Police may reopen an investigation into how the UK’s ‘Public Enemy No 1’ was easily able to escape and live in Spain for two years.
Kent Police are now studying a series of sensational tapes that explain how high profile killer Kenneth Noye was harboured by a leading expat timeshare figure, based in Spain.
Over 500 hours of recordings of businessman Mohamed ‘Mo’ Derbah reveal how Noye, 75, was flown to France, then Tenerife, and finally was landed on the coast near Cadiz, where he hid for 22 months.
Handed to police by UK accountant Paul Blanchard, who worked for Derbah, they explain how the former Brinks Mat robber evaded justice after stabbing boxer Stephen Cameron to death on the M25 motorway, in Kent, in 1996.
In a letter to Scotland Yard accompanying the tapes, Blanchard, a former expat based in Spain for years, pleads with police to ‘investigate and obtain justice for the family of Cameron’.
Blanchard told the Olive Press Derbah had been introduced to Noye, through his connections to fellow criminal John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, who lived in Tenerife for many years.
“I am delighted that this cold case should now finally be re-examined,” he said from outside Scotland Yard, this week.
“What Derbah did to help Noye get away with murder is staggering.
“My statements and tapes prove how he used his worldwide contacts to harbour a dangerous criminal, who had already killed at least once before.”
Blanchard also reveals in a podcast how Derbah – who had many timeshare connections on the Costa del Sol – moved Noye around by private plane and boat immediately after he fled the UK.
Incredibly, Noye managed to evade police until he was finally located living in sleepy Atlanterra, near Zahara, on the Costa de la Luz, from where he was finally extradited two years later.
During his time in Andalucia, Noye took on the identity of a builder called ‘Mick’ who was living in Cadiz to evade tax.
He found a local girlfriend, Maria, who didn’t know his real identity, or of his wife and two sons, who occasionally visited him in Spain.
Eventually, British cops found out and in July, 1998, two officers flew into Jerez and headed to Atlanterra, finally spotting Noye three days later en route to his gym.
In a carefully orchestrated sting, alongside Spanish police, he was finally arrested as he had lunch with Maria in a restaurant in Zahara.
Blanchard’s audio tapes – which were recorded with an eye to ghosting an autobiography of Derbah’s – ‘prove he hid Noye in Spain’.
Noye was eventually tried and found guilty of the murder for which he received a life sentence.
He was eventually released in 2019 and has just released a book on his life, written with investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre.
UK Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mike Rowley told the Olive Press they had received the new evidence and Kent Police ‘would investigate’.
“The investigation into Mr Cameron’s murder was led by Kent Police and we have replied to the letter advising that any related matters would be raised with that force.”
As we went to press Kent Police confirmed they had received ‘three cassette tapes’ handed in as evidence, but told us: “We think this is a matter for the Spanish police.”
The podcast, Kenny Noye: The Lost Tapes, is available online. A Million Ways to Stay on the Run, by Donal MacIntyre is out now.
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