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Martin Broom

Age: 29

Sex: male

Date: 22 Jul 1989

Place: Sussex Close, Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex

Martin Broom was beaten to death in bed at his home in Sussex Close, Boreham on 22 July 1989.

He had been beaten to death with a small hammer that was found near his body covered in blood. The police also found a pair of bloodstained pipe wrenches that were branded, 'made in India' nearby.

There was no sign of a forced entry and nothing appeared to have been stolen, but it was thought that his house had been searched.

He was a sub-aqua diver and a fitness fanatic, and it was said that he had been at the Riverside Ice and Leisure Centre earlier in the evening of 21 July 1989, the day before his body was found.

It was said that he had been in possession of maps detailing underwater treasure hunting sites and locations detailing alleged hidden treasures and that he had identified an important wreck and was planning a large dive for treasure there and that it was that information that his assailant was after, although it was also claimed that other members at his diving club ridiculed the idea. It was said that he had recently told friends that he had been planning to search for undiscovered gold in shipwrecks.

He was described in the newspapers as a 'daredevil diver' who had been heard to boast about plans to find lost pirate gold.

It was also suggested that he had been tortured for that information.

He ran his own business, Cresta Forklift Services.

Several arrests were made during the investigation, but no one was ever charged.

The police later revealed three other main lines of enquiry:

  1. Sightings of an E-registration red Vauxhall Astra were seen regularly visiting his house, but it was not known who the occupants were. They were described as being a blonde woman, and a slim man who had fair hair and silver wraparound glasses.
  2. Reports were made of a woman who drove a green/brown mini estate car having visited his house. She was described as being aged 18 to 25 with a dark feathery haircut. It was however noted that she might have actually been a man in women's clothing.
  3. That there had been a party/acid house party, nearby involving a large number of people and it was thought that some of the guests must have seen something.

The police said that they suspected that someone other than the murderer knew about the murder and who the murderer was who had not come forward out of loyalty and appealed for such persons to come forward.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.bbc.co.uk

see "Elderly victims of horrific killing." Times, 24 July 1989, p. 3. The Times Digital Archive, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0500401614/TTDA?u=rbw_earl&sid=TTDA&xid=b62f719e. Accessed 12 May 2020.

see Essex Police Museum

see Unsolved East Anglian Murders by Jonathan Sutherland

see Gazette News

see Irish Independent - Monday 24 July 1989