Chapter 23 #3
‘Uh, what are you saying?’ called Ginger Officer.
‘We’re practising her Spanish,’ said Rhiannon. ‘She’s got a big exam coming up. It’s perfectly legal for non-English inmates. Check the regs.’
‘I don’t think that’s right, what are you saying to her?’
‘It’s only Can you direct me to the swimming pool stuff. Calm thine tittage, Philip.’
Ginger Phil didn’t look convinced but he did go back to his spot on the back wall.
Rhiannon leaned back in. ‘Rafael está vivo y vive con tu hermano.’
Rafael is alive and lives with your brother.
‘Dios mio!’ I gasped, keeping an eye on Phil who was frowning hard. Blonde Officer stepped closer to the table to hear us.
‘Where?’ I asked, but Rhiannon shook her head. ‘Quiero verlos?’
If you’re not brave enough to start a new life in Australia with strangers, you’re not brave enough to go to Rafael and your brother on your own.
‘Rhiannon, that’s enough now. Speak in English, please, come on,’ said the blonde officer.
‘Dime dónde viven,’ I said. Tell me where they live.
Rhiannon shook her head again.
‘Por favor, te lo ruego,’ I begged her.
‘Rhiannon …’
‘That wasn’t me, it was her. She’s stuck in it now, it’s not my fault.’ Rhiannon looked back at me. ‘We don’t have much time left.’
I checked the clock – there was only five minutes to go.
Where the hell had that time gone? I racked my brain, trying to think of a way to convince her to give me an address but it was no use.
She was hiding them for their own protection.
Like she said, if anyone knew where Rafael was, he’d be captured too and then my brother would be on his own.
At that moment, one of the doors in the corridor outside opened.
Through the long, rectangular window, a woman walked past, flanked on either side by two wardens, with another trailing behind her.
Rhiannon stared without blinking as the woman moved the entire length of the corridor. She watched her the whole way …
‘Who’s that?’ I said, wiping my cheek.
‘Roxanne Peach. That bitch nurse who killed all those babies. A model prisoner apparently. Wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Never believe it, would you?’
‘She’s next on the list, is she?’
Her eyebrows jumped imperceptibly. ‘Stay tuned.’
‘Eyes front, Rhiannon,’ said the Blonde Officer.
‘I’m not allowed to look at Princess Peach, much less interact with her.
Same with all the nonces. But sometimes, rare occasions, there are small windows of opportunity that open up.
I hear her in her cell sometimes, playing the Grease soundtrack at full volume …
’ She whispered in Spanish, We worked out her cell is directly below my mate Martha’s.
We’ve been digging a tunnel for two years. Ssssh …
She sniggered like a little girl and her face changed like she was going into a daydream. I dreaded to think what she was dreaming about.
I glanced up at the clock – time was up.
‘I’m glad we did this,’ said Rhiannon, pushing her chair back to stand up. ‘It’s been nice to finally meet you properly.’
As we stood up, we were permitted one hug, if I wanted to, and the two officers were on hand to make sure it was a hug that didn’t last longer than ten seconds.
Rhiannon held out her arms and I slowly entered them.
She held on to me closely and although I hadn’t expected much, the hug was warmer than I’d had in months.
The Blonde Officer checked her watch to count it down.
‘Last time I did this, when I came back to kidnap you when you were two, you were so scared. You were all sleepy at first and sort of melted into me. But then you called out for your mum. And I realised “Mum” would never mean me.’
She held me tightly, so tight I thought she might want to hurt me and I started to cry again as she rubbed my back. I melted against her, grabbing her, forgetting who she was for a few moments. I just wanted a mum. I wanted my mum, whoever she was.
‘Do you trust me, Ivy?’
‘Yes,’ I sniffed.
‘Good.’ And at that moment, she turned her mouth towards my ear and whispered something low and deep right into the centre, holding my head tightly against hers. I felt wetness. She whispered it again.
‘Rhiannon, let go, now! Rhiannon! GET OFF HER, RHIANNON!’
She held me tighter in her strong, muscly arms and kept repeating the same thing, over and over. Fifteen seconds, twenty seconds, thirty. The wetness increased.
The two guards eventually tore Rhiannon off me as the words she’d whispered rang about my head and as she pulled away, her mouth was covered in blood.
She smiled at me and her teeth were bloody too.
My hand went to my ear and when I moved it away, it was covered in blood too.
It was on my skin, in my hair, in my ear.
That’s when I fainted.
Child killer known as ‘Nightmare Nurse’ gets whole-life term for abuse and murder of six infants
Abigail Moss-Tanner
North of England Correspondent
Published 19 September 2011
Neonatal nurse Roxanne Peach, who habitually abused and eventually killed six infants at the hospital where she worked, will never be released from prison, a judge ordered today.
The 25-year-old was convicted on Monday of killing six babies at Hallgrove Hospital in Leeds.
Peach poisoned three of the infants with insulin, dropped two of them causing severe head injuries from which they eventually died and murdered twin boys by switching off their life-support machines.
Prior to the babies’ deaths, the court was shown evidence that she had abused the children and sent photographic evidence to several men with whom she was in touch online in various child abuse forums.
Peach was given multiple whole-life terms, one for each offence.
This is the most severe punishment reserved for those committing the worst crimes.
Mrs Justice Fletcher said the “manipulation and evilness” of her actions between April 2009 and November 2010 was “the worst I’ve encountered in my career” adding Peach had shown no remorse and had “smirked and giggled” in the dock when the parents gave their victim impact statements.
The mother of the twin baby boys killed by Peach said she “couldn’t believe that a human could do such things to defenceless children.
” And the father of a baby girl who Peach targeted, and who was holding a small yellow teddy bear that he’d never got the chance to give to his daughter, after finishing his statement looked Peach dead in the eye and shouted, “I hope someone guts you in prison you evil c**t.”
It is believed that Peach will be sent to Haverfield, the high-security prison dubbed “The Glamour Slammer” just outside Bristol, where some of the highest-profile, most dangerous female criminals to exist are currently held.
The prison has come under fire in recent years for the excessive level of care prisoners receive, including televisions in their cells, allotments, creative writing workshops and even a shop where they can buy clothes.
It currently houses evil Black Widow Caitlin Stubbs, child killer Deborah Kerton, and notorious gangland boss Martha Stradivarius.