Brandon Hale

Brandon Hale was shot in the head in what was thought to be a gangland execution and then dumped in Queens Wood, Highgate.

It was said that he had been a prolific and compulsive gambler and money launderer and had lost £100,000 belonging to professional criminals which he had gambled away. Investigations revealed that Brandon Hale had received a six figure sum of money three days before his murder but had confessed to his wife that he had lost £90,000 of it soon after in casinos.

His wife said that the last time that she spoke to him that he had been in an agitated state and had told her that he would have to meet with the people who had given him the money.

The police said that they thought that Brandon Hale knew what fate had awaited him.

It was said that he had been supposed to launder the money but had instead spent it at casinos in a bid to clear his massive debts.

His body was found lying face up in Queens Wood by a woman out walking her dog early in the morning on 14 January 1997. It was found a few hours after some local people heard a man shouting followed by a bang.

He had been beaten and then shot through the left eye with a single bullet.

The police said that they were not sure how Brandon Hale came to be in the woods and appealed for witnesses that might have been using Highgate tube station that morning or had been in the vicinity of Queens Wood Road between 4am and 7am.

Brandon Hale was married and had lived in St John's Wood in North London. He had had two children and had worked part-time in a West End bureau de change.

The police noted that they believed that several bureaux de change in London had been used to launder crooked cash.

His wife said, 'I just feel sadness and grief for the loss of my husband. It was such a futile waste of life. He never did anyone any harm, he was not a gangster but his gambling probably got him into this trouble'.

The police also made a general warning stating that hitmen were being hired for as little as £1,000. They said that they had set up a special squad to find up to twenty professional hitmen operating in the south-east. The police said that the gunmen were charging anything from £1,000 to £20,000 per murder and had been used by spurned lovers as well as gangs.

The police noted that Brandon Hale had literally gambled with his life. They said, 'He thought he could put the money on the gaming tables, win enough to pay off his debts and give the villains back their 'cleaned up' cash. God knows what must have been going through his mind as he kept losing, kept chasing the money, desperately trying to get it back. In the end he lost the lot and he paid the ultimate price'.