"Good old-fashioned detective work" (ii)
Surrey Police, Major Crime Team (part two)
Introduction
In part one last month, I introduced Detective Sergeant Rob Way of Surrey Police. Somewhat reluctantly I’d imagine, the force were obliged to confirm his role in a letter received by email, signed Sonia Holbrook-King (Complaints Manager - Professional Standards Department) on 13th Dec 2024:-
“On 7th Mar 2024 DS Robert Way directed that arrest enquiries should be made in relation to this matter.”
With no reason not to at least credit him with average intelligence, perhaps with benefit of hindsight he’s amongst a handful that wish more diligence had been taken in the wider process of fitting me up. More to come in the weeks ahead, but for now to review Surrey Police’s greatest accomplishments to date.
Part three which is to follow, and inspired by DI Paddy Mayers quote of “good old-fashioned detective work”, will focus on the two most high profile Major Crime Team cases handpicked and commissioned for television documentaries. An audience might reasonably expect they’d been chosen to offer an effective insight into how this prestigious unit operate. However, instead when the televised scripts are scrutinised the narratives collapse. In my opinion it’ll be plain to see how the audience are strung along, deceived and mocked.
As a reminder the two documentaries reflect actual criminal investigations into deaths of Scott Wilkinson (Jul 2016) and Nigel Chapman (Nov 2020), televised in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Before dissecting how each fraudulent production distorts the real events, some background on another Surrey Major Crime Team case that predates both will be informative.
A brutal murder from Mar 2016 which is recently back in the news and remains unsolved to this day. This live investigation has also relied upon the same pair of lead detectives DI Paddy Mayers (originally) and DCI Chris Friday (currently) as the public-facing Senior Investigating Officer.
The poor woman’s murder occurred on a Sunday evening in her driveway at home in the residential area of West Molesey. It occurred four months before the death of the fisherman Scott Wilkinson (on nearby Donkey Island adjacent to Sunbury Lock) just over two miles away.
Failure to have made any progress in her case might be considered to have increased pressure on Surrey Police to ensure they secured eventual convictions for Scott Wilkinson’s death (in 2019), as I’ll expand on in part three. After all the police occasionally need results to maintain the illusion for a dwindling number of the public who steadfastly cling to a belief that the force provide a public service. Lest we forget each year most residents are rinsed for further increases in council tax to fund ‘policing,’ a generic term that encompasses a multitude of sins below the surface.
Only more recently have people started to realise that the Home Office’s police forces themselves play a crucial role in the protection of grooming gangs, rapists, child abusers and nonces in the corridors of power. To be abundantly clear, this is a generalisation with other forces in mind and not a comment aimed at Surrey Police. At present I have nothing (yet) to be able to share on this front.
However, as part of a well-rounded interrogation into the operations of Surrey Police now that they’ve successfully captured my full attention, it’d be remiss of me not to research more closely in order to form a view. As it happens DI Paddy Mayers transferred to the Complex Abuse Unit in Mar 2019, since which time he has managed a specialist team tasked with identifying child sexual abuse offenders, and is SIO for child sexual complex abuse investigations. A starting point could be to take an interest in a case going through the courts currently. Widely reported, on 14th Aug 2024 Stephen Ireland [co-founder and former director of Pride in Surrey] was arrested and charged with 37 child sexual abuse offences between Aug 2022 and Jul 2024, together with David Sutton who was a volunteer, charged in turn with 22 child sexual abuse offences.
However, returning for now to the Surrey Police criminal investigation debacle surrounding Robyn Mercer’s murder, the recent Daily Mail Exclusive has by coincidence a familiar feel of Peter Faulding’s entourage can you believe. There are at least five photos from his collection of a diving escapade from Oct 2016 that are said to relate to the investigation.
Might another BBC ‘Expert Witness’ documentary be in the wings, an opportunity to create a new narrative of these few days out at a tranquil pond near Oxshott. A lovely fishing pond which is more than seven miles away from the residential area where her murder took place. I’ll come on to share a theory that postulates this outing at the police’s request may not have been to progress the investigation, but instead to distract away from an inconvenient discovery much closer to the scene.
It’s hotting up!🔥
Unsolved murder of Robyn Mercer from Mar 2016
Abbey Walk just off Walton Road is a pleasant leafy residential area of semi-detached houses, with a string of local shops, a couple of pubs, a library and recreation ground in close proximity.
On a Sunday evening after dark 50-year old Robyn Mercer was initially viciously struck in the head with an unidentified weapon reported to be an axe or machete, and then subsequently bludgeoned to the head a number of times with another unidentified weapon when down on the ground. The reported narrative states that she was found by a neighbour in a large pool of blood at 8am the following morning, face-down outside her home.
