Chilling twist in brutal ‘execution’ murders of couple kidnapped & forced to drive into forest before being shot dead
A CHILLING new twist has emerged in the unsolved “execution” of a couple forced to drive into a forest before they were shot dead.
Terry Gooderham, 39, and Maxine Arnold, 32, were found dead in Epping Forest 35 years ago this week.
The couple were kidnapped and forced to drive to the forest before the suspected gangland execution with a 12-bore shotgun in 1989.
It is believed bar stock-taker Terry was killed to stop him revealing a scam involving a Kray Twins associate.
The associate had allegedly been hijacking booze lorries to supply a pub protection racket.
A former Scotland Yard detective has now revealed gangland enforcer Albert Reading told him who was behind the killing.
Randall said Reading told him Krays associate Connie Whitehead had put up a contract for Terry’s murder.
He said Reading spoke out because a “liberty” had been taken by killing an innocent woman, Maxine.
Randall said he passed the “game changer” tip onto the murder squad probing the case – but it was never investigated.
He also revealed the east London gang suspected of killing the couple were bugged talking about another murder.
Randall told the Mirror: “These gangsters were overheard discussing cutting off the head and arms of a dead body in a car boot to frustrate identification because of his tattoos.
“A torso matching that description was found in Bolney, Sussex and local police were convinced it was a London crime but got no assistance from the Met.”
The unidentified victim had his arms broken and his head chopped off with an axe or bolt cropper.
His hands were severed below the elbow and the body was dressed after death in a shirt and trousers belonging to someone else.
Thought to be in his thirties, the man’s missing head and limbs were never found.
Randall said all three murders remain unsolved because of historic police corruption.
Former Sussex detective Peter Kennet investigated the grisly torso find in October 1991.
He said cops had not been aware of the “dynamite” bug linking the east London gang to the case.
Met detectives placed the bug in a portacabin used by the gang in Canning Town, east London.
Detectives spied on the cabin from a high-rise flat overlooking it – matching faces to the voices caught on the bug.
Last year Randall claimed the Met sat on the bombshell recording to “keep the intelligence product rolling”.
Scotland Yard said: “As with all unsolved cases, these murders are subject to periodic review.
“The review considers if they can be advanced with the passage of time.
“No charges have been brought. The MPS has recently been contacted by a former officer.”
A spokesperson added: “He has presented possible new information relating to the murders.
“As with all information this will be carefully assessed and this is ongoing at this time.”
I was banged up in the worst prison in the UK… Reggie Kray sent me a note on my first day inside – it was terrifying
Jonathan Aitken, 80, who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury under John Major, was imprisoned in the “notorious” HMP Belmarsh after pleading guilty to perjury and perverting the course of justice in June 1999.
He revealed how he fell foul of prison guards after receiving a welcome from the Krays – before going on to help gangsters “Razor” Smith and Mickey Aguda turn their lives around.
Aitken told The Sun: “Belmarsh was notorious as a tough nick and was considered Britain’s toughest prison.
“When I first arrived one of the inmates told me that Ronnie Kray had called from Broadmoor to wish me good luck in the prison.
“It was only when other prisoners angrily pointed out that Ronnie was dead that he checked and it turned out the message was from Reggie, who was still alive and in prison.
“Not long after I entered the prison I was in the mess hall queue, which was not exactly a parade of Guards.
“I wandered out of line and immediately a guard boomed over the tannoy ‘Aitken, where do you think you’re going?’
“It was their way of showing the other prisoners that I was just another Belmarsh inmate and wouldn’t be getting any favours.”
Read more here