Mr In-Between

London Evening Standard article April 2001

London hitman murders soar

There are hired killers ...

It is one of the most lucrative professions in the criminal underworld. Contract killers can earn up to £20,000 for a single job - with the advantage that they are seldom caught.

They are paid in cash, and the more sophisticated operate outside society with no bank accounts or employment records. They study police methods and leave few if any forensic clues.

Scotland Yard is currently running the highest ever number of operations against contract killers in the capital.

The Yard has intelligence that more than 20 contracts are out - issued by underworld gangs or those in domestic relationships who want their partner dead. Detective Chief Superintendent John Coles, the head of the Yard's Serious and Organised Crime branch, said most of the contracts involved organised crime. He said detectives estimated that there were around 20 professional contract killers operating in the South-East, each charging up to £20,000 a hit.

Concern over the activity of contract killers has increased in recent months after at least two "professional hits" in London.

David Roads, 55, an underworld armourer jailed for 10 years in 1997, was shot dead in an alleyway in Kingston in April shortly after he had been allowed out of Latchmere prison to do work in the community.

Roads was convicted of acting as an armourer for Michael Boyle, a former terrorist hitman who was brought to Britain from Dublin to carry out the contract killing of Anthony Brindle, a leading member of a south London crime family engaged in a bloody turf war.

Detectives have several theories over who ordered the hit but have little doubt that it was carried out by a "professional".

Roads made the fatal mistake of following a routine as he returned to jail at night. He was caught in an alley with no witnesses and shot in the back of the head, and there is some evidence the gunman administered a coup de grace as he fell to the ground.

Then, in May, 43-year-old plumber Richard Rayner was waiting for his breakfast in the East End's River Bank cafe when a gunman in a motorcycle helmet walked up to him and fired one bullet into his head. Rayner died instantly and the gunman was last seen jogging up the road. Detectives have offered a £10,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of the killer.

In both cases, detectives are examining the victim's life in minute detail, searching for a motive that could lead to the man who ordered the hit.

In reality, few hitmen are caught. One senior detective said: "These killings are committed by professional people. They cover their tracks and they do not leave any forensic evidence. It makes it very difficult to bring a prosecution against them."

Scotland Yard has around 20 cases on its books of unsolved hits in recent years. They say contract killers usually graduate up the criminal career ladder - starting off with minor violent crime, and most gangland groups know who the hitmen are...

2001 Evening Standard/Associated Newspapers