Emily Pallet opened the door of her Richmond townhouse, ready for an early walk. Instead, she found six police officers – with bulletproof vests, guns and battering rams – preparing to force their way into her home.

It was 6am on August 5, 2021. Inside, her fiancé, Gabriel Bernarde, had just fallen asleep. Bernarde, 28, was keeping London hours for his job at Viceroy Research, the financial research firm founded by controversial British investor Fraser Perring. The police asked Bernarde to stand against the wall – so they could make sure he wasn’t sleeping with a gun.