There have been mysterious deaths of people who worked for GEC-Marconi (the defence arm of GEC) on the Sting Ray torpedo project betwen 1972 and 1988.
The death of the British defense journalist Jonathan Moyle, who was found hanged in his Santiago hotel room on April 1, 1990, has also been the subject of speculation as being connected to the Marconi deaths.
Jonathan Moyle, the 28-year-old editor of the magazine 'Defence Helicopter World' and former RAF helicopter pilot, was found dead in room 1406 of Santiago's Hotel Carrera on 31. March 1990. His purpose in Santiago was to attend a Chilean sponsored defence conference.
He was found hanging in a wardrobe with a pillow case over his head. But a needle mark on his leg and blood on the bed were not considered in the first police analysis.
He was interested in a Bell Helicopter for civil use that the Chilean company Industrias Cardoen was converting to multi-use, especially for Third World conditions and economies. At that time, just before the Gulf War (the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops began 2. August 1990), Iraq was a potential customer for the helicopter.
Moyle's death was considered initially by the Chilean and British authorities as suicide or death in some sort of "bizarre sex game". But in December 1991, after pressure from the Moyle family, a judicial investigation in Chile concluded he had been assassinated, but as the police couldn't identify any suspect they halted the manhunt.
The United Kingdom inquest also into the death of Moyle, opened in Exeter in November 1990. It was adjourned by forensic doctor Richard Van Oppen after a pathologist said the autopsy could not be completed due to the fact that vital organs had been removed. In 1998 the reconvened inquest found that he had been unlawfully killed and the authorities later apologised to the family for spreading the allegation of suicide.
Excerpts from an apparently "un-redacted" version of a CIA report entitled Project Babylon, published in 2013 by the British magazine Lobster and in May 2014 by the newspaper Tribune, blame the murder of Jonathan Moyle on a British government agent, the late Stephan Adolphus Kock. The "un-redacted" CIA report states: "Meantime, as we co-ordinated an MI6 set-up, alleged nuclear capacitors shipped from US by Euromac for Iraq was [sic] seized at Heathrow Airport, it led to the arrest of CEO Ali Daghir and Jeanine Speckman, Kock found that defence journalist, Jonathan Moyle, possessed evidence of UK covert deals. Consequently, Kock and [a third named agent] eliminated him in Santiago, Chile. [S NF NC].”
The dead man's father, retired teacher Tony Moyle, said that the motive for the murder lay in Moyle's uncovering of information regarding arms shipments from Chile to Iraq.
The family's claim of a concealment has been supported by a book "The Valkyrie Operation" on Moyle's death written by Wensley Clarkson. The author alleges that Moyle was killed by local hitmen hired by arms dealer Carlos Cardoen, who denies he had any participation in Moyle's death.
In late 1997 a Santiago Court of Appeal reopened the investigation into Jonathan Moyle's death following representations from a lawyer representing the family.
The Editor of Lobster provided additional insight and context to the affair in a speech to the Centre for Security Analysis in London on 8 November 2000 and published in the summer 2001 edition of Lobster - issue 41. Explaining how the SIS's are "so awful to work for", he continued:
Take Jonathan Moyle, a not very bright, gung-ho Queen and country man. Young Moyle, while at University at Aberystwyth, was a Special Branch snitch who thought it his patriotic duty to tell the local SB who was smoking dope. On graduating he became an agent for - well, MI6 probably, though who knows? Moyle ended up being murdered in Chile. According to the book about him, Moyle wasn't very subtle as an intelligence asset and was poking around the Chilean arms dealer Cardoen - one of Mark Thatcher's friends - while Cardoen was doing a big helicopter deal with the Iraqis. This was in the run-up to the American attack on Iraq. Moyle ended up dead in a wardrobe in Chile and what does the local FCO guy do? Tells the media that Moyle was the victim of an auto-erotic accident: strangled himself while having a wank.
This death was also connected to the death of Danny casolaro which is another case I shall cover on another episode of this podcast.
Most incidents occurred after the men have successfully completed important projects or left one job for another.
Four of the dead men were employees of the GEC group – three at Marconi and one at Easams Ltd. Two others worked at separate times at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham. An investigation by Computer News established that most of the men were involved in computer simulation, a key part of defence procurement.
At the time GEC-Marconi was Britain's only torpedo supplier and in 1986 was awarded a £400 million order from the Ministry of Defence for advanced anti-submarine Sting Ray torpedoes. The Royal Military College at Shrivenham is also involved in a number of Britain's leading edge defense projects. The college develops new testing devices for the Ministry of Defence and is engaged as a subcontractor to defence companies on research and development.
All the men involved were ambitious and demonstrated a special ability in their particular field. After every death, police gave unofficial press briefings providing journalists with plausible though unconfirmed explanations for the accidents or apparent suicides. The major problem for police has been the lack of obvious signs of depression in any of the cases. Several British MPs demanded a government inquiry. The UK Ministry of Defence denied that these scientists had been involved in classified Star Wars Projects and that the deaths were in any way connected.
In West Germany in 1986 there were several incidents involving individuals associated with America’s SDI — the Strategic Defence Initiative dubbed ‘Star Wars’ by the press.
The Strategic Defence Initiative was an ambitious programme by Ronald Regean, to create a space based anti-nuclear weapon shield which would have rendered Soviet nuclear capability useless. It has never been proven whether they were actually successful in achieving regean’s goal. Obviously this took place during the Cold War so it isn’t surprising that this information was never made public.
So to start of this list of mysterious deaths we have:
1972-3: Robert Wilson, 43
Expertise: former technical author for Marconi at chelmsford Essex.
Wilson was clearing out his attic when he came across some confidential Marconi documents. When he took them to Marconi he was interviewed at length. The next day while cleaning his .45 revolver he “accidentally” shot himself in the chest or so it is claimed. However he was a member of the local gun club and knew better than to clean a loaded gun with the muzzle pointing at himself. He himself described the incident as “grotesque”. Around may the following year he had another accident. While servicing his car in his garage, he was overcome by fumes. This time the accident was fatal.
March 1973: Geard Jack Darlow, 22
Employed by Marconi at chelmsford. Found dead on his bed in his flat with a knife in his chest. He had previously made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide.
March 1982: Professor Keith Bowden, 46
Expertise: Computer programmer and scientist at Essex University engaged in work for Marconi, who was hailed as an expert on super computers and computer-controlled aircraft.
Circumstance of Death: in march 1982 after being at a function Keith Bowden had a Fatal car crash when his vehicle went out of control across a dual carriageway and plunged onto a disused railway line. He died instantly. Police maintained he had been drinking but family and friends all denied the allegation.
During the inquest, police testified that Bowden's blood alcohol level had exceeded the legal limit and that he had been driving too fast. His death was ruled accidental. police said Bowden was drunk and was driving too fast, but his wife and solicitor believed otherwise. Friends who were with Bowden that night denied he had been drinking.
Another odd aspect about this so called “Accident” was, Bowden’s solicitor hired an accident investigator to examine the wreck. Somebody had swapped the normally pristine tires on Bowden’s Rover with a set that were worn and old. At the inquest this was not allowed to be brought up. Someone asked if the car was in a sound condition, and the answer was yes.
“Hillary Bowdens wife in a state of shock, never protested the published verdict. Yet, she remains convinced that someone tampered with her husband's car. "It certainly looked like foul play," Hillary maintains.
Coroner's verdict: Accident.
July 1982: Jack Wolfenden, 56
Radio operator at GCHQ at cheltenham. Though an experienced glider pilot he had a fatal crash when his powered glider crashed into a cotswold hillside in perfect flying weather. (Which sounds to me much like the suspicious death of doctor don chumly which I shall talk more about in my Oklahoma City bombing podcast episode.) his girlfriend said he had been acting oddly, lethargic and indecisive after returning from abroad. No indication of suicide though.
The verdict: accidental death
However, what was odd about this death was that the accident occurred within a few days of the appearance in court of Gefforey Prime, a fellow worker at GCHQ who was subsequently jailed as a spy. His files named several colleagues who might be blackmailed or bribed to pass information on to the soviets. However strangely the authorities denied any connection between Wolfenden’s death and prime’s conviction. I tend to disagree and find the timing of the death to be very interesting.
1982: Ernest Brockway, 43
Employed at irton Moor, one of GCHQ’s largest grand stations. He was found hanged in his home. Though he left no suicide note, suicide was presumed. His widow told reporters that her husband had been a sick man and most oddly she had been told by authorities to say nothing. Which I find really weird. As with wolfenden the authorities also denied any link with spying.
1983: Stephen Drinkwater, 25
Employed at Cheltenham, in the only department where it is permitted to make copies of classified documents. Found by his parents in his room asphyxiated with a plastic bag over his head. It was supposed that he had been involved in a sexual experiment. Which again I find hard to believe and seems too coincidental to me. I also don’t know if the parents were ever interviewed in regards to this.
