Thursday 24 April 2008

Did Wanted Woman Witness of Morgan Murder Help Kill Todd?

by Trowbridge H. Ford

My last article established that there was a direct link between the vicious murder of private detective Daniel Morgan in South London on March 10, 1987, and the trials and tribulations that Captain Simon Hayward was experiencing immediately thereafter in Stockholm over alleged drug trafficking - thanks to a woman contending so in a meeting with a female police officer in the East Croydon railway station on June lst later that year, and a letter someone sounding exactly the same person wrote to Hendon MP John Gorst a fortnight later. Their message was that there was large, Rajneesh, drug-smuggling organisation which included many officers in Britain's Metropolitan police, and Hayward's brother Christopher, but not apparently Simon himself. He was so encouraged by the developments that he finally admitted the true purpose of his going to Sweden - the selling of his brother's Jaguar rather than just to go skiing - thinking that prosecutors would now believe that he didn't know of the 50.5 kilos of cannabis hidden within it.

While I went on to show that these claims became so serious when Met Detective Superintendent Dave Cook's group was investigating Morgan's murder yet for a fifth time that Prime Minister Tony Blair, it seems, was obliged to blackmail Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates - who had taken over the Morgan inquiry - when he was also investigating the honours for cash scandal, I made no attempt to determine who the woman was, preferring to allude to how her apparent existence might have determined Greater Mancester Police Chief Constable Mike Todd's demise. Now I suggest that the woman was Chantal Hayward, Christopher's wife, and mother of his child Tarik, though they had been separated since 1982. Christopher Hayward was then living with another woman, Jamille.

Chantal Heubi was Swiss, and had married Christopher in 1972. "Together they set off on the 'Happy Trail'," Simon Hayward wrote in Under Fire: My Own Story, "drifting through Thailand, Bali and India. They also lived in various parts of Europe before finally settling on Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands off the east coast of Spain." (p. 43) They became disciples aka Sannyassans or Orange People of the Indian Guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who first established a new wave rehabilitation complex in Bombay, and then moved it to a more luxurious site at nearby Poona. "How Christopher came under this influence," Simon added, "I do not know. I presume it was during his travels in India, or even from the commune on Ibiza, but he took to dressing from head to toe in pinch baggy clothes which caused a certain amount of eyebrow-raising on his infrequent visits home." (p. 44)

After Chantal and Christopher separated, they still lived close to one another, occupying two houses near to one another. When Simon visited his brother there on several occasions during the mid 1980s, he visted Chantal and her son too. By this time Chantal was living with Canadian Jim White. "Chantal was a lovely person," Simon explained, "tall and slim, in her mid thirites with long brown hair....She was a perfect mother, loving, caring and gentle, but at the same time firm and encouraging to Tarik." (p. 57) Before Simon Hayward set out on his fateful trip to Sweden, he and his girl friend Sandra 'Sands' Agar visited Chantal and her son twice, and took Tarik to a Spanish barbacue.

With this background, it seems almost certain that Chantal was the woman interviewed in the East Croydon railway station, and who wrote to Gorst two weeks later. Of course, she could not expose herself to everyone by stating that she was Christopher's wife, so she said only that she had met him, Cay Forbes Mitchell and a Rajneesh cult member called Macunda during 1977 in Poona, India.

How would she otherwise know things like this: "Christopher Hayward, his Rajneesh name is Lokesh, is the organising force behind the smuggling. He has disappeared from his home in Ibiza several weeks ago, and his mother Mrs Hazel Hayward is terribly worried and believes he may have been murdered by contacts in the drugs world" (Quoted from p.177.), especially when Christopher finally called his mother in London of June 11th to reassure her about his well-being, and Simon went out of his way to say that the call had nothing to do with his changing his statement rather than the letter Gorst had received.

Of course, if the letter writer was willing to come forward in any legal proceeding, no matter where it was held, her testimony would have been far more persuasive that anything the missing Christopher could have claimed since she believed that Simon may well have been set up by still others that she was willing to name. This could clearly involve DUKE aka DOOK, apparently the British Army's Force Research Unit's top tout in the Provisional IRA Council, code-name 'Steak knife', and his handler, Heather Weissand, apparently aka Sergeant Margaret Walshaw. Despite the risks, the writer hoped that Gorst would expose the whole drugs conspiracy, especially British involvement in it, so that justice could be served for everyone, especially Simon Hayward. (ibid.)

Chantal Hayward's hopes in writing Gorst proved totally unfounded. Instead of using his authority as a Member of Parliament to insure that law-enforcement authorities in both Stockholm and London did their duty, he used his Early Day Motion on June 29th merely to complain about Swedish violation of Simon Hayward's human rights by holding him without charge for so long rather than he had information that he was totally innocent of what they suspected. Gorst contended that the Swedes were simply holding Simon in solitary confinement until he confessed to the crime. (Quoted on pp. 179-80.) Gorst used his influence with The Daily Telegraph to threaten it with a libel action for stating that he was acting for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in his dealings with the Hayward case - for which he was voluntarily award significant damages - rather than reveal the contents of the letter he had received.

