I am with Angela in the living room of her home on Hull’s Sutton Park estate. Karl’s childhood home.
Since 1998, she has seen her son just three times, including before he became the first Briton to cross the frozen Bering Strait between North America and Russia in 2006.
Sitting in her armchair, Angela glances up towards her son’s photographs and says: “He’s certainly given me a few sleepless nights, I can tell you. It’s a wonder I’m not white!”
She adds: “He’s still my little boy. Every mother thinks that, it doesn’t matter how they are or what they do.”
It was in this room that Karl outlined to Angela his plan for the Goliath Expedition, supported by his father, Keith, a former SAS soldier.
“I was gobsmacked when Karl told me what he planned to do,” says Angela, a retired packer at a snack food factory who is divorced from Keith.
In front of us, on a coffee table, rests a pile of family photographs. One picture stands out.
A fair-haired boy is preparing to climb a tree branch, as his brother steadies it. The older boy looks laser-focused.
“Karl has always been headstrong,” says Angela. “Once Karl puts his mind to something, he does it.”
