Brian Price

Susan Tetrault and Brian Price were found axed to death in their bed at a property in St Alphonsus Road, Clapham on Sunday 13 July 1986.

It was thought their deaths had been drug related. They had been hacked to death with a chopper taken from the kitchen. However, the murder weapon was not found.

They were married under common law.

It was noted that in 1983 they had both been jailed at Plymouth Crown Court for their part in a drugs-smuggling operation across the south-west of England. They had been smuggling 80kg of cannabis with a street value of £250,000 from Morocco in a steel sloop that Brian Price had built himself. When he was sentenced, the judge said that he had been the mastermind and controller of the whole operation and described him as:

Brian Price was sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment whilst Susan Tetrault was sentenced to 4 years' for distributing the drugs in London.

It was noted that a substantial amount of the drugs were never traced.

A close friend of theirs was tried for their murder at the Old Bailey in 1987, but acquitted after being found not guilty of murder.

Brian Price was also noted for having previous been convicted of drug dealing in South Africa in 1973 after being convicted for having 6,000 LSD tablets. However, he escaped from jail two years later and came to England.

He had been released from the UK prison a month before his murder, after which the police said they believed that he went to Athens and Cyprus on a business trip, which was later thought to have been associated with another drug smuggling operation, but to have returned on the Wednesday 10 July 1986.

He was thought to have then returned to his flat the same Wednesday, that being the last time he was seen alive.

They were both found in bed naked.

The police said:

They said that they were interested in tracing anyone who could help them trace their movements over the previous two weeks, as well as anyone that might have visited the flat on the Wednesday.

The police said that they had not ruled out the possibility that a jealous lover had carried out the killings.

The police later found drugs in the flat with sniffer dogs, and noted that there was no sign of a break-in and that nothing had apparently been stolen.

Soon after their murders, the police uncovered their past and connections with the southern drugs smuggling operation for which they were earlier convicted and then connected their deaths to two other murders, those of Robert Edward Cook and John Ernest Taylor, who were found shot in a flat in Grays Inn Buildings, Rosebery Avenue, Holborn, in December 1983.

The pathologist said that Susan Tetrault died from chopper wounds to the head whilst Brian Price died from chopper wounds to the head and neck.

The man that was tried for their murder had been an Australian born music promoter. He had been with Brian Price to Athens and Cyprus and when they returned they went to Brian Price's flat in St Alphonsus Road. However, the man said that he left soon after to see his girlfriend who had been staying in London. However, he said that he was unable to see her and so, after walking the streets all night, booked into a hotel the next morning.

Susan Tetrault and Brian Price were found dead in their bed three days later.

It was noted that during the investigation that the police visited a number of addresses in Hythe because it was thought that a hired assassin might have contracts with other people there. It was noted that in total, up to that point, that four members of the same international drugs smuggling ring had been murdered in London and that they were looking into the Southampton connection.

The police also said that they thought there might have been a yachting link.

The police said that they thought it was possible that rival drug barons might have hired an assassin to hunt down members of the ring that was smashed by them in Operation Pueblo in the early 1980s, or people that were involved in it.

The police said that they were trying to trace people in the Southampton area that knew or associated with Susan Tetrault and Brian Price, who were the latest two people in the drugs ring to have been murdered.

It was said that there were as many as eight other people involved in the drugs ring that might have been targets for the hit man.

The police said:

With a detective noting:

Brian Price was noted as having moved to Cornwall from Jersey in the 1970's following a divorce, and the police said they were probing the Cornwall link.