Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone (1951–1979) was a New Zealand drug trafficker born in Auckland who was called "Mr Asia" by the Auckland Star newspaper in August 1978 in a series of articles by Pat Booth.[1]
Murder
editIn October 1979, Johnstone was lured to Britain on the pretext of a drug deal to take place in Scotland. He was murdered by Andy Maher, by order of Terrance John Clark, and his handless body was dumped in Eccleston Delph, Lancashire.[2] Maher cut off Johnstone's hands and mutilated his face in a vain attempt to foil dental identification by the police.[3]
Terry Clark, along with four others, was subsequently convicted of murdering Johnstone and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial at Lancaster Castle (during its time as HM Prison Lancaster) in 1980 was conducted under heavy security and was Britain's most expensive case at that time.[4] Clark suffered a heart attack in 1983 and died in prison on the Isle of Wight.[5]
The case was dramatised in an episode of the TV series Crime Story titled "All Good Friends: The Case of the Handless Corpse" (1992).
References
edit- ^ Booth, Pat (10 March 2009). "A vicious filthy thug without conscience". Stuff. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
- ^ Hewitson, Michele (27 October 2004). "In crime, it pays not to talk". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ Lomas, David (23-29 October 2004). "The fall of Mr Asia Archived 2009-06-03 at the Wayback Machine". New Zealand Listener. 196 (3363)
- ^ "Handless corpse case uncovered". BBC Lancashire. British Broadcasting Corporation. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
- ^ Homan, Ray, "Peter Fulcher and the Mr Asia syndicate", Police News Archived 2009-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (New Zealand), Volume 39, Number 5, June 2006, page 135.
Further reading
edit- Hall, Richard (2004). Greed: The Mr Asia Connection. Rowville, Victoria: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-74124-328-9