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Surrey may not be England’s most fashionable county, but it has some wonderful dog walks. Regular haunts are the hills around Dorking. So I was disconcerted to discover that our rambles had all taken place under the nose of Britain’s most famous dog assassin, Andrew ‘Gino’ Newton. Following the renewed interest in the case thanks to the BBC’S A Very English Scandal, Newton – long thought dead – had been tracked down to Dorking, where he was living under the alias of Hann Redwin.

As we know, Newton was not a very good contract killer. First, he went to Dunstable instead of Barnstaple to kill Jeremy Thorpe’s ex-lover Norman Scott. Then he shot Scott’s dog, Rinka, instead.

It is highly unlikely he would repeat his crime. Nevertheless, our dog Lupin’s welfare always comes first in our house. And with Redwin’s current whereabouts unknown, we shall be giving Dorking a wide berth for the time being…

In fact, the more elderly Lupin, an Irish terrier, becomes, the more we dote on him. In order for him to get beyond 12 – the age at which all my previous dogs have died – he now takes more herbal medication than the late Barbara Cartland. There are pills for his stiff joints and for digestion. There are fish sticks to clean his mahogany-coloured teeth. And then there are pills for his nerves, called Calmeze. These he takes during the firework season; or when I have to go somewhere without him. He accepts the rest of the family’s departure with equanimity bordering on indifference. But if I leave, I am told, he loses the will to live.

At first, I was secretly flattered,