Christopher Hayward served his estranged wife even worse when he called his mother again on June 30th. In it, he falsely claimed that the Simon set-up by DUKE was intended for him, but that he had passed it on innocently to his brother. When Christopher was told by his mother Hazel that her grandson Tarik had been threatened, and she threatened to tell someone about it, Christopher replied: "Not until Tarik goes to Canada, Mummy." (Quoted from p. 180.) She felt that the letter Gorst had received was so important to the case that she asked him if he had been in Poona in 1977. He, according to Simon, unbelieveably replied. "No, I have never been there in my life." (p. 181) He ended the conversation by saying that he would not call again.

By this time, Chantal had gone into hiding in Ibiza, adding even more fears to her mother-in-law since she did not answer any telephone calls. In fact, Hazel was so worried that she had a friend go to the island to try and locate her, and he was, finally, able to locate her. Since Chantal herself had not been threatened, she declined to return to Britain, thinking that since she, her boyfriend, and Tarik would be leaving for Canada in a week, they would be safe.

"A couple of days later," Simon added, "Chantal telephoned my mother to say that she knew who was behind the drugs run in Sweden. It had nothing to do with Simon, and neither was Chris directly involved. I am flying to London en route for Canada next week, and I will tell you everything then. I will speak to Simon's lawyers if you wish, and I am also prepared to testify in his defence. on Chris's behalf, in court" (Quoted from p. 182)

Since the call was obviously monitored by GCHQ in Cheltenhan, and passed along to the security services, particularly MI6, it set off alarm bells there. Since it had already seen, it seems, to Morgan's murder, there was no turning back now since she might well spill the beans while in London. For good measure, Gorst tabled two more Early Day Motions in the Commons about the case, ones which complained about the alleged violations of Simon's human rights in Sweden rather than he had been set up by others in Ibiza, and a vital witness, who was soon coming to London, was willing to come out, and testify about it all.

LIttle wonder that Chantal was apparently murdered a few days later during the night of July 6-7 after a party like the one Simon and Sands had attended four months earlier. She died of a massive overdose, injected into her left forearm, just below the elbow, though she was not known to have taken hard drugs, and her doctor said she had never injected herself with anything. There was, it seems, no real inquest into the cause of her death. While Simon was certain she had been murdered, especially because she was left-handed (pp. 185-7), Gorst made no mention of the facts when he made yet three more Early Day Motion about Simon's plight in Stockholm since he had finally been indicted for drug-trafficking. Gorst could only allude to her "mysterious death" in his introduction to Simon's book (p. 7) when he was soon scheduled to be released from prison after having served half of his five-year sentence.

Soon after Simon returned to England in September 1989, Met SB Detective Chief Inspector David Palmer-Hall went missing from his Sussex home, and it seems the result of Hayward's actions, particularly because of what had happened to Chantal. Palmer-Hall was liaising with MI6 when Palme was assassinated, and former SB Commander Rollo Watts, working for KMS's parent firm Saladin, had assured him and the Swedes that no former SAS personnel or mercanaries in Britain had signed up to shoot the statsminister, as Duncan Campbell reported in a June 1988 issue of The New Statesman. George Galloway, the controversial, former Labour MP so well-connected to Britain's security services, later asked the Home Office about Palmer-Hall's safe release. It apparently occurred because Hayward was told what would have happened if she had not been murdered - i. e., the whole conspiracy assassination of Sweden's Palme would have unraveled, particularly at his expense.

Instead of getting Palmer-Hall, Hayward got a new identify - Capatain James Rennie - who not only published a sanitized account of his covert service in the 14 Intelligence Company, The Operators: On the streets with Britain's Most Secret Service, but also apparently new employment with the Home Office's Organised and International Crime Directorate. It is the latest descendant of the National Drugs Intelligence Unit which saw to his imprisonment in the first place.

And here Chantal's apparent murder remained until the fifth inquiry into Morgan's killing, the one led by Met Detective Superintendent Dave Cook, finally got round to arresting all those who had been suspected from the very beginning. The previous investigations had been plagued by police complicity in the inquiries, false imprisonment awards for those suspected but clearly not involved, the threats of more such suits, false leads to other crimes, especially the Brinks-MAT heist near Heathrow in 1983, etc. Even when Cook's group got serious about the murder, the Home Office still refused to release information from a previous inquiry - what was only remedied by a High Court order - and the Crown Prosecution Service has already declined to prosecute the leaders now rearrested, former detective sergeant at Catford Police Station Sid Fillery and former Morgan business associate Jonathon Rees. Monday's arrests seem like an act of damage limitation.

The best evidence of this is that sixth person involved, 24-year old PC Dean Vian, has been suspended from duty on suspicion of having leaked information about the latest inquiry to his father and uncle, Garry and Glenn Vian. It buggers belief that such a person would have been assigned to a south London police station when his relatives are the leading, long sought suspects in the notorious murder, especially given the Met's long history of its officers colluding with criminals in all kinds of ways. Dean Vian never should have been in such a position, and his being so can only be an organisational contrivance to strengthen a weak case against the accused.