Originally from South Africa, she’d moved to England when nineteen to enrol in an English and Georgian silver course at Sotheby's from which she went to work over 25 years in the City as an expert antique silver specialist for a family-run Antique Silver Dealers. Both her grown-up children aged 18 and 20 years old at the time lived with her, as did an ex-partner that we’ll come back to.
The main gist of the Daily Mail Exclusive highlights the ongoing quest of her brother (Quentin Spickernell) who continues to seek answers to questions that Surrey Police Major Crime Team have failed in delivering. Her brother’s a celebrity chef in South Africa and so by virtue of his location it’s that bit harder to push to make inroads, not that he isn’t committed.
“Speaking from his native country, he says the last time he talked to a murder detective was in 2022 after the family became so frustrated by the investigation he boarded a plane to make the 8,000 mile journey to 'knock on the police station's door' for answers” [Daily Mail]
Roused to action by a potential PR disaster from unwanted renewed attention and publicity, the current SIO for Surrey Police provided a statement to MailOnline as a response. None other than DCI Chris Friday - star of Channel 5 Nigel Chapman murder investigation documentary 👏 (to be revisited in part three).
“The murder of Robyn Mercer remains an ongoing investigation for this force. We are as determined as ever to find those responsible for robbing a family of a loving and caring mother who was callously murdered outside her own property. Mrs Mercer was devoted to her son and daughter who have been through incredible emotional turmoil since her death. We need the public’s help to solve this case and allow her family to find some form of closure. We know that someone out there knows what happened to Robyn and who killed her. We do not want her family to have to wait any longer to find out those answers. If you do have some information, we would urge you to come forward.” [DCI Chris Friday - via Daily Mail]
If we wind the clock back to 2017, the original SIO DI Paddy Mayers - star of Channel 5 Scott Wilkinson murder investigation documentary 👏- provided the following statement to the media:-
“A full police investigation into Robyn's murder is ongoing and the pace of our enquiries has recently intensified” [DI Paddy Mayers]
A glaring problem is that Surrey Police have been seen to remain committed to the ‘working hypothesis’ that her murder was a result of a botched burglary. However, her brother (some 8,000 miles away in South Africa) has always expressed serious doubts given the circumstances.
Before an overview to scrutinise the circumstances that frame the differences in opinion, a snippet as to how Peter Faulding (and Specialist Group International) once again feature in mainstream media.🤦♂️As the consummate actor, he loves the attention.
Without so much as a whisper and after more than eight years having passed, suddenly it’s suggested an item discovered in a tranquil fishing pond in Littleheath more than seven miles away “was deemed to be crucial”.🧐With DCI Chris Friday’s renewed commitment to “solve this case”, maybe he has a plan to share key insights to refresh the memory of members of the public who could assist further. In the meantime, I’ll share the very plausible alternative theory below that’s suggestive as to why an irrelevant pond miles away would became the focus of attention at that particular time.
Circumstances surrounding her murder
After sharing a meal at home with her daughter and a friend of hers on the Sunday evening, the pair left for the evening with her daughter not due to return until the next day. At around 9pm before the start of the new week she’d routinely empty her kitchen bins, and so exited via her side gate at the rear of the house to put rubbish out in the bins at the front of the house for collection the next morning. This is assumed to be when she was attacked with it reported that her body wasn’t discovered until the following morning at 8am by a neighbour. Sadly, her grown-up son was upstairs immersed in video games with his headphones the whole evening, and so was unaware and never heard a thing.
Local media reported that there were a total of seven police vehicles in attendance at the location, with a dog handling unit and forensics officers involved. It was said a blue forensic tent was erected over the body at the scene, with finger-tip searches carried out and while the tent can clearly be seen in the photos below, there’s a twist coming.
With the arrival of the police the ex-partner who’d also been in the house the entire evening was arrested on suspicion of murder, as might reasonably be expected. The narrative fed to the media to report is that he’d been “out walking the family dog” at the time of the gruesome discovery. A second twist is coming.
A 25-year old local man was also arrested three days later (17th Mar 2016), and both men were later released that week on bail pending further enquiries, before being later ruled out as suspects.
“We need the public’s help to solve this case and allow her family to find some form of closure” - DCI Chris Friday (Jan 2025)
Ok, let’s do it!
The long-term investigation is named Operation Zebu, but something smells off.
First, why have the police deleted all links from their own website of an open investigation? What is it that they don’t want the public to know about this case? Will the prior updates and a full account be offered on request? To be determined.
This is a short YouTube video appeal with DI Paddy Mayers published on the second anniversary (in 2018).
The choreographed sleight of hand exposes two red flags.
[1]
“She was attacked on the driveway of her own home, whilst her two children were indoors”
No, DI Mayers, one of her children was indoors (and upstairs). The other person was her ex-partner (downstairs). Her daughter was known to have left for the evening, to return the next day.
