She was asked about a statement she made to the police, where that was in 1997. The passages were put to her. Perhaps I can remind you of what she said to the police in 1997. She said "I live at St. Margaret's, Leece. On the 20th of August 1997 I made a statement to the police regarding my ex-neighbours at Bluestones, Gordon and Carol Park. I would just like to clarify some points. I cannot remember the last time I saw Carol Park alive. The last time I socialised with her was when I had a cup of tea with her in February 1976. I cannot remember whether I knew that Gordon and Carol were going to Blackpool in advance, but I must have known somehow. Perhaps my son Peter had been told by Jeremy; he used to play with him. I do not remember seeing the family leave to go to Blackpool on the 17th of July 1976, and I do not remember them returning. The reason I link the Volkswagen Beetle to Carol going missing is because it would be unusual for nobody to be at Bluestones. I cannot be sure what date it was, but something makes me think it was the day they went to Blackpool. I do not remember how I knew that it was that date", and she said in answer to Mr. Webster that the contents of that statement were still in her view fair.
We have one other witness whose evidence bears upon the events surrounding that morning. That is the former policeman, Mr. Lawson. You remember the large gentleman. We can imagine him being a policeman in Cumbria, can we not? Anyway, he was engaged on enquiries after Mrs. Park's disappearance, after it was reported in September 1976. He spoke to Mr. Park on one occasion he said during those enquiries. He went to Bluestones. As he got out of his car in which he was a passenger, Mr. Park appeared in the driveway. He asked what Mr. Lawson wanted. Mr. Lawson had replied that he wanted to talk to the children about their mother. Gordon Park had asked why. Mr. Lawson said he wanted to speak about the day they went to Blackpool and whether she had said anything to them before they went on the trip. Mr. Lawson said Mr. Park's response was that the children had not seen their mother before leaving for Blackpool. He had explained they were too excited. They had wanted to see their mother. Mr. Park said he had told them that she was asleep in bed and that they should not disturb her. He told them to go outside and wait in the car, he said to Mr. Lawson. Therefore Mr. Park seems to have said, if that evidence is right, that the children had not seen Carol before the departure. Mr. Lawson said he made no other enquiries of Mr. Park, and that was the last time he had seen him. He was asked about his recollection of this conversation, and when it was first recorded in a statement in 1997, 21 years after the event. Mr. Edis asked him about that, and he said he had recorded it in a pocket book at the time, but that had not survived. He was however confident of his memory. He said it had stuck in his mind, and he even recalled what Mr. Park was wearing. He said it had been either a denim shirt and trousers or a blue all in one boiler suit.