15:28

We knew little of Ernie and Marjorie Vital’s life before today: when we tried to contact the family via a friend, we were told they were keen to keep details under wraps until the inquiry.

So it was touching to hear of Marjorie’s early life in Dominica, her sewing talents, the way she helped raise some of her siblings after her parents had left for London in the 1950s. Indeed, there were certain parallels with the big Ibrahim family of whom we heard so much earlier in the day.

So many of these commemorations have revolved around family members giving up their own ambitions for the sake of their children, and this sounds very much like Marjorie’s life.

When it comes to Ernie, we knew even less. His brother filled in a few of the blanks - “we constantly watched TV because we didn’t really go out” - but even after the testimony his life remains something of a mystery, particularly given the oblique references to the suffering he endured.