What I find incredible and interesting about these spate of deaths is, each man worked at GCHQ, There was a scandal involving espionage and shortly thereafter these men die and the authorities try and hush it all up. GCHQ is the name that keeps cropping up over and over.
April 1983: Lt. Colonel Anthony Godley, 49
Expertise: Head of the Work Study Unit at the Royal College of Military Science.
Circumstance of Death: Disappeared mysteriously on a Saturday morning in April 1983 without explanation to anyone. He spent the night at a hotel in dover, leaving without paying his bill. His car was found at Folkestone, where his yacht was missing and has never been found. He is Presumed dead. There is even more evidence supporting this because When his father died in 1987, leaving Godly a rather large sum of money, he never showed up to receive it. The other odd aspect about this is that his widow left their married quarters at RMCS within 24 hours without making any comment her husbands disappearance.
April 6th 1984: George Franks, 58
Radio specialist At GCHQ engaged in highly classified defense work. Originally said to have been found hanged in his Sussex home, leaving a suicide note. However it was subsequently stated that he had died of a heart attack. And the verdict was natural causes.
Verdict: disputed.
What was unusual about this death was that the original statement seems to have been totally false but how this error originated only adds to the mystery. Then it got even weirder the name of the victim was not at first disclosed, and a news blackout followed his death. The authorities explained this was out of concern for his family. Yet no family member appeared except for his sister who had not seen him for 4 months. A neighbour stated Franks only received 2 phone calls a week mostly from a man who identified himself in code. How the neighbour knew about this was never explained. Another weird aspect to this case that’s never been explained is anticipating his heart attack Franks bundled up a number of papers with directions they were to be given to his sister only. However they were for some reason given to police and only some of the documents the contents of which remains disputed were passed on to his sister. A partially concealed malt whisky bottle and a bottle of tablets were found near the body. Strange thing was they were said to have had no relevance to his death. Which I find very odd because some medication if mixed with alcohol can cause heart problems and can also induce a heart attack so why this was so hastily ruled out as the cause of death mystifies me.
To make matters even more interesting a friend revealed that he had been in serious dispute with his employers GCHQ but could not elaborate. Possibly related to his taste in pornography which had caused him some problems at work. Although “ how the magazines were discovered and why the matter was take so seriously was never made clear”.
1985: Stephen Oke, 35
Worked at GCHQ’s listening post at morwenstow, Cornwall. His work apparently had no security aspect, though he had access to sensitive material.he was found hanging from a beam in the loft of his home while his wife and children were away for a few days. No apparent reason for suicde was ever found.
Verdict: open
this case however had some sinister undertones and some very interesting clues that never added up. For instance a piece of string was tied around his hands however the police claimed that he could have tied it himself which I don’t believe. Cigarettes were found nearby though Oke did not smoke. An empty brandy bottle was found in the dustbin however it was noted that Oke disliked spirits. To me based on this evidence it seems obvious that Oke had visitors who helped him with being hanged from the beam in the loft. Why this avenue of inquiry was never investigated remains unknown.
March 1985: Roger Hill, 49
Expertise: Radar designer and draughtsman with Marconi.
Circumstance of Death: Died by a shotgun blast at home.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
November 19, 1985: Jonathan Walsh, 29
Expertise: Digital communications expert who had worked at GEC and at British Telecom's secret research centre at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk.
Circumstance of Death: Died as a result of falling from a hotel room in Abidjan, West Africa, while working for British Telecom. He had expressed fears that his life was in danger. For reasons that remain unexplained. Conflicting evidence left the exact circumstances of his death unclear and raised the possibility of a struggle before his fall. The other really odd aspect to this case was that he had for some reason secretly booked a flight to Britain for the following day.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
August 5, 1986: Vimal Dajibhai, 24
Expertise: Computer software engineer with Marconi, responsible for testing computer control systems of Tigerfish and Stingray torpedoes at Marconi Underwater Systems at Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, and was also working on an SDI related simulation system.
Circumstance of Death: Dajibhai told his wife he would be working late, and then drove a hundred miles to Bristol (a city with which he had no known connection) and fell 260 feet (80 m) from the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon. Dajibhai was found with his pants around his ankles and a needle-sized puncture wound on his buttock. The Bristol coroner was concerned by this “it was a mystery then and remains a mystery now.”
Investigating journalists found discrepancies in other evidence. "A police report noted a puncture mark on Dijabhai's left buttock after his fall from the bridge," explains Tony Collins, who covered the story for Britain's COMPUTER NEWS magazine. "Apparently, this was the reason his funeral was halted seconds before the cremation was to take place.
"Members of the Family were told that the body was to be taken away for a second postmortem, to be done by a top home- office pathologist. That's not normal. Then, a few months later, police held a press conference and announced that it hadn't been a puncture mark after all, that it was a wound caused by a bone fragment.
The results of this second postmortem have never been released.
"I find it very difficult to reconcile the initial coroner's report with what the police were saying a few months later," Collins contends.
An inquest was unable to determine whether Dajibhai had been pushed off the bridge or whether he had jumped. There had been no witnesses. The verdict was left open. Yet, authorities did their best to pin his death on suicide.
Which is suspicious In and of itself that is that they were pushing for a suicide verdict.
Police testified that Dajibhai had been suffering from depression, something his family and friends flatly denied. Dajibhai had absolutely no history of personal or emotional problems.
Police also claimed that the deceased had been drinking with a friend, Heyat Shah, shortly before his death, and that a bottle of wine and two used paper cups had been found in his car. Yet, forensic tests were never done on the auto, and those who knew Vimal, including Shah, say that he had never taken a drink of alcohol in his life.
Dajibhai had been looking forward to starting a new job in the City of London and friends had confirmed that there was no reason for him to commit suicide. At the time of his death he was in the last week of his work with Marconi.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
October 1986: Arshad Sharif, 26
Expertise: Reported to have been working on systems for the detection of submarines by satellite.
Circumstance of Death: Died as a result of placing a nylon rope around his neck, tying the other end to a tree and then driving off in his car with the accelerator pedal jammed down.
His unusual death was complicated by several issues: Sharif lived near Vimal Dajibhai in Stanmore, Middlesex, he committed suicide in Bristol and, inexplicably, had spent the last night of his life in a rooming house. He had paid for his accommodation in cash and was seen to have a bundle of high-denomination banknotes in his possession. While the police were told of the banknotes, no mention was made of them at the inquest and they were never found on his body.
Which to me is odd because having that kind of money raises questions such as where did he get the money? why did he have so much on him? and most important of all where did it all go and why was it never brought up or looked into?
In addition, most of the other guests at the rooming house worked at British Aerospace. Prior to working for Marconi, Sharif had also worked at British Aerospace on guided weapons technology.
A relative summoned to identify the body noticed something suspicious about his car. What appeared to be a metal rod was lying on the floor of the car next to the accelerator. Had it been used to wedge down the pedal?
The coroner wasn’t happy. “This is past coincidence…I will not be completing this inquest until I know how two men with no connection to Bristol came to meet the same end here”.
but both men were suspected to be working on a top secret project called Cosmos, which involved underwater guidance systems, establishing a further connection between the pair.
The deaths of Sharif and Dajibhai were the first to raise eyebrows and authorities quickly moved to offer viable reasons for the “coincidental” loss of lives. Investigators proposed that Sharif was depressed over a recent breakup. However, the lover in question maintained that she had not seen Sharif in over three years.
the woman police unofficially say was his lover contends that she was only his landlady when he was working for British Aerospace in Bristol. She's married, has three children, and she's deeply religious. The possibility of the two having an affair seems highly unlikely.
discounting the “jilted lover” theory, another woman from Pakistan came forward and admitted that she was his fiancée. Sharif’s family confirmed the relationship and said he had been genuinely in love with her and that she was due to arrive in town soon for a visit.
Authorities next said a taped message had been found in the car which appeared to them to be a verbal suicide note. On it, officers said, he'd admitted to having had an affair, thus bringing shame on his family.
Family members who've heard the tape say that it actually gave no indication of why Sharif might want to kill himself.Family members listened to the tape and disagreed. They were reportedly informed by the coroner that it was “not in their best interest” to attend the inquest.
Other interesting points to note was that 4 lengths of rope were found in the car but a receipt found in the car was for only 1 length of rope.
Stranger still on the day of his death he had an appointment with his MP (Member of parliament) it is presumed to discuss delays in the entry permit fr his Pakistani bride.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
January 1987: Richard Pugh, 37
Expertise: Ministry of Defence computer consultant and digital communications expert.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead in his flat in with his feet bound and a plastic bag over his head. Rope was tied around his body, coiling four times around his neck.
Coroner's verdict: The coroner’s verdict was an accident due to sexual misadventure. As in it was thought that he was practising what is known as autoerotic asphyxiation, where it is believed that while you suffocate and have an orgasm at the same time, the orgasm is supposed to be much more powerful. An extremely dangerous practice. Although in this case it seems to me to use be all too convenient that this death was ruled as such.
