Army officer may have known his killer

Colin Adamson12 April 2012

A former Army officer found murdered in his flat is thought to have known his killer.

Police found no sign of forced entry to the mansion block apartment where ex-Royal Engineers captain Martin Brooke Warwick was stabbed. They are still seeking a breakthrough four weeks after the killing of the 43-year-old internet company director.

The motive of the attack remains mysterious. One report suggested Captain Warwick was an active MI6 agent. He was a former director of a company involved in military equipment sales to repressive regimes.

A neighbour at the flats in Collingham Road, South Kensington, engineer Peter Holbourne, spoke of apparent continuous surveillance, with an unmarked green Mercedes van parked in the street opposite.

Police are also investigating the possibility that the killing was linked to Captain Warwick's double life as a well-known figure in west London's gay community. His body was found with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood by a regular visitor who is understood to have been ruled out as a suspect.

Forensic teams have combed the crime scene and neighbours have been asked to provide DNA samples.

They talked of a "popular and friendly" man who ran the tenants' management company planning major refurbishment of their property.

Journalist Robin Stoddart, who lives one floor below the murder scene, said: "It is difficult to accept such an appalling thing happened. Martin was a nice, decent chap. He didn't seem to have a care in the world and was regularly seen whizzing around on his rollerblades. He was always smiling."

Captain Warwick was until 1997 director of Salisbury-based Procurement Services International Ltd. The firm was the subject of political controversy when it was granted a government licence to supply amoured water cannon vehicles to the repressive regime of former Indonesian dictator, President Suharto.

It also won an award for selling surveillance equipment to Nigeria, Turkey and Indonesia - three countries whose human rights have been criticised.

He was also former director of Greys Manufacturing Ltd, which supplied Allied forces with lighting equipment for night-fighting during Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf War.

However investigations into his 20-year military service show no evidence of intelligence gathering. The Foreign Office, responsible for MI6, traditionally refuses to confirm or deny whether anyone is an agent. But one high-level Whitehall source said: "You are barking up the wrong tree. He has nothing to do with the intelligence agencies."

The graduate in English was a Royal Engineers officer attached to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in charge of armoured vehicle maintenance.

A senior officer at the Scots Dragoons' regimental headquarters in Edinburgh Castle said: "We knew Martin Warwick well over many years and it is desperately sad to hear he met such a violent death in London.

"He was a regular at reunions and will be really missed. "

Mr Warwick's devastated parents, Graham and Shirley Warwick, of Camberley, Surrey, were too distressed to talk further about his death.

Earlier, Mrs Warwick said: "I find it hard to understand that there is some animal out there who would want to kill him. We can't come to terms with it. Why did this happen to us? We have done nothing but cry and ask this question since Martin's death."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are anxious to trace anyone who knew Mr Warwick or anyone who saw him on the night of Thursday 17 January. He was known to frequent pubs, clubs and restaurants in the Earl's Court area."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8358 1777, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

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