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soon as we are satisfied that you are not Heath.’
    Brook, Suter and Johnson went back into the police station to the sergeants’ office where Suter sat down with Brook. He kept the conversation to their wartime experiences – always bonding chat for men of their age at the time. Meanwhile, Johnson telephoned Scotland Yard again and was put through directly to Reg Spooner at his office in Hammersmith. Spooner outlined Heath’s description and said he would verify Brook’s story about his background in Leicester, but on no account must they let him leave the police station. Whilst waiting for Scotland Yard to get back to them, Johnson observed Brook sitting with Suter, chatting about the war. As he was watching, Brook dropped his pipe on the floor. As he bent to pick it up, Johnson noticed that Brook had an inch-long scratch on the right side of his neck showing half an inch and running parallel with the collar of his shirt. It was not fresh but had a thin scab for the whole length. Little by little the officers’ instincts were feeling more and more justified. They now needed to play a waiting game as the Metropolitan Police verified that ‘Brook’ was the man they were looking for.
    Brook’s patience was now wearing thin and he said that he wanted to leave. Suter and Johnson referred him to their senior officer, Detective Inspector Gates. At about 6.35 p.m., Gates told Brook that he would need to be searched. 14
    ‘I understand that your name is Brook. Have you any means of identification with you?’
    ‘No, I have nothing on me. But I have at the hotel. I have told your officers all about myself. My name is Rupert Robert Brook and I’m known at the Devonshire Club in London. I live in Leicester and have a banking account at the Westminster Bank there. Look, I admit that there is a resemblance to Clevely Heath. I have seen the police notice, but I am not this man, Heath.’
    Gates searched him. All he had in his possession was four £1 notes, 3s. 6d. in silver, two three-penny pieces, a pipe and tobacco pouch, some Churchman cigarettes, a box of Swan matches, five-pence halfpenny in copper, a handkerchief and his sunglasses. 15
    Brook asked if he could go back to the hotel and then come back to the station. Gates told him that enquiries were being made at the hotel by the police and he was being detained. Brook then said that he was feeling cold. Could somebody pick up his jacket for him? He had left it with the porter at the hotel, Harry Brown.
    Gates arrived at the Tollard Royal at about 7 p.m. and sought out the porter. He handed Gates Brook’s brown sports jacket. Searching the pockets of the jacket, Gates came across what was to become some crucial – and damning – evidence. In the right-hand pocket of the jacket he found one half of a first-class return railway ticket (number 10130), valid for travel from Bournemouth back to Waterloo, issued on 28 June 1946 – the day that Doreen Marshall had travelled alone to Bournemouth. There was also a 4d. railway cloakroom ticket (number 0800) issued at Bournemouth West Railway Station on 23 June – the day that Brook had arrived in Bournemouth. 16
    Just before 9 p.m., Gates arrived at Bournemouth West Station and interviewed William Gillingham, the chief clerk. Gates submitted the cloakroom ticket and took possession of a leather suitcase. Opening it, there was a soft hat, a mackintosh, a leather luggage-label holder bearing the name of ‘Heath’, and most significantly, a leather riding whip with a distinctive diamond-weave pattern – stained with blood.
    There was now absolutely no doubt. They were holding Neville Heath, the most wanted man in the country.
    Back at Bournemouth Police Station, DS Johnson received a call from Scotland Yard. It was exactly the information he had suspected. Nobody had ever heard of Group Captain Brook at Thurmaston. His entire story was false. Spooner told Johnson to detain Brook at any cost. He wanted them to go to the Tollard