January 8, 1987: Avtar Singh-Gida, 26
Expertise: Researcher at the Ministry of Defence Admiralty Research Establishment, conducting tests of submarine warfare equiment.
Circumstance of Disappearance: Disappeared mysteriously in January 1987 during his doctoral thesis on underwater signal processing at Loughborough University, just three weeks away from his project's successful completion.
Gida vanished just two days before his wedding anniversary and had already bought his wife a gift for the occasion. He was seen last with a colleague near a reservoir in Derbyshire in northern England, where they were conducting an experiment in underwater acoustics. The two separated for lunch and Singh-Gida never returned. Police divers searched the area around the lake but found no body in the reservoir.
Authorities feared foul play (they were particularly concerned because of Singh-Gida’s friendship with Dajibhai, who had died mysteriously the August prior), but Singh-Gida was discovered in Paris four months later on May 8, 1987 working under an assumed name in a sweatshop filled with illegal immigrants. He was found in part due to a tip off by police to a derby journalist.Authorities said he told them he could not remember any details of his disappearance. He later resumed his scientific work and to date, has refused to discuss his disappearance nor the death of his colleague, Vimal Dajibhai with anyone.
His wife also stated that he had been very disturbed by the death the previous August of Dajibhai who was a known acquaintance.
Why he was left alive and wasn’t killed remains a mystery to me as he is the only one on this list who wasn’t killed.
January 12, 1987: Dr. John Brittan, 52
Expertise: Scientist formerly engaged in top secret work at the Royal College of Military Science at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, and later deployed in a research department at the Ministry of Defence.
Circumstance of Death: had a very weird car accident in December of 1986 in which he lost control and drove into a ditch but what was strange about it was he later told colleagues he could not understand how it happened. It might be possible that someone tampered with his car although whether it was examined remains unknown like a lot of things in these cases. In January he paid a working visit to the U.S. and returned with a throat infection which made him take time off work. January 12th was to have beeches day back at work but he was found dead sitting in his car in the garage of his camberley home. Due to carbon monoxide poisoning. It was supposed that he had been warming up his car and forgotten to open the garage door. He had no reason to kill himself.
Coroner's verdict: Accident.
February 1987: David Skeels, 43
Expertise: Engineer with Marconi.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead in his car with a hosepipe connected to the exhaust.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
February 1987: Victor Moore, 46
Expertise: Design Engineer with Marconi Space and Defence Systems.
Circumstance of Death: Died from a drug overdose. Moore had just finished work on infrared satellites at Portsmouth when he was found dead. For reasons that remain unknown His death is said to have instigated an MI5 investigation, the results of which remain secret. There was also a separate investigation into Marconi based at Portsmouth by the Ministry of Defence Serious Crime Squad.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
February 22, 1987: Peter Peapell, 46
Expertise: Scientist at the Royal College of Military Science. He had been working on testing titanium for it's resistance to explosives and the use of computer analysis of signals from metals.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead allegedly from carbon monoxide poisoning, in his Oxfordshire garage. The circumstances of his death raised some elements of doubt. Having spent an evening with friends, he and his wife returned home and Peapell went to put away the car.
The next morning, Maureen discovered that her husband had not come to bed. She found him in the garage, his body parallel to the car’s rear bumper with his mouth near the tailpipe. The car’s engine was still running. She pulled him into the open air but he was already dead. It was proposed that he had crawled under the car to investigate a rattle (or some similar mechanical failure) and had been overcome by the automobile’s fumes. However, Maureen reportedly noted that the light in the garage was broken – and Peapell was not found with a flashlight in his possession.
Police were apparently baffled as to how he could have manoeuvred into the position in which he was found. Doubts were of course raised and a local constable attempted to recreate the deadly scene. He found that with the garage door closed, he was unable to crawl underneath the car.
The constable also noted that it was not possible to close the garage door from Peapell’s position (indicating Peapell would have had to close the door before he moved under the car).
Investigative reports noted that carbon deposits found on the inside of the garage door showed the car had only been running a short period of time (Maureen had arisen from her sleep and found the body seven hours after going to bed).
It was confirmed that Peapell had shown no signs of stress which could have caused him to commit suicide. His death followed the somewhat similar death of Dr. John Brittan . At the time of his death, Peapell no longer worked at the Royal College of Military Science and had moved to a research department of the Ministry of Defence. Interestingly, both Peapell and Brittan had both worked at the Royal College of Military Science and, furthermore, both had been on a recent trip to the US in connection with their work.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
John Whiteman supposedly drowned himself in his bathtub, the body surrounded by pills and empty alcohol bottles. Yet the autopsy revealed no trace of drugs or alcohol in his body.
March 30, 1987: David Sands, 37
Expertise: Senior scientist working for Easams of Camberley, Surrey, a sister company to Marconi. Dr. John Brittan had also worked at Camberley.
Circumstance of Death: Fatal car crash when he made a sudden U-turn on a dual carriageway while on his way to work, crashing at high speed into a disused cafeteria. He was found still wearing his seat belt and it was discovered that in his car were two additional five gallon cans full of petrol. causing the car to be completely consumed by a fireball. Sands was only identified with reference to his dental records.None of the normal reasons for a possible suicide could be found. Another odd and sinister aspect that has never been explained is that Investigators could find no clue as to who put the gasoline tanks in his car before he embarked on his fateful ride.
Even more bizarre was that Given the suspicious circumstances, the coroner refused to rule Sand’s death a suicide. An open verdict was returned. Soon thereafter, the newspapers received “leaked” information hinting that Sands had been depressed and under a tremendous emotion strain. His mother-in-law, Margaret Worth, quickly dismissed the claims.
Quote: “When David died, it was a great mystery to us. He was very successful. He was very confident. He had just pulled off a great coup for his company, and he was about to be greatly rewarded. He had a very bright future ahead of him. He was perfectly happy the week before this happened.”
Coroner's verdict: Open.
April 10, 1987: Stuart Gooding, 23
Expertise: Postgraduate research student at the Royal College of Military Science.
Circumstance of Death: Fatal car crash while on holiday in Cyprus: he died instantly when his hired car collided head on with a lorry. The lorry driver was said to be unhurt. At least one senior employee at the college considered that the death could be significant. Interestingly enough it turned out that this death occurred at the same time as RMCS college personnel were carrying out military exercises in Cyprus.
Coroner's verdict: Accident.
April 10, 1987 David (Robert) Greenhalgh, 46
Expertise: Contracts manager at ICL's defence division at Winnersh near Reading.
Circumstance of Death: Suffered multiple injuries after a mysterious leap from a 12m (40 ft) high railway bridge on his way to work at Maidenhead, Berkshire, the same day as Stuart Gooding's fatal car crash (see above). The firm admitted he had been positively vetted and may have had access to secret UK and NATO data. He was working on the same defense project as David Sands, who had died less than two weeks earlier. He survived the fall and stated that he had no idea how or why he had leapt from the bridge. He died a few days later in hospital.
April 14th 1987: Mark Wisner, 24
He was a software engineer at the aeroplane & armament experimental establishment as boscombe down. He was found dead at his home at durrington wearing women boost and suspenders. With a plastic sack over his head and cling film wrapped around his face. He was said to be a transvestite in his leisure hours. And his death was perceived as an unsuccessful sexual experiment. Although I do find his death to be interesting because it could very well have been set up to look like an “accident”. accident by sexual misadventure has been used in the past in a lot of espionage cases to make a murder appear as an accident and to humiliate the person who was killed.
April 17, 1987: George Kountis, age unknown.
Expertise: Systems Analyst at Bristol Polytechnic.
Circumstance of Death: Drowned the same day as Shani Warren - as the result of a car accident, his upturned car being found in the River Mersey, Liverpool.
Coroner's verdict: Misadventure. This ruling I found bizarre given the circumstances. I have no idea how the coroner came to rule this guys death as a misadventure?
(Kountis's sister obviously felt the same way because she called for a fresh inquest as she thought "things didn't add up”.)
April 17, 1987: Shani Warren, 26
Expertise: Personal assistant in a company called Micro Scope, which was taken over by GEC Marconi less than four weeks after her death.
Circumstance of Death: Found drowned in 18 inches of water, not far from the site of David Greenhalgh's bridge fall. Warren died exactly one week after the death of Stuart Gooding and serious injury to Greenhalgh, and the same day as the death of George Kountis. She was found gagged with a noose around her neck. Her feet were also bound and her hands tied behind her back.
The reason I don’t believe a word of this is It was said that Warren had gagged herself, tied her feet with rope, then tied her hands behind her back and hobbled to the lake on stiletto heels to drown herself. Which is just ridiculous there isn’t any way possible she could have done this without someone’s help.
