It was the ex-tenant. A very weird, rambling letter detailing every aspect of the ongoing case plus allegations that my husband is aggressive, my child and dog angsty and neglected.

Let me start at the top (because I know you enjoy these detailed descriptions of my troubled life!)

The social worker was absolutely ace. Absolutely. I left messages for her yesterday and today to ring me asap. She rang me just seconds before my mum and I arrived at her office (yes, we were going there to talk to her!).

At first, she did the usual spiel "We're not accusing you of anything, but we have to react, blah-blah-blah" - I reiterated to her several times that I was in no way concerned about their visit or the welfare of my daughter as there was nothing to worry about --- but I was concerned about who had made the report. The letter I recieved from SS had stated nothing about whether it was an anonymous complaint or anything, and this I pointed out to her. She confirmed it was an anonymous letter, and I said I can only think of one person who'd send a letter, namely the ex-tenant and I explained the circumstances and said to her that I was scared and really didn't know what to do next and what to expect from him - provided it was him, which of course I couldn't know.

But she really listened. You could tell she really listened - she was hearing what I said and that was just so, so nice. She moved the appointment to Monday. I was quite happy with that. But then, about an hour later, she rang me back and said she felt really bad about this and couldn't bear to leave us hanging like that the whole weekend. What I'd said about the tenant business had rung a bell and made her go and re-check the file and - well - we were obviously very affected by it all and she'd come now so we could get the case closed. So, she cancelled all her appointments and came out just after 1. She was excellent. She told us the anonymous letter describing himself only as a former tenant had called a couple of times and she'd ask him to put something in writing (she didn't think he sounded quite right). So, eventually, he did. She read the letter to us.

It was relating to incidents, which occurred when Adam and my bro went over to sort some bits out at the beginning of the tenancy.

Raven was apparently standing in the corner, looking very afraid, Adam was aggressive and my brother weird and speaking with Adam in a similar English accent. The dog kept coming over to sniff him but scurrying away when he tried to stroke it. It was timid and looked abused. Raven then weed herself and her trousers and pants were removed so she was wearing nothing but a thin summer dress (it was winter and very cold) and then she was put in the car as punishment. My brother was watching this with a weird grin. We, my bro, my DH and I were all in cahoots and greedy and dangerous people. And probably drug abusers - well, that's how we look, anyways. And all sorts of sick, sick stuff.

Get tired just thinking about it, actually. And although all the above events did occur (Raven is painfully shy and scared of strangers as is my dog and they have both been known to pee/poo when scared/stressed in particularly in the presence of strangers of whom they are weary) they obviously did not occur like that if that makes sense.

My brother is furious and it's all I can do to keep him from getting some people together to show ex-tenant a fist close up. Or an iron pole. Or the edge of a bridge.

But yeah, so I told the Social Worker the whole sorry story, showed her the paperwork relating and gave her a carte blanche to contact any and all people she needed to contact in order to get confirmation of the information relating specifically to the welfare of the children that I gave her. 'Cos she did obviously ask how they are - how do you answer a question like that? They're fine, normal kids - sharp, impossible, cheeky, wonderful, infuriating, loving, shy, boisterous... they're thriving and spot on!

She asked me if I'd spoken to anyone about the whole matter relating to the tenant and the threats and the blah-blah - and now this. I wanted to tell her I have my written outlet, but I didn't know quite how to phrase it. But I told her I'd reported it to the police and that they had not been very - well - understanding. But it was nice of her to ask and show concern, because - well - you all know just how upsetting and utterly stressful this and the past threats and sh!te's been for me - for us.

She'll be contacting the services relating to people with mental health issues on Monday to make that he is actually in their system. And she'll be contacting Raven's nursery to get them to make a statement.

I rang the nursery as soon as she'd left. I spoke to them as soon as the letter came yesterday, so they knew and had been completely besides themselves today. All completely gobsmacked, baffled and - you know - questioning themselves, watching Raven, asking themselves if there was something they weren't seeing - all those stupid and horrid things that we all - DH, my mum, my brother, everyone's been doing since the letter came. Just because you can't stop the mill up there once it gets going. So, they were SO glad I rang. We can rest easy over the weekend now, they said. They'll obviously be happy to give the social worker the statements she needs to close the case.

Phew - sorry for the ramble. I must say I'm happy about the consensus I've met --- very reassuring - I mean, noone - not one single person - has said "well, about bloody time SS got involved - those poor kids."

So, I'm relieved --- so, so relived. But also scared. I mean, what's next? But I shall not think about that. I refuse to let that very sick man have any more time in my life.