Age: 55
Sex: male
Date: 9 Apr 2001
Place: Cowper Road, Kingston
David George Roads was shot in an alleyway as he walked back to Latchmere House prison where he was an inmate on the night of Monday 9 April 2001.
He was shot twice in the head at close range, both bullets being fired before he hit the ground.
The police said that it was a well-planned attack.
He was last seen on the Monday by his wife at 4.30pm in Bromley, south London and later spoke to his son on his mobile phone at 9.51pm in Park Road, Richmond. He was found dead at 10.20pm that night in an alleyway off Cowper Road and Sopwith Close.
David Roads had been convicted for possessing industrial semtex, firearms and ecstasy in March 1997 and sentenced to 10 years. He had also been on a charge of conspiring to commit murder but was acquitted. He was said to have been a quartermaster, supplying guns, and was alleged to have supplied guns to a man involved with the IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army who was later convicted of attempted murder.
He had started a special programme to re-integrate him into society and had been working for a glazing firm in London since October 2000 and had been on his way back to Latchmere House prison for a 10pm curfew at the time he was shot.