The suicide theory was supported by the fact that supposedly the only footprints that were found were her stiletto high heels. This isn’t the case however because when a reconstruction was done it turned out that someone who was wearing flat shoes would have left no marks. That coupled with the fact that her car that was parked nearby had a defective gearbox and the contents of which was strewn around the grass nearby as though it had been searched. Even more puzzling was the police investigation for some unknown reason was weirdly unenthusiastic.
Coroner’s verdict: Open.
May 3, 1987: Michael Baker, 22
Expertise: Digital communications expert working on a defence project at Plessey; part-time member of Signals Corps SAS.
Circumstance of Death: on a fishing trip with two friends his car crossed the highway and crashed through the barrier. His two companions were uninjured but he was killed. The weird part about that to me was his mother reported that he had not wanted to go but someone came to the door for him and he left then He ends up being the only one killed? To me it sounds as if he was set up to be killed and it was made to look like an accident. It also turned out that he was a part time member of the SAS (Special Air Service) squadron with MOD connections.
Coroner's verdict: Misadventure. Again this verdict seems strange to me.
June 1987: Frank Jennings, 60.
Expertise: Electronic Weapons Engineer with Plessey.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead from a heart attack.
No inquest.
January 1988: Russell Smith, 23
Expertise: Laboratory technician with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Essex.
Circumstance of Death: 23-year-old Russell Smith, a lab technician at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, fell to his death from a cliff in Cornwall in January 1988. Police began searching for 23-year-old Russell Smith in mid-January after he vanished from his parents’ home, where he lived. He had previously asked for a day off from his job at the Atomic Energy Authority in Harwell, 50 miles west of London. His death was ruled a suicide.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
March 25, 1988: Trevor Knight, 52
Expertise: Computer engineer with Marconi Space and Defence Systems in Stanmore, Middlesex.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead at his home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire at the wheel of his car with a hosepipe connected to the exhaust. A St. Albans coroner said that Knight's woman friend, Miss Narmada Thanki (who also worked with him at Marconi) had found three suicide notes left by him which made clear his intentions. The strange thing about this was the contents was never disclosed and those who have seen them refuse to comment about them.
Miss Thanki had mentioned that Knight disliked his work but she did not detect any depression that would have driven him to suicide. The previous day he had also called his mother sounding quite happy and making plans for the weekend.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
August 1988: Alistair Beckham, 50
Expertise: Software engineer with Plessey Defence Systems.
Circumstance of Death: was found dead in his dark, musty backyard toolshed behind his home. Bare wires leading from a live electrical main were wrapped around his chest and a piece of cloth was stuffed in his mouth. A paperclip was placed across the electrical main to ensure the breaker did not trip while the electrical current ran through his body.His wife noted that Beckham had installed a wide-angle peep hole on the door of the toolshed.
Beckham’s wife was entirely unconvinced her husband committed suicide.
His wife, Mary Beckham, said:“We don’t know why he did it…if he did it. And I don’t believe that he did do it. He wouldn’t go out to the shed [to do that]. There had to be something….”Beckham was highly secretive about his work and just hours after his death men from the Ministry of Defence arrived at the scene and took away several documents and files from Beckham’s home.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
August 22, 1988: Peter Ferry, 60
Expertise: Retired Army Brigadier and an Assistant Marketing Director with Marconi.
Circumstance of Death: was found dead in his apartment in August 1988. His body was found on the floor of the apartment, the stripped ends of an electrical cord in his mouth.
A sinister aspect to this case was that His wife noted that one month before his death, a truck had purposely swerved at him and his daughter while they drove to the store. The incident left Ferry shaken and afraid for his life. His death could not be ruled suicide nor homicide and the coroner’s ruling remains open.
Coroner's verdict: Open
September 1988: Andrew Hall, 33
Expertise: Engineering Manager with British Aerospace.
Circumstance of Death: Carbon monoxide poisoning in a car with a hosepipe connected to the exhaust.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
The most astonishing thing about all these deaths is not only is it statistically impossible for this to be normal, but The conservative government of Margaret Thatcher dismissed calls for an inquiry, claiming the deaths were not statistically unusual and were just ‘coincidences’, perhaps, they claimed, exacerbated by high levels of stress in the defence industry. Which doesn’t hold water with me.
Professor Colin Pritchard, a noted expert in mental illness and suicides, thinks at least some of the deaths were statistically uncommon.Whilst it's true suicide is one of the most prevalent causes of early death in men, especially young men, Pritchard believes factors in some of the cases make the suicide verdicts unlikely.
Pritchard cites the cases of at least 4 of the men that share unusual elements. All 4 men had complained to friends and family that they had been tasked ‘strange’, ‘impossible’ and ‘unscientific’ tasks by their employers.All 4 men committed suicide in incredibly violent and bizarre ways.
Pritchard has studied numerous suicide cases and thinks such extreme suicide methods are normally only associated with people suffering severe mental breakdowns, to the extent they would be unable to even hold down jobs.Yet the men were all employed up until the day of their deaths and none had shown any sign of mental illness or other disturbance.
All of the men had also recently found new jobs and were preparing to leave within days of their deaths. Likewise, all 4 men had recently arranged appointments with their MPs. Which is interesting because if one person was to do it you’d put it down to nothing much at all, but four men working in the same field, who all died asked to see their MP? That to me is something more than just a mere coincidence.
The question then becomes What were the strange ‘unscientific’ projects that the men were complaining of, and why had they all booked appointments with their MPs? Had they stumbled on something in their jobs that had worried them something that led to them been silenced? In all honesty I believe so the old saying of “dead men tell no tales” seems to permeate the air in this case.
The biggest thing that got me was the death by sexual misadventure. There is no easier way than to make a murder look like an accident or suicide than make it look like a sex game gone horribly wrong.
Several of the deaths were put down to sex games gone wrong. But intelligence expert Conrad Black says death by sexual misadventure is a common method of disguising murder in the world of espionage.
Black told the Daily Record and I quote “Disposing of an enemy and making it look like a perverted fantasy gone wrong is in the training manuals of every spy agency from MI6 to Mossad.
The sex game cover is a very useful mechanism in a murder. Not only does it provide a disguise for the actual means and method of death, it trashes the reputation of the victim and blunts the energy of any subsequent investigation.
This is why the coroners verdict for me doesn’t hold water. One death like this perhaps, but to have two deaths both related to Marconi, both done in similar fashion? I don’t buy it. The other thing was it was never made clear if both mens history were checked if they were into that sort of sexual kink. IF not that would raise red flags for me. For someone to perform sex act they don’t like and be found like that, says to me the scene was staged.
Another possible reason for this spate of deaths is that
According to a high-ranking British government official, for a year and a half the Ministry of Defense has been secretly investigating Marconi on allegations of defence- contract fraud--overcharging the government, bribing officials. The extensive probe has required most of the MoD's investigative resources, conceivably reaching as far as Marconi's sub- contractors and into MoD research facilities such as the Royal Military College of Science and the Royal Air Force Research Center.
Another link in the chain was that Almost all of the dead scientists were associated with one or more of these establishments.
If Marconi was systematically defrauding the government for millions of pounds each year, perhaps an employee stumbled upon incriminating evidence and had to be done away with. It would be easy enough to make it look like an accident.
We may never know who or what killed all these scientists. Everyone has a theory.
The National Forum Foundation, a conservative Washington D.C., think tank, believes the deaths are the work of European- based, left-wing terrorists, such as the Red Army Faction who took credit for gunning down a West German bureaucrat who'd negotiated Star Wars contracts Ernst Zimmermann, who was shot to death at his home near Munich in February 1985.
The group also claims the July 1986 bombing death of a researcher director Karl Heinz Beckurts from the Siemens Company--a high-tech, West German electronics firm. The terrorists apparently chose their target to seek to exploit opposition to nuclear power and to West German cooperation in research on the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars.”
A seven-page letter, signed by the Red Army Faction and displayed at a news conference at the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, cited "secret negotiations" involving Siemens in a possible role in the SDI research program.
They have yet to take credit for any of the scientists.
Sources:
https://projectcamelot.org/marconi.html
https://theunredacted.com/dead-scientists-the-marconi-murders/
https://www.altereddimensions.net/2014/mysterious-sdi-defense-program-deaths-beg-frightening-question-far-will-government-go-protect-secrets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Moyle
http://www.whale.to/b/sdi.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/07/10/terrorist-group-kills-executive-near-munich/da623290-a2db-448f-ac1c-f18bda0da97f/
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=7aJVq5-ZkuEC&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=Lt.+Colonel+Anthony+Godley&source=bl&ots=Nt-0qYZ6OI&sig=ACfU3U2PuPyugf3o52Bq77h1Yg3sZc7t_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZz4_2lPz3AhW0SGwGHacLAMs4ChDoAXoECBkQAw#v=onepage&q=Lt.%20Colonel%20Anthony%20Godley&f=false
The death of the British defense journalist Jonathan Moyle, who was found hanged in his Santiago hotel room on April 1, 1990, has also been the subject of speculation as being connected to the Marconi deaths.
