able to afford the type of money they would be looking
for to look after Libby and I said, "This is on me, I couldn't stand by and
not do what I could, don't worry I can afford it".  Then Donnie said "Look
I am going to cancel the rest of my day, my partners will help out, we will
all go to the hospital now and get you back together Mrs Murray".  Donnie
left us then to make his arrangements and Mrs Murray said to me "I can't
believe this is happening.  What am I to do?  What has my husband done? 
How has it come to this?  I am so confused" "Whatever is to be done will be
decided after you have seen Libby and if I or Mr McKay can be of any help
don't hesitate in asking, will you?" "I still can't get my head round it
all but I'll wait, as you say".  Then Donnie returned and said a cab would
be waiting at the pavement for us so we all left the office.  The journey
took about 10 minutes and when we arrived at the hospital I immediately
went to the reception and told them that the lady with me was Libbies
Mother and the gentleman was my lawyer and I asked to be taken to where
Libby was, they asked Mrs Murray and Donnie for some identification and we
then got escorted up to my suite.  I warned Mrs Murray that Libby had some
cuts to her face but that she was OK and I then opened the connecting door
and indicated for Mrs Murray to go through into the hospital room.  There
were two screams and then a lot of hugging and crying from both of them and
it took a few minutes before they calmed down enough to study each other at
arms length, Mrs Murray looked horrified at Libbies face but saw that they
weren't deep cuts and calmed down considerably.  After the reunion, Donnie
McKay took statements from both Libby and her Mother and got them to sign
them, asking a nurse to witness the signatures.  He also took a statement
from me, and then I arranged to take a hotel suite at a 5-star hotel nearby
so Ellen could stay at the hospital in the family room I was in.  I said to
Mrs Murray "It would be better if you don't contact you're husband now as
I've no doubt that damned pimp will have been in touch with him by now and
he'll know he is in trouble, he just doesn't know how much" She agreed that
that was probably best and said to me "I think it's about time you start
calling me Ellen after all that you have done for us" "Only if you call me
Ken and I think anyone would have done what I did, given the same
circumstances" "No" She replied and went on "Most others would have just
called the police and left it to them" I couldn't argue she was probably
right.  Then I spoke to Donnie I asked if he would meet up in the morning
over a coffee at my hotel at 9:30am and said I would like him along when I
went to see Mr Murray in the morning, he said he would then left.  Before I
left the hospital I assured Ellen that all the expenses associated with
this incident are coming out of my pocket and that I won't take `no' for an
answer, I also said that Donnie and I are going to her husband's shop early
and asked for directions and an address.  She asked why we were going to
see him and what we were going to do to him, I replied "Primarily we
intended to get a statement from him regarding the events involving him
leading up to Libbies abduction, I don't intend to harm him but I feel I
would like to" "Please don't resort to violence that would bring you down
to his level and I only feel contempt at the moment" When I got to my hotel
I phoned Jim Reynolds at the drop-in centre and asked him if he knows of a
man who can look after himself as I told him I am going visiting and it may
get a `little rough' I also said that whoever it was would be paid in cash
for their `time and expertise'.  I felt my tummy rumbling and suddenly
realised it was coming up to 6:30pm and I'm hungry, so I went down to the
restaurant in the hotel, then while I'm sitting resting after my meal I
think about all that's happened that day and that how bored I was just a
couple of weeks ago, `Gee, what a day this has been' I thought to myself
before going to the bar for a beer then up to my room.  I used the hotel
email facility and informed George Wilson (my lawyer) of everything that
had happened today, boy that was some length of email.  There after, to
bed.