Justice not done, says widow

Press, 14 December 1985, Page 8

Justice not done, says widow

NZPA staff correspondent London Mrs Annabelle Fordham, widow of Britain’s “top undercover policeman,” said through tears that justice had not been done at the trial which acquitted two men charged with his murder.

Mrs Fordham, a New Zealander, was married in Auckland 26 years ago to the man whose bravery and professionalism was praised by leading police officers. She said after an Old Bailey jury delivered its majority verdict: “Justice here has not been done.” Detective Constable Fordham was killed on January 26 this year in the grounds of a Kent mansion while on an undercover investigation into the robbery of £26 million ($70.46 million) worth of gold,

gems from Heathrow Airport. Mrs Fordham, a Maori, mother of Graham (23), John (22) and Lorraine (13), came with her husband to Britain in 1967 when theneldest child was approaching school age. The couple had married after he travelled from Britain to New Zealand when he was 18 and went on to work as an ■ Auckland prison officer, then traffic policeman. The family home is now in Romford, Essex.

The policeman, aged 45, was stabbed to death by a property dealer, Kenneth Noye, who discovered him masked and camouflaged in the grounds of his Kent home.

Noye, a millionaire, aged 37, and Brian Reader, unemployed, aged 45, were cleared of murder after the

jury deliberated for 12 hours 37 minutes.

Noye had said in evidence that he “froze with horror” when he discovered the disguised man in torchlight in woods. He said that at no stage did Detective Constable ■ Fordham identify himself as a police officer. Claiming he acted in selfdefence, Noye said, “I thought that was my lot, I would be a dead man.”

The policeman was stabbed 10 times through several layers of clothing and lay dying in the winter evening surrounded by Noye’s guard dogs, three fierce Rottweilers. The knife struck his heart and his final words to fellow policemen were: “He’s done me, he’s stabbed me.” Prosecuting, Mr Nicholas Purnell, Q.C., alleged that Noye said: “I did him before

he took the knife from me. Old Bill will know he had no business here.”

The police said they found 11 gold bars valued at £ 100,000 ($271,000) under a paint tin in the grounds but Noye said they had nothing to do with the Heathrow robbery. They were illegally imported to avoid paying tax but that was all, he said. Noye and Reader are still in custody and will face charges of dishonestly handling gold from the Heathrow robbery. The property dealer shouted from the dock to the seven male and five female members of the jury, “Thank you, ten of you. May God bless ten of you for ever for that is what I am, not guilty.” Reader said, “Thank you.” Mrs Fordham, her hand held by her son,

distressed and paused for long moments before answering questions at a Scotland Yard press conference. She was bitter about the outcome of the trial and said the year had been a traumatic ordeal. Noye’s wife, Brenda, said through reporters that she had great sympathy for Mrs Fordham, but the widow’s reply was: “Not accepted.” London newspapers described her husband as Scotland Yard’s top undercover detective and said the search for the missing fortune in gold was the biggest job of his career as a deeppenetration surveillance specialist. He had been in the surveillance section of the Yard’s Cll Criminal Intelligence Branch, “The Watchers,” for more than nine years, according to reports.