Jonathan Moyle, the 28-year-old editor of the magazine 'Defence Helicopter World' and former RAF helicopter pilot, was found dead in room 1406 of Santiago's Hotel Carrera on 31. March 1990. His purpose in Santiago was to attend a Chilean sponsored defence conference.
He was found hanging in a wardrobe with a pillow case over his head. But a needle mark on his leg and blood on the bed were not considered in the first police analysis.
He was interested in a Bell Helicopter for civil use that the Chilean company Industrias Cardoen was converting to multi-use, especially for Third World conditions and economies. At that time, just before the Gulf War (the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops began 2. August 1990), Iraq was a potential customer for the helicopter.
Moyle's death was considered initially by the Chilean and British authorities as suicide or death in some sort of "bizarre sex game". But in December 1991, after pressure from the Moyle family, a judicial investigation in Chile concluded he had been assassinated, but as the police couldn't identify any suspect they halted the manhunt.
The United Kingdom inquest also into the death of Moyle, opened in Exeter in November 1990. It was adjourned by forensic doctor Richard Van Oppen after a pathologist said the autopsy could not be completed due to the fact that vital organs had been removed. In 1998 the reconvened inquest found that he had been unlawfully killed and the authorities later apologised to the family for spreading the allegation of suicide.
Excerpts from an apparently "un-redacted" version of a CIA report entitled Project Babylon, published in 2013 by the British magazine Lobster and in May 2014 by the newspaper Tribune, blame the murder of Jonathan Moyle on a British government agent, the late Stephan Adolphus Kock. The "un-redacted" CIA report states: "Meantime, as we co-ordinated an MI6 set-up, alleged nuclear capacitors shipped from US by Euromac for Iraq was [sic] seized at Heathrow Airport, it led to the arrest of CEO Ali Daghir and Jeanine Speckman, Kock found that defence journalist, Jonathan Moyle, possessed evidence of UK covert deals. Consequently, Kock and [a third named agent] eliminated him in Santiago, Chile. [S NF NC].”
The dead man's father, retired teacher Tony Moyle, said that the motive for the murder lay in Moyle's uncovering of information regarding arms shipments from Chile to Iraq.
The family's claim of a concealment has been supported by a book "The Valkyrie Operation" on Moyle's death written by Wensley Clarkson. The author alleges that Moyle was killed by local hitmen hired by arms dealer Carlos Cardoen, who denies he had any participation in Moyle's death.
In late 1997 a Santiago Court of Appeal reopened the investigation into Jonathan Moyle's death following representations from a lawyer representing the family.
The Editor of Lobster provided additional insight and context to the affair in a speech to the Centre for Security Analysis in London on 8 November 2000 and published in the summer 2001 edition of Lobster - issue 41. Explaining how the SIS's are "so awful to work for", he continued:
Take Jonathan Moyle, a not very bright, gung-ho Queen and country man. Young Moyle, while at University at Aberystwyth, was a Special Branch snitch who thought it his patriotic duty to tell the local SB who was smoking dope. On graduating he became an agent for - well, MI6 probably, though who knows? Moyle ended up being murdered in Chile. According to the book about him, Moyle wasn't very subtle as an intelligence asset and was poking around the Chilean arms dealer Cardoen - one of Mark Thatcher's friends - while Cardoen was doing a big helicopter deal with the Iraqis. This was in the run-up to the American attack on Iraq. Moyle ended up dead in a wardrobe in Chile and what does the local FCO guy do? Tells the media that Moyle was the victim of an auto-erotic accident: strangled himself while having a wank.
This death was also connected to the death of Danny casolaro which is another case I shall cover on another episode of this podcast.
Most incidents occurred after the men have successfully completed important projects or left one job for another.
Four of the dead men were employees of the GEC group – three at Marconi and one at Easams Ltd. Two others worked at separate times at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham. An investigation by Computer News established that most of the men were involved in computer simulation, a key part of defence procurement.
At the time GEC-Marconi was Britain's only torpedo supplier and in 1986 was awarded a £400 million order from the Ministry of Defence for advanced anti-submarine Sting Ray torpedoes. The Royal Military College at Shrivenham is also involved in a number of Britain's leading edge defense projects. The college develops new testing devices for the Ministry of Defence and is engaged as a subcontractor to defence companies on research and development.
All the men involved were ambitious and demonstrated a special ability in their particular field. After every death, police gave unofficial press briefings providing journalists with plausible though unconfirmed explanations for the accidents or apparent suicides. The major problem for police has been the lack of obvious signs of depression in any of the cases. Several British MPs demanded a government inquiry. The UK Ministry of Defence denied that these scientists had been involved in classified Star Wars Projects and that the deaths were in any way connected.
In West Germany in 1986 there were several incidents involving individuals associated with America’s SDI — the Strategic Defence Initiative dubbed ‘Star Wars’ by the press.
The Strategic Defence Initiative was an ambitious programme by Ronald Regean, to create a space based anti-nuclear weapon shield which would have rendered Soviet nuclear capability useless. It has never been proven whether they were actually successful in achieving regean’s goal. Obviously this took place during the Cold War so it isn’t surprising that this information was never made public.
So to start of this list of mysterious deaths we have:
1972-3: Robert Wilson, 43
Expertise: former technical author for Marconi at chelmsford Essex.
Wilson was clearing out his attic when he came across some confidential Marconi documents. When he took them to Marconi he was interviewed at length. The next day while cleaning his .45 revolver he “accidentally” shot himself in the chest or so it is claimed. However he was a member of the local gun club and knew better than to clean a loaded gun with the muzzle pointing at himself. He himself described the incident as “grotesque”. Around may the following year he had another accident. While servicing his car in his garage, he was overcome by fumes. This time the accident was fatal.
March 1973: Geard Jack Darlow, 22
Employed by Marconi at chelmsford. Found dead on his bed in his flat with a knife in his chest. He had previously made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide.
March 1982: Professor Keith Bowden, 46
Expertise: Computer programmer and scientist at Essex University engaged in work for Marconi, who was hailed as an expert on super computers and computer-controlled aircraft.
Circumstance of Death: in march 1982 after being at a function Keith Bowden had a Fatal car crash when his vehicle went out of control across a dual carriageway and plunged onto a disused railway line. He died instantly. Police maintained he had been drinking but family and friends all denied the allegation.
During the inquest, police testified that Bowden's blood alcohol level had exceeded the legal limit and that he had been driving too fast. His death was ruled accidental. police said Bowden was drunk and was driving too fast, but his wife and solicitor believed otherwise. Friends who were with Bowden that night denied he had been drinking.
Another odd aspect about this so called “Accident” was, Bowden’s solicitor hired an accident investigator to examine the wreck. Somebody had swapped the normally pristine tires on Bowden’s Rover with a set that were worn and old. At the inquest this was not allowed to be brought up. Someone asked if the car was in a sound condition, and the answer was yes.
“Hillary Bowdens wife in a state of shock, never protested the published verdict. Yet, she remains convinced that someone tampered with her husband's car. "It certainly looked like foul play," Hillary maintains.
Coroner's verdict: Accident.
July 1982: Jack Wolfenden, 56
Radio operator at GCHQ at cheltenham. Though an experienced glider pilot he had a fatal crash when his powered glider crashed into a cotswold hillside in perfect flying weather. (Which sounds to me much like the suspicious death of doctor don chumly which I shall talk more about in my Oklahoma City bombing podcast episode.) his girlfriend said he had been acting oddly, lethargic and indecisive after returning from abroad. No indication of suicide though.
The verdict: accidental death
However, what was odd about this death was that the accident occurred within a few days of the appearance in court of Gefforey Prime, a fellow worker at GCHQ who was subsequently jailed as a spy. His files named several colleagues who might be blackmailed or bribed to pass information on to the soviets. However strangely the authorities denied any connection between Wolfenden’s death and prime’s conviction. I tend to disagree and find the timing of the death to be very interesting.
1982: Ernest Brockway, 43
Employed at irton Moor, one of GCHQ’s largest grand stations. He was found hanged in his home. Though he left no suicide note, suicide was presumed. His widow told reporters that her husband had been a sick man and most oddly she had been told by authorities to say nothing. Which I find really weird. As with wolfenden the authorities also denied any link with spying.
1983: Stephen Drinkwater, 25
Employed at Cheltenham, in the only department where it is permitted to make copies of classified documents. Found by his parents in his room asphyxiated with a plastic bag over his head. It was supposed that he had been involved in a sexual experiment. Which again I find hard to believe and seems too coincidental to me. I also don’t know if the parents were ever interviewed in regards to this.