[2]
“Her body was found at this spot during the early morning.”
This is all well and good DI Mayers. However, it’s mysterious why all media reports have stated that Robyn Mercer was attacked in her front garden - which is also where the blue forensic tent was erected.
This seems a relevant question for the lead forensic officer to enlighten ignorant laypersons. How does a competent forensic investigation take place when a body is moved some twenty metres from the scene of the crime itself.
Might it have been to make the claimed discovery of her body by a neighbour at 8am seem plausible? It’s known there was at least one other neighbour that walked her dog past the house earlier the very same morning and (understandably) didn’t observe her lifeless body in a pool of blood all the way down the driveway toward the rear of the house.
- It wasn’t a neighbour that discovered her body, but her ex-partner. If I know the story, so must the police.
Notable details reported include a CCTV camera installed outside her home earlier in autumn 2015 that had been removed some days before her death for which there’s no explanation. Not reported anywhere, it’s understood an outdoor hammer was established to be missing from the property yet this does not seem to have been disclosed.
As for a plausible theory to what could have been behind the Peter Faulding clown show in Oct 2016. The timing seems to fit with a discovery and reporting to the police some months after her murder of what has been described as a felling axe, in the local park. A discovery made by the dog, rather than the dogwalker.
DCI Chris Friday is in a far better position to elucidate the official narrative, however the abridged version and recollection from the time is that the police were adamant there was nothing to see! Hell of a coincidence it might appear.
Finally, what do we know about the ex-partner that I’ve referenced a few times. This is a factual account as so far as it relates to information in the public domain.
Ex-partner: Robert Webb background
The pair had jointly bought the property in West Molesey in 2007, with an equity split 65% to 35% in Robyn Mercer’s favour. Prior to the start of their relationship, he had a history of convictions for fraud in 1998, obtaining property by deception in 2002 and theft in 2003.
Their relationship collapsed eight years later in Nov 2015, but he refused to move out of the house he part-owned and they continued to live under the same roof. With tensions in the house, she was primarily living upstairs with her ex-partner occupying most of the bottom floor of the house.
At the time of her death, she’d started a new relationship with someone she’d met within the antiques scene, while her ex-partner was facing eviction after being served with a non-molestation and exclusion order. It was reported that he’d have been forced to leave the house at the end of the following week on 18th Mar 2016.
To get the measure of the man, he was jailed the following year in Oct 2017 for eight months after falsifying her last will and testament to fraudulently obtain full ownership of the £420,000 house. To steal her 65% equity share of the house rightfully due to her children who’d been suffering unimaginable emotional turmoil.
According to the latest Daily Mail article his whereabouts are currently unknown ‘but there are rumours he could now be living in Australia.’
Wrap Up
Only time will tell if her family see justice served for her murder. In spite of a widely advertised reward of up to £10,000 in Dec 2019 by the charity Crimestoppers for information leading to the person or people responsible being arrested and charged, nothing.
From a couple of enquiries there’s a local vibe that believes it to have been a botched investigation. While this is certainly the case, in my opinion the truth is far worse. Surrey Police have a penchant for twisted narratives and rely on obscuring and concealing information that’d otherwise expose the rot that exists within the organisation.
In part three, focus turns to nearby Scott Wilkinson case, the subject of the infamous Killer at the Crime Scene S1E3 documentary. At the start, a 30-second audio clip of a ‘999’ emergency call is accompanied with carefully selected visuals to manipulate the audience. It begins with the alleged telephone operator answering:-
“Surrey Police good morning, how can I help?”
A good start for a faked (Channel 5 studio?) call, but it rapidly goes downhill. On the sad day itself with the discovery of his body at 4.44pm on 28th Jul 2016 by Surrey Fire & Rescue Service, he’d simply been reported missing by his girlfriend. That is all. What a documentary the team have pulled together blending fact with fiction.
It should be noted these particular cases that span 2016-2020 predate the appointment of current Chief Constable Tim de Meyer into the top job at Surrey Police.
His predecessor Gavin Stephens was elected to his new role of Chair of the National Police Chief’s Council in Apr 2023. He’d been awarded a Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) in recognition of distinguished service and lasting contribution to Neighbourhood Policing in Jun 2021. For context, this was one month after Lisa Townsend had been newly elected as Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey (since re-elected). She has incidentally been provided an opportunity and the rare gift of her come-to-Jesus moment, more details of which’ll inevitably follow in due course.
Thanks for reading🙏Happy New Year to you all!
There’s a sense that all the planets are aligned and we should expect to experience a further profound shift in consciousness in 2025. A year of truly biblical proportions.
Very interesting chriss
Happy New Year Chris.x