8th March 1972
I caught Johns on his own in the canteen at lunchtime and persuaded him to take me to see the the missing kid's brothers. We played it very casual and tried to win their confidence. In the end Johns worked a real masterstroke, by telling them a story about when he was growing up in a children's home. I never knew before that he was an orphan. Anyway, it got the kids so interested - I think they thought it was a bit of a lark a policeman confessing to having got into trouble when he was a kid - that Anthony (one of the youngest two) opened up and told us all about where Ian used to go when he truanted from school.
That gave us the lead we needed and now we're pretty sure we know where to look for Ian. It's not looking very bright for him, mind you, but at least we may be able to end the uncertainty.