What I find incredible and interesting about these spate of deaths is, each man worked at GCHQ, There was a scandal involving espionage and shortly thereafter these men die and the authorities try and hush it all up. GCHQ is the name that keeps cropping up over and over.
April 1983: Lt. Colonel Anthony Godley, 49
Expertise: Head of the Work Study Unit at the Royal College of Military Science.
Circumstance of Death: Disappeared mysteriously on a Saturday morning in April 1983 without explanation to anyone. He spent the night at a hotel in dover, leaving without paying his bill. His car was found at Folkestone, where his yacht was missing and has never been found. He is Presumed dead. There is even more evidence supporting this because When his father died in 1987, leaving Godly a rather large sum of money, he never showed up to receive it. The other odd aspect about this is that his widow left their married quarters at RMCS within 24 hours without making any comment her husbands disappearance.
April 6th 1984: George Franks, 58
Radio specialist At GCHQ engaged in highly classified defense work. Originally said to have been found hanged in his Sussex home, leaving a suicide note. However it was subsequently stated that he had died of a heart attack. And the verdict was natural causes.
Verdict: disputed.
What was unusual about this death was that the original statement seems to have been totally false but how this error originated only adds to the mystery. Then it got even weirder the name of the victim was not at first disclosed, and a news blackout followed his death. The authorities explained this was out of concern for his family. Yet no family member appeared except for his sister who had not seen him for 4 months. A neighbour stated Franks only received 2 phone calls a week mostly from a man who identified himself in code. How the neighbour knew about this was never explained. Another weird aspect to this case that’s never been explained is anticipating his heart attack Franks bundled up a number of papers with directions they were to be given to his sister only. However they were for some reason given to police and only some of the documents the contents of which remains disputed were passed on to his sister. A partially concealed malt whisky bottle and a bottle of tablets were found near the body. Strange thing was they were said to have had no relevance to his death. Which I find very odd because some medication if mixed with alcohol can cause heart problems and can also induce a heart attack so why this was so hastily ruled out as the cause of death mystifies me.
To make matters even more interesting a friend revealed that he had been in serious dispute with his employers GCHQ but could not elaborate. Possibly related to his taste in pornography which had caused him some problems at work. Although “ how the magazines were discovered and why the matter was take so seriously was never made clear”.
1985: Stephen Oke, 35
Worked at GCHQ’s listening post at morwenstow, Cornwall. His work apparently had no security aspect, though he had access to sensitive material.he was found hanging from a beam in the loft of his home while his wife and children were away for a few days. No apparent reason for suicde was ever found.
Verdict: open
this case however had some sinister undertones and some very interesting clues that never added up. For instance a piece of string was tied around his hands however the police claimed that he could have tied it himself which I don’t believe. Cigarettes were found nearby though Oke did not smoke. An empty brandy bottle was found in the dustbin however it was noted that Oke disliked spirits. To me based on this evidence it seems obvious that Oke had visitors who helped him with being hanged from the beam in the loft. Why this avenue of inquiry was never investigated remains unknown.
March 1985: Roger Hill, 49
Expertise: Radar designer and draughtsman with Marconi.
Circumstance of Death: Died by a shotgun blast at home.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
November 19, 1985: Jonathan Walsh, 29
Expertise: Digital communications expert who had worked at GEC and at British Telecom's secret research centre at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk.
Circumstance of Death: Died as a result of falling from a hotel room in Abidjan, West Africa, while working for British Telecom. He had expressed fears that his life was in danger. For reasons that remain unexplained. Conflicting evidence left the exact circumstances of his death unclear and raised the possibility of a struggle before his fall. The other really odd aspect to this case was that he had for some reason secretly booked a flight to Britain for the following day.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
August 5, 1986: Vimal Dajibhai, 24
Expertise: Computer software engineer with Marconi, responsible for testing computer control systems of Tigerfish and Stingray torpedoes at Marconi Underwater Systems at Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, and was also working on an SDI related simulation system.
Circumstance of Death: Dajibhai told his wife he would be working late, and then drove a hundred miles to Bristol (a city with which he had no known connection) and fell 260 feet (80 m) from the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon. Dajibhai was found with his pants around his ankles and a needle-sized puncture wound on his buttock. The Bristol coroner was concerned by this “it was a mystery then and remains a mystery now.”
Investigating journalists found discrepancies in other evidence. "A police report noted a puncture mark on Dijabhai's left buttock after his fall from the bridge," explains Tony Collins, who covered the story for Britain's COMPUTER NEWS magazine. "Apparently, this was the reason his funeral was halted seconds before the cremation was to take place.
"Members of the Family were told that the body was to be taken away for a second postmortem, to be done by a top home- office pathologist. That's not normal. Then, a few months later, police held a press conference and announced that it hadn't been a puncture mark after all, that it was a wound caused by a bone fragment.
The results of this second postmortem have never been released.
"I find it very difficult to reconcile the initial coroner's report with what the police were saying a few months later," Collins contends.
An inquest was unable to determine whether Dajibhai had been pushed off the bridge or whether he had jumped. There had been no witnesses. The verdict was left open. Yet, authorities did their best to pin his death on suicide.
Which is suspicious In and of itself that is that they were pushing for a suicide verdict.
Police testified that Dajibhai had been suffering from depression, something his family and friends flatly denied. Dajibhai had absolutely no history of personal or emotional problems.
Police also claimed that the deceased had been drinking with a friend, Heyat Shah, shortly before his death, and that a bottle of wine and two used paper cups had been found in his car. Yet, forensic tests were never done on the auto, and those who knew Vimal, including Shah, say that he had never taken a drink of alcohol in his life.
Dajibhai had been looking forward to starting a new job in the City of London and friends had confirmed that there was no reason for him to commit suicide. At the time of his death he was in the last week of his work with Marconi.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
October 1986: Arshad Sharif, 26
Expertise: Reported to have been working on systems for the detection of submarines by satellite.
Circumstance of Death: Died as a result of placing a nylon rope around his neck, tying the other end to a tree and then driving off in his car with the accelerator pedal jammed down.
His unusual death was complicated by several issues: Sharif lived near Vimal Dajibhai in Stanmore, Middlesex, he committed suicide in Bristol and, inexplicably, had spent the last night of his life in a rooming house. He had paid for his accommodation in cash and was seen to have a bundle of high-denomination banknotes in his possession. While the police were told of the banknotes, no mention was made of them at the inquest and they were never found on his body.
Which to me is odd because having that kind of money raises questions such as where did he get the money? why did he have so much on him? and most important of all where did it all go and why was it never brought up or looked into?
In addition, most of the other guests at the rooming house worked at British Aerospace. Prior to working for Marconi, Sharif had also worked at British Aerospace on guided weapons technology.
A relative summoned to identify the body noticed something suspicious about his car. What appeared to be a metal rod was lying on the floor of the car next to the accelerator. Had it been used to wedge down the pedal?
The coroner wasn’t happy. “This is past coincidence…I will not be completing this inquest until I know how two men with no connection to Bristol came to meet the same end here”.
but both men were suspected to be working on a top secret project called Cosmos, which involved underwater guidance systems, establishing a further connection between the pair.
The deaths of Sharif and Dajibhai were the first to raise eyebrows and authorities quickly moved to offer viable reasons for the “coincidental” loss of lives. Investigators proposed that Sharif was depressed over a recent breakup. However, the lover in question maintained that she had not seen Sharif in over three years.
the woman police unofficially say was his lover contends that she was only his landlady when he was working for British Aerospace in Bristol. She's married, has three children, and she's deeply religious. The possibility of the two having an affair seems highly unlikely.
discounting the “jilted lover” theory, another woman from Pakistan came forward and admitted that she was his fiancée. Sharif’s family confirmed the relationship and said he had been genuinely in love with her and that she was due to arrive in town soon for a visit.
Authorities next said a taped message had been found in the car which appeared to them to be a verbal suicide note. On it, officers said, he'd admitted to having had an affair, thus bringing shame on his family.
Family members who've heard the tape say that it actually gave no indication of why Sharif might want to kill himself.Family members listened to the tape and disagreed. They were reportedly informed by the coroner that it was “not in their best interest” to attend the inquest.
Other interesting points to note was that 4 lengths of rope were found in the car but a receipt found in the car was for only 1 length of rope.
Stranger still on the day of his death he had an appointment with his MP (Member of parliament) it is presumed to discuss delays in the entry permit fr his Pakistani bride.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
January 1987: Richard Pugh, 37
Expertise: Ministry of Defence computer consultant and digital communications expert.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead in his flat in with his feet bound and a plastic bag over his head. Rope was tied around his body, coiling four times around his neck.
Coroner's verdict: The coroner’s verdict was an accident due to sexual misadventure. As in it was thought that he was practising what is known as autoerotic asphyxiation, where it is believed that while you suffocate and have an orgasm at the same time, the orgasm is supposed to be much more powerful. An extremely dangerous practice. Although in this case it seems to me to use be all too convenient that this death was ruled as such.
