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The handless corpse case: 30 years on
The waters of Eccleston Delph reach a mild 18 degrees on a pleasant day.
From land, it is a pretty little gem, hidden deep in the Lancashire
countryside.
But descend into the former quarry and you enter a cold, murky, silent
world.
Gone are the brilliant flashes of greens and blues seen from the surface.
Instead the algae and lichen that cling to the dull brown rocks give the
Delph a deathly grey pallor.
Six metres down in the chilly waters is a jagged sandstone ledge.
Amateur divers who use the quarry today swim past it with little
thought.
But on October 14, 1979, a grisly discovery was made on this piece of
rock by two amateur divers, which helped smash an international drug
smuggling ring wide open.
International drug dealer Marty Johnstone was dumped in the
Delph, off Halfpenny Lane, Eccleston, after being executed on a drugs
baron's orders.
The 27-year-old was shot in the head at close range by his one-time
pal Andrew Maher, from Leyland, as they drove up the A6 near Carnforth
on the pretence of securing a drugs deal.
Johnstone's blunders had proved too risky to the syndicate they
worked for which employed 90 people across the world.
Maher and a relative, Jimmy Smith, brought Johnstone's
body back to Maher's garage at his home in Robin Hey, Leyland, and butchered it.
Using an axe, Maher chopped off the victim's hands to prevent his fingerprints being identified, then took a lump
hammer and smashed out his teeth to prevent police identifying him
through dental records.
Finally they slashed open his stomach to make sure he did not float to
the surface of his watery grave.
Tied with weights and a jack supplied by another associate – Maher's
school pal Billy Kirby – they bundled his body into Maher's brown
Jaguar and tipped it into the secluded quarry.
But unknown to them Johnstone's body came to rest just a few metres down
on a stone ledge and was discovered by two amateur divers just four days later.
So began the tale of the murder now known as
the Handless Corpse case. The discovery of
Marty Johnstone's body marked the beginning of the end of the crime syndicate he was part of and Lancashire's biggest ever police investigation.
Johnstone, a New Zealander, lived the high life, buying stylish clothes,
hiring chauffeur driven Jaguars, and flying on Concorde.
But he paid the ultimate price for his criminal lifestyle after he was lured into coming to Lancashire after one bungle too many.
Johnstone was executed on the orders of the drug syndicate's boss
Terry Sinclair.
Their association began in the early 1970s. Sinclair, also known as Terry Clark, was 35 and believed to have
amassed a 25m fortune from drug running.
In the mid-1970s, Johnstone moved from New Zealand to Australia
where he teamed up with Sinclair and Maher.
The trio led a syndicate smuggling drugs from Thailand into Australasia.
At its height, they used boats to transport large quantities of drugs
and set up companies in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore with the
proceeds of their crimes.
People who gave information to the police about Sinclair's empire were
routinely murdered in Australia.
As a result of the police enquiries which followed those killings Sinclair and Maher moved to England to escape the heat from the authorities with the intention to set up a branch in the UK.
With the move Sinclair started to cut Johnstone out of the deals.
He also switched from cannabis to heroin which meant his drugs couriers
could use aircraft.
Relations became strained. Johnstone and Maher – by then such
close pals that Maher called his baby daughter Marti after him – flew to
England to see Sinclair who gave Johnstone $50,000 to find a new
source of heroin.
On August 1, 1979, he went to Pattaya, Thailand, to do a heroin deal.
But he was hoodwinked. The Thais showed him some packages,
took $35,000 money from him on the pretext of counting it and
fled. He had been left with one sample bag.
Terrified, Johnstone knew one of Sinclair's henchmen was waiting in
Singapore to take the heroin back to England.
He and Maher stayed in a Bangkok for a couple of days, then in desperation he mixed the 700-gram sample bag with caster sugar.
Sinclair was furious.
Johnstone had to be disposed of. He enticed him to England on the
pretence of a fictitious drug deal but planned to shoot him – and tasked
Johnstone's close pal Andy Maher to carry out the grim task.
Fearing repercussions for his family Maher, then 26, enlisted Scotsman
James Smith, his father's stepbrother, to help him.
Maher convinced Smith that it was because of the safety of his partner
Barbara Pilkington and baby Marti that he had to do carry out the
killing.
Their plot seemed simple – they claimed they could put Johnstone in touch with a man in Glasgow who could supply drug couriers and put
up 40,000.
Smith collected the gun from a courier at Preston Railway Station.
Meanwhile, Johnstone arrived in
England accompanied by his girlfriend
Julie Hue.
On October 9, 1979, they left Leyland to go to Glasgow for the supposed
drug deal. It was his journey to death.
After disposing of Johnstone's body Maher dumped the dead man's hands in a Scottish river and phoned Pilkington to ask her to clean up any blood from the garage where they had butchered him.
When he returned to their Leyland home he told Julie Hue her lover
had gone to New York on business.
Pilkington then took her to Benidorm for a holiday so she was "out of the way" and would not ask awkward questions.
But as Julie fretted because Johnstone
had not contacted her on her birthday Pilkington crumbled and confessed all.
Flying back to England they told Julie's mother what they knew.
At 5.30am on October 30, 1979, they gave police in Chorley the breakthrough they needed – putting a name to the handless corpse.
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Weather for Preston
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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