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The actions of the passenger from the Cavalier, who ran off after making a vain attempt to recover the drugs, were overlooked by some candidates, despite a useful quote from a witness in the briefing material, and others missed details of the all-night police search for him.

On the 999 call angle, the majority of candidates provided only very vague details, and all but a handful omitted to include the outcome of that incident.

Missing, too, from many stories was a reference to the police inquiry ordered by the Chief Constable and the routine suspension of the police officer on full pay.

In other words, in story after story, the reader was left dangling, with vital questions unanswered or not fully developed.

Once again, some careless errors were noted by the markers. For example, in several stories Det Chief Supt Poynter was demoted to Det Supt. or Det Chief Insp. One candidate called his male interviewee Glenys instead of Glenn, and another, with a female interviewee, referred to her as Glenn.

Poor shorthand may have been to blame for some mistakes, the most frequent being green trousers for the car passenger, instead of grey. One candidate said the dead driver was of “average width and height” instead of weight and height.

Some candidates got their figures wrong. One devalued the story by reducing the haul to £11,000 and another doubled it by valuing the cannabis and the Ecstasy tablets at £55,000 each, making a total of £110,000.

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