My first impression of the three letters by Faye Turney is that she is a cool, calm girl and someone who is keen to avoid confrontation with her captors.

All the indications are that the letters are mostly dictated by someone else and that the words are not her own.

She looks like she is in control of her writing, being methodical and careful not to make mistakes or raise suspicions, but some passages reveal signs of tension.

The second and third letters, both marked with Tuesday’s date, are not comfortable pieces of writing at all compared with the first letter, which is addressed to her parents and was perhaps written earlier.

The words do not flow naturally, suggesting that she is being dictated to and has to wait. The repeated words and incomplete phrases used throughout also suggest this. It is almost like a mantra, expressing beliefs which are not hers.

While the style or size of her handwriting may not appear to change much, there are also differences in the signatures and the line direction.

She is crossing every “t” and dotting each “i” very carefully, as if she is taking care to get the words right and is by nature disciplined and the kind of person who does not often make mistakes.

There are also telling variations in whether the letters and words are quite tightly grouped together or spread out.

In the second letter, the words are bunched together as she describes being arrested after “we had apparently gone into Iranian waters”. This suggests that she is tense and makes me wonder whether she believes or really agrees with what she is writing.

Her words are noticeably spaced further apart in the first letter when she is expressing her love to her family or telling them she is well and safe, as if they are her true feelings.

In the latest letter, the personal pronoun “I” also looks relatively small in several places, suggesting she is trying to remove or distance herself from what she is writing. The signatures on the second and third letters, partially blotted out and written very small, suggest that she is ashamed and wants to disown the letters.

— Elaine Quigley is a psychologist, former chairman of the British Institute of Graphologists and currently editor of The Graphologist journal.

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