January 8, 1987: Avtar Singh-Gida, 26
Expertise: Researcher at the Ministry of Defence Admiralty Research Establishment, conducting tests of submarine warfare equiment.
Circumstance of Disappearance: Disappeared mysteriously in January 1987 during his doctoral thesis on underwater signal processing at Loughborough University, just three weeks away from his project's successful completion.
Gida vanished just two days before his wedding anniversary and had already bought his wife a gift for the occasion. He was seen last with a colleague near a reservoir in Derbyshire in northern England, where they were conducting an experiment in underwater acoustics. The two separated for lunch and Singh-Gida never returned. Police divers searched the area around the lake but found no body in the reservoir.
Authorities feared foul play (they were particularly concerned because of Singh-Gida’s friendship with Dajibhai, who had died mysteriously the August prior), but Singh-Gida was discovered in Paris four months later on May 8, 1987 working under an assumed name in a sweatshop filled with illegal immigrants. He was found in part due to a tip off by police to a derby journalist.Authorities said he told them he could not remember any details of his disappearance. He later resumed his scientific work and to date, has refused to discuss his disappearance nor the death of his colleague, Vimal Dajibhai with anyone.
His wife also stated that he had been very disturbed by the death the previous August of Dajibhai who was a known acquaintance.
Why he was left alive and wasn’t killed remains a mystery to me as he is the only one on this list who wasn’t killed.
January 12, 1987: Dr. John Brittan, 52
Expertise: Scientist formerly engaged in top secret work at the Royal College of Military Science at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, and later deployed in a research department at the Ministry of Defence.
Circumstance of Death: had a very weird car accident in December of 1986 in which he lost control and drove into a ditch but what was strange about it was he later told colleagues he could not understand how it happened. It might be possible that someone tampered with his car although whether it was examined remains unknown like a lot of things in these cases. In January he paid a working visit to the U.S. and returned with a throat infection which made him take time off work. January 12th was to have beeches day back at work but he was found dead sitting in his car in the garage of his camberley home. Due to carbon monoxide poisoning. It was supposed that he had been warming up his car and forgotten to open the garage door. He had no reason to kill himself.
Coroner's verdict: Accident.
February 1987: David Skeels, 43
Expertise: Engineer with Marconi.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead in his car with a hosepipe connected to the exhaust.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
February 1987: Victor Moore, 46
Expertise: Design Engineer with Marconi Space and Defence Systems.
Circumstance of Death: Died from a drug overdose. Moore had just finished work on infrared satellites at Portsmouth when he was found dead. For reasons that remain unknown His death is said to have instigated an MI5 investigation, the results of which remain secret. There was also a separate investigation into Marconi based at Portsmouth by the Ministry of Defence Serious Crime Squad.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
February 22, 1987: Peter Peapell, 46
Expertise: Scientist at the Royal College of Military Science. He had been working on testing titanium for it's resistance to explosives and the use of computer analysis of signals from metals.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead allegedly from carbon monoxide poisoning, in his Oxfordshire garage. The circumstances of his death raised some elements of doubt. Having spent an evening with friends, he and his wife returned home and Peapell went to put away the car.
The next morning, Maureen discovered that her husband had not come to bed. She found him in the garage, his body parallel to the car’s rear bumper with his mouth near the tailpipe. The car’s engine was still running. She pulled him into the open air but he was already dead. It was proposed that he had crawled under the car to investigate a rattle (or some similar mechanical failure) and had been overcome by the automobile’s fumes. However, Maureen reportedly noted that the light in the garage was broken – and Peapell was not found with a flashlight in his possession.
Police were apparently baffled as to how he could have manoeuvred into the position in which he was found. Doubts were of course raised and a local constable attempted to recreate the deadly scene. He found that with the garage door closed, he was unable to crawl underneath the car.
The constable also noted that it was not possible to close the garage door from Peapell’s position (indicating Peapell would have had to close the door before he moved under the car).
Investigative reports noted that carbon deposits found on the inside of the garage door showed the car had only been running a short period of time (Maureen had arisen from her sleep and found the body seven hours after going to bed).
It was confirmed that Peapell had shown no signs of stress which could have caused him to commit suicide. His death followed the somewhat similar death of Dr. John Brittan . At the time of his death, Peapell no longer worked at the Royal College of Military Science and had moved to a research department of the Ministry of Defence. Interestingly, both Peapell and Brittan had both worked at the Royal College of Military Science and, furthermore, both had been on a recent trip to the US in connection with their work.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
John Whiteman supposedly drowned himself in his bathtub, the body surrounded by pills and empty alcohol bottles. Yet the autopsy revealed no trace of drugs or alcohol in his body.
March 30, 1987: David Sands, 37
Expertise: Senior scientist working for Easams of Camberley, Surrey, a sister company to Marconi. Dr. John Brittan had also worked at Camberley.
Circumstance of Death: Fatal car crash when he made a sudden U-turn on a dual carriageway while on his way to work, crashing at high speed into a disused cafeteria. He was found still wearing his seat belt and it was discovered that in his car were two additional five gallon cans full of petrol. causing the car to be completely consumed by a fireball. Sands was only identified with reference to his dental records.None of the normal reasons for a possible suicide could be found. Another odd and sinister aspect that has never been explained is that Investigators could find no clue as to who put the gasoline tanks in his car before he embarked on his fateful ride.
Even more bizarre was that Given the suspicious circumstances, the coroner refused to rule Sand’s death a suicide. An open verdict was returned. Soon thereafter, the newspapers received “leaked” information hinting that Sands had been depressed and under a tremendous emotion strain. His mother-in-law, Margaret Worth, quickly dismissed the claims.
Quote: “When David died, it was a great mystery to us. He was very successful. He was very confident. He had just pulled off a great coup for his company, and he was about to be greatly rewarded. He had a very bright future ahead of him. He was perfectly happy the week before this happened.”
Coroner's verdict: Open.
April 10, 1987: Stuart Gooding, 23
Expertise: Postgraduate research student at the Royal College of Military Science.
Circumstance of Death: Fatal car crash while on holiday in Cyprus: he died instantly when his hired car collided head on with a lorry. The lorry driver was said to be unhurt. At least one senior employee at the college considered that the death could be significant. Interestingly enough it turned out that this death occurred at the same time as RMCS college personnel were carrying out military exercises in Cyprus.
Coroner's verdict: Accident.
April 10, 1987 David (Robert) Greenhalgh, 46
Expertise: Contracts manager at ICL's defence division at Winnersh near Reading.
Circumstance of Death: Suffered multiple injuries after a mysterious leap from a 12m (40 ft) high railway bridge on his way to work at Maidenhead, Berkshire, the same day as Stuart Gooding's fatal car crash (see above). The firm admitted he had been positively vetted and may have had access to secret UK and NATO data. He was working on the same defense project as David Sands, who had died less than two weeks earlier. He survived the fall and stated that he had no idea how or why he had leapt from the bridge. He died a few days later in hospital.
April 14th 1987: Mark Wisner, 24
He was a software engineer at the aeroplane & armament experimental establishment as boscombe down. He was found dead at his home at durrington wearing women boost and suspenders. With a plastic sack over his head and cling film wrapped around his face. He was said to be a transvestite in his leisure hours. And his death was perceived as an unsuccessful sexual experiment. Although I do find his death to be interesting because it could very well have been set up to look like an “accident”. accident by sexual misadventure has been used in the past in a lot of espionage cases to make a murder appear as an accident and to humiliate the person who was killed.
April 17, 1987: George Kountis, age unknown.
Expertise: Systems Analyst at Bristol Polytechnic.
Circumstance of Death: Drowned the same day as Shani Warren - as the result of a car accident, his upturned car being found in the River Mersey, Liverpool.
Coroner's verdict: Misadventure. This ruling I found bizarre given the circumstances. I have no idea how the coroner came to rule this guys death as a misadventure?
(Kountis's sister obviously felt the same way because she called for a fresh inquest as she thought "things didn't add up”.)
April 17, 1987: Shani Warren, 26
Expertise: Personal assistant in a company called Micro Scope, which was taken over by GEC Marconi less than four weeks after her death.
Circumstance of Death: Found drowned in 18 inches of water, not far from the site of David Greenhalgh's bridge fall. Warren died exactly one week after the death of Stuart Gooding and serious injury to Greenhalgh, and the same day as the death of George Kountis. She was found gagged with a noose around her neck. Her feet were also bound and her hands tied behind her back.
The reason I don’t believe a word of this is It was said that Warren had gagged herself, tied her feet with rope, then tied her hands behind her back and hobbled to the lake on stiletto heels to drown herself. Which is just ridiculous there isn’t any way possible she could have done this without someone’s help.
