Simon Law

Simon Law vanished from his farm in Kent.

It was said that he had vanished from his farm wearing only his dressing gown.

Simon Law was described as a talented musician and brilliant scholar who had gained a double first from Oxford.

It was claimed that he had been murdered by two hitmen from South Africa because of his involvement in illegal offshore enterprises and connections to a wealthy South African businessman. Simon Law had been interviewed as a witness over an alleged multi-million-pound currency fraud that the businessman had been involved with, after which he vanished.

The two hitmen were later traced.

The first hitman was arrested in South Africa in 1996 and as he was being held in a police cell he committed suicide, although it was also claimed that he was murdered. He had hung himself with the strap from a holdall.

The other hitman, described as a younger man and a body builder, was later traced to Los Angeles where he was managing a gym and working as a stuntman. He was arrested by the FBI outside World Gym in Woodlands Hills, Los Angeles shortly after 4pm on 28 September 1998 where he had been working as a manager and extradited to the UK in 1999 and tried twice but acquitted. His first trial took place at Maidstone Crown Court in October 1999, but a retrial was ordered and he was tried again at the Old Bailey where he was acquitted.

It was also reported that they were lovers, the hitman and the younger man.

Details in the American arrest warrant described the younger man and the other hitman as having been hired to kill Simon Law and that they had flown out together in 1991 and stayed with a friend and then later borrowed a car and gone off to Ashford where the car was seen ten days later on 13 April 1991 to pull into Simon Law's drive after which Simon Law was never seen again.

It was also heard that traces of Simon Law's blood were later found in the boot of the car, however, by that time, the two South African's had returned to South Africa.

It was said then, that the younger man then entered the United States as a visitor and then disappeared. When he was arrested in Los Angeles he had been using a different name and ran a gym and had also developed a career in Hollywood as a stuntman, having worked on numerous films such as 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' and the 'Mike Hammer' TV series.

The younger man said that the other man that he was alleged to have carried out the murder with had been a member of the South African SAS-style Reconnaissance Commando unit and that he had later confessed to the murder when they had met up in Johannesburg but that he had known nothing about it when they had been in England together and said that on the day of the murder he had been in London.

The younger man himself had previously served in the South African air force.

It was claimed that Simon Law had been working with the South African businessman as a British agent and a company called International Container Leasing Ltd and that in doing so, the South African businessman had incurred a debt to Simon Law that was due to be paid by the end of the month. It was also claimed that Simon Law also had had sensitive information about the South African's involvement with illegal currency dealing for which he could face prosecution in South Africa. It was also said that they had had a falling out after Simon Law had been interviewed over the alleged multi-million-pound currency fraud. As such, it was alleged that the South African businessman had arranged for the hitmen to murder Simon Law. It was noted that at the time of the trial, the South African businessman was a multi-millionaire.

Simon Law's farm, which was described as an isolated farmhouse, was said in 1999 to have been worth £450,000. It was also said that he had owned a house in Blackheath, London.

It was heard that both of the hitmen had been in London a few days before Simon Law vanished, staying with friends of the older hitman in Frimley Green, Surrey. It was claimed then that they had borrowed the friends Vauxhall Astra car to go to Simon Law's farm on 23 April 1991 and then took away his body, which has never been found.

The younger man said that he had gone with the other hitman to Beach Tree Farm where Simon Law lived but said that the other hitman had told him that they were looking for a rare vintage car and they had later returned and separated.

He said that after they separated, he had stayed in a pub in Soho and that he had been there when it was said that Simon Law had answered a knock at his door in the early morning and vanished.

The younger man said that he had only gone to England with the other hitman for the ride and said that he didn't know who had financed their trip. He also said that the other hitman had made sure that he was not there when the murder was carried out, saying that he had turned to him and said, 'You don’t want to be there'.

The younger man said that he had only come to England with the other man to sell some Native American dolls and look for the car and that it was only when they had got back to South Africa that the other hitman had told him that he had been involved with the disappearance of Simon Law.

The younger man said that the other hitman later begged him to leave South Africa, saying that he did so with a pistol in his mouth.

At the trial, the younger man said, 'I have never killed anything, even a spider. I had nothing to do with this disappearance or death'.