The reason for it seems to be that Cook's group was too optimistic about what it would come up with from the outset. It made another CrimeWatch appeal in June 2002 for the woman interviewed on June 1, 1987 in East Croydon to reappear, offering a £50,000 reward if she did so, as Cook explained:
"I'm seeking the public who may know something about the case or some who, through a change of attitudes or allegiance, may come forward with a piece of information that will allow us to solve the murder. I'm targeting a very small number of people:" ("Police make crime watch appeal," The Western Mail, June 26, 2002) Cook apparently didn't know that the person he was particularly seeking was long dead.

While Home Office opposition slowed progress in the inquiry, Cook was still optimistic about having the unknown white woman come forward when he met with members of Morgan's family and Met's Assistant Deputy Commissioner John Yates four years later, as Jane Bruccoleri explained in "20 year hunt for axe murderer" in The Croydon Guardian on November 15, 2006: "Officers say new information that has recently come to light corresponds with what she told police in 1987 and now detectives urgently need to speak with her." While police explained that she had only given her first name, it would have meant a lot if he had said "Chantal" - a person many people could have identified. Moreover, the police could have determined if she was the person who met their female police officer in East Croydon by consulting the photographs in Simon's book since there is one of her and her husband Chris in it while they were living in Switzerland in 1975.

Since the police have become more and more pessimistic about her ever coming forward as the case has finally resulted in the arrest of five suspects in Morgan's murder, it seems most likely that the group, now led by John Yates, knows Chantal is the person they were looking, but she will never come forward for obvious reasons. One can only wonder how far this secret had circulated within the Metropolitan Police and further afield.

I think quite widely, especially because of my own efforts in the matter. Soon after I arrived in Sweden, I began investigating the Palme assassination, and I wrote around 20 letters to the Palme Group of the Rikskriminalpolisen, headed by Stig Edqvist. I even wrote several letters about it to Säpo's director Jan Danielsson. Having satisfied myself that Simon Hayward had a case to answer in the assassination, I then sent all kinds of letters, outlines and articles about it to Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Home Office's Organised & International Crime Directorate, the Foreign Office, the Secretary of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisor Committee, and the Northern Ireland Office. Almost all of them were acknowledged, but I never received any satisfactory answers to my claims.

Without going through the whole, tiresome business yet again, I shall only repeat the last letter I received from the Organised & International Crime Directorate:

"Mr Trowbridge H Ford Esq
Sporrvagen 9
181 41 Lidingo
Sweden
14 February 2001

Dear Mr Trowbridge Ford,

Thank you for your letter dated 20 January 2001 that you sent to the Prime Minister, concerning Olof Palme, a copy of which was also sent to Mr D Payne, who has corresponded with you several times on the subject. There is nothing useful that can be added to Mr Payne's earlier replies and I can only reiterate that if you have proof that Olof Palme was indeed assassinated, then you should present this evidence to the relevant authorities, namely the police.

Your faithfully

JR (Signed)
_____
Administrative Officer"

In addition, the envelope was printed with my address on it in the same scraggly hand.

I am confident that this letter was written either by James Rennie aka Simon Hayward or someone acting like him, showing just how arrogant and assured British security authorities are in dealing with this whole matter.

And I have no doubt that much of this information was communicated to John Yates, in one way or another, while he and his men were querying the Prime Minister and his subordinate about the honours for cash scandal, explaining why they were unable to reach any telling conclusions about it and the Morgan murder.

And when Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Michael Todd got wind of it - in light of the cover up which had resulted in his investigation of Britain's collusion in the CIA rendition program, and the cock ups which had occurred in the unnecessary murders of Stephen Oake and Jean Charles de Menezes - he was most anxious to get even with Downing Street and it minions, explaining why it was decided to kill him, and in a way which would seem to be of his own doing.

Todd, it seems, was contacted in early March by someone feigning to be the long-wanted witness Cook's group had been looking for aka Chantal, and he was ecstatic about the possibilities resulting from a most secret meeting with her. She must have been an operative from the security services, like the FRU's Margaret Walshaw in the Chatal murder. They selected Mount Snowdon as the safest spot possible, and arranged to meet late Monday, March 10th. Todd sent even over-the-top, affectionate text messages to friends, especially his wife Caroline, about what was in store. Todd even brought along a bottle a champagne to celebrate the reappearance of the apparently most cautious witness.

When they finally met up on the slopes of Snowdonia - in cirumstances that the GPM had made completely free of other people - and had a few drinks, he was apparently bushwhacked by others, stripped of his overcoat, and tasered with 50,000 volts in the back, causing immediate cardiac arrest, and falling into a coma on his face in the snow, dying a few hours later.

It was a fitting end for Todd's enemies, the guys and gals who hated the 'coppers' cop' who liked to pull off such risky stunts for the media.