The suicide theory was supported by the fact that supposedly the only footprints that were found were her stiletto high heels. This isn’t the case however because when a reconstruction was done it turned out that someone who was wearing flat shoes would have left no marks. That coupled with the fact that her car that was parked nearby had a defective gearbox and the contents of which was strewn around the grass nearby as though it had been searched. Even more puzzling was the police investigation for some unknown reason was weirdly unenthusiastic.
Coroner’s verdict: Open.
May 3, 1987: Michael Baker, 22
Expertise: Digital communications expert working on a defence project at Plessey; part-time member of Signals Corps SAS.
Circumstance of Death: on a fishing trip with two friends his car crossed the highway and crashed through the barrier. His two companions were uninjured but he was killed. The weird part about that to me was his mother reported that he had not wanted to go but someone came to the door for him and he left then He ends up being the only one killed? To me it sounds as if he was set up to be killed and it was made to look like an accident. It also turned out that he was a part time member of the SAS (Special Air Service) squadron with MOD connections.
Coroner's verdict: Misadventure. Again this verdict seems strange to me.
June 1987: Frank Jennings, 60.
Expertise: Electronic Weapons Engineer with Plessey.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead from a heart attack.
No inquest.
January 1988: Russell Smith, 23
Expertise: Laboratory technician with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Essex.
Circumstance of Death: 23-year-old Russell Smith, a lab technician at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, fell to his death from a cliff in Cornwall in January 1988. Police began searching for 23-year-old Russell Smith in mid-January after he vanished from his parents’ home, where he lived. He had previously asked for a day off from his job at the Atomic Energy Authority in Harwell, 50 miles west of London. His death was ruled a suicide.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
March 25, 1988: Trevor Knight, 52
Expertise: Computer engineer with Marconi Space and Defence Systems in Stanmore, Middlesex.
Circumstance of Death: Found dead at his home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire at the wheel of his car with a hosepipe connected to the exhaust. A St. Albans coroner said that Knight's woman friend, Miss Narmada Thanki (who also worked with him at Marconi) had found three suicide notes left by him which made clear his intentions. The strange thing about this was the contents was never disclosed and those who have seen them refuse to comment about them.
Miss Thanki had mentioned that Knight disliked his work but she did not detect any depression that would have driven him to suicide. The previous day he had also called his mother sounding quite happy and making plans for the weekend.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
August 1988: Alistair Beckham, 50
Expertise: Software engineer with Plessey Defence Systems.
Circumstance of Death: was found dead in his dark, musty backyard toolshed behind his home. Bare wires leading from a live electrical main were wrapped around his chest and a piece of cloth was stuffed in his mouth. A paperclip was placed across the electrical main to ensure the breaker did not trip while the electrical current ran through his body.His wife noted that Beckham had installed a wide-angle peep hole on the door of the toolshed.
Beckham’s wife was entirely unconvinced her husband committed suicide.
His wife, Mary Beckham, said:“We don’t know why he did it…if he did it. And I don’t believe that he did do it. He wouldn’t go out to the shed [to do that]. There had to be something….”Beckham was highly secretive about his work and just hours after his death men from the Ministry of Defence arrived at the scene and took away several documents and files from Beckham’s home.
Coroner's verdict: Open.
August 22, 1988: Peter Ferry, 60
Expertise: Retired Army Brigadier and an Assistant Marketing Director with Marconi.
Circumstance of Death: was found dead in his apartment in August 1988. His body was found on the floor of the apartment, the stripped ends of an electrical cord in his mouth.
A sinister aspect to this case was that His wife noted that one month before his death, a truck had purposely swerved at him and his daughter while they drove to the store. The incident left Ferry shaken and afraid for his life. His death could not be ruled suicide nor homicide and the coroner’s ruling remains open.
Coroner's verdict: Open
September 1988: Andrew Hall, 33
Expertise: Engineering Manager with British Aerospace.
Circumstance of Death: Carbon monoxide poisoning in a car with a hosepipe connected to the exhaust.
Coroner's verdict: Suicide.
The most astonishing thing about all these deaths is not only is it statistically impossible for this to be normal, but The conservative government of Margaret Thatcher dismissed calls for an inquiry, claiming the deaths were not statistically unusual and were just ‘coincidences’, perhaps, they claimed, exacerbated by high levels of stress in the defence industry. Which doesn’t hold water with me.
Professor Colin Pritchard, a noted expert in mental illness and suicides, thinks at least some of the deaths were statistically uncommon.Whilst it's true suicide is one of the most prevalent causes of early death in men, especially young men, Pritchard believes factors in some of the cases make the suicide verdicts unlikely.
Pritchard cites the cases of at least 4 of the men that share unusual elements. All 4 men had complained to friends and family that they had been tasked ‘strange’, ‘impossible’ and ‘unscientific’ tasks by their employers.All 4 men committed suicide in incredibly violent and bizarre ways.
Pritchard has studied numerous suicide cases and thinks such extreme suicide methods are normally only associated with people suffering severe mental breakdowns, to the extent they would be unable to even hold down jobs.Yet the men were all employed up until the day of their deaths and none had shown any sign of mental illness or other disturbance.
All of the men had also recently found new jobs and were preparing to leave within days of their deaths. Likewise, all 4 men had recently arranged appointments with their MPs. Which is interesting because if one person was to do it you’d put it down to nothing much at all, but four men working in the same field, who all died asked to see their MP? That to me is something more than just a mere coincidence.
The question then becomes What were the strange ‘unscientific’ projects that the men were complaining of, and why had they all booked appointments with their MPs? Had they stumbled on something in their jobs that had worried them something that led to them been silenced? In all honesty I believe so the old saying of “dead men tell no tales” seems to permeate the air in this case.
The biggest thing that got me was the death by sexual misadventure. There is no easier way than to make a murder look like an accident or suicide than make it look like a sex game gone horribly wrong.
Several of the deaths were put down to sex games gone wrong. But intelligence expert Conrad Black says death by sexual misadventure is a common method of disguising murder in the world of espionage.
Black told the Daily Record and I quote “Disposing of an enemy and making it look like a perverted fantasy gone wrong is in the training manuals of every spy agency from MI6 to Mossad.
The sex game cover is a very useful mechanism in a murder. Not only does it provide a disguise for the actual means and method of death, it trashes the reputation of the victim and blunts the energy of any subsequent investigation.
This is why the coroners verdict for me doesn’t hold water. One death like this perhaps, but to have two deaths both related to Marconi, both done in similar fashion? I don’t buy it. The other thing was it was never made clear if both mens history were checked if they were into that sort of sexual kink. IF not that would raise red flags for me. For someone to perform sex act they don’t like and be found like that, says to me the scene was staged.
Another possible reason for this spate of deaths is that
According to a high-ranking British government official, for a year and a half the Ministry of Defense has been secretly investigating Marconi on allegations of defence- contract fraud--overcharging the government, bribing officials. The extensive probe has required most of the MoD's investigative resources, conceivably reaching as far as Marconi's sub- contractors and into MoD research facilities such as the Royal Military College of Science and the Royal Air Force Research Center.
Another link in the chain was that Almost all of the dead scientists were associated with one or more of these establishments.
If Marconi was systematically defrauding the government for millions of pounds each year, perhaps an employee stumbled upon incriminating evidence and had to be done away with. It would be easy enough to make it look like an accident.
We may never know who or what killed all these scientists. Everyone has a theory.
The National Forum Foundation, a conservative Washington D.C., think tank, believes the deaths are the work of European- based, left-wing terrorists, such as the Red Army Faction who took credit for gunning down a West German bureaucrat who'd negotiated Star Wars contracts Ernst Zimmermann, who was shot to death at his home near Munich in February 1985.
The group also claims the July 1986 bombing death of a researcher director Karl Heinz Beckurts from the Siemens Company--a high-tech, West German electronics firm. The terrorists apparently chose their target to seek to exploit opposition to nuclear power and to West German cooperation in research on the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars.”
A seven-page letter, signed by the Red Army Faction and displayed at a news conference at the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, cited "secret negotiations" involving Siemens in a possible role in the SDI research program.
They have yet to take credit for any of the scientists.
Sources:
https://projectcamelot.org/marconi.html
https://theunredacted.com/dead-scientists-the-marconi-murders/
https://www.altereddimensions.net/2014/mysterious-sdi-defense-program-deaths-beg-frightening-question-far-will-government-go-protect-secrets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Moyle
http://www.whale.to/b/sdi.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/07/10/terrorist-group-kills-executive-near-munich/da623290-a2db-448f-ac1c-f18bda0da97f/
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=7aJVq5-ZkuEC&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=Lt.+Colonel+Anthony+Godley&source=bl&ots=Nt-0qYZ6OI&sig=ACfU3U2PuPyugf3o52Bq77h1Yg3sZc7t_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZz4_2lPz3AhW0SGwGHacLAMs4ChDoAXoECBkQAw#v=onepage&q=Lt.%20Colonel%20Anthony%20Godley&f=false
