The Murder of Richard Deakin

This is the first of two forays into the Midlands Underworld, with the apparently motiveless murder of successful young businessman Richard Deakin.  Yet it cannot be motiveless when the mother of Richard, and the rest of his family receive threatening and abusive cards and letters.  One was a warning to let things by.  These items were handed over to Police.  The horrific murder of 27 year old Richard happened at his home in Chasetown on July 5th 2010.  The boss of a skip hire company was resting, whilst his partner took their children to school.  Two men gained entry to the house and shot him dead.  The Police investigation concentrated on the Wolverhampton and Bilston areas of the Midlands, which resulted in the arrests of two men aged 61 & 33, a year after the murder.  They were bailed later by cops.

    A rumour spread through the area that Richard was a Police informant, but Police firmly dismissed this claim as untrue.  They also stated that an incident just before the murder, in which a man was violently beaten and tortured at a spot in Chasewater, was not connected to Richard`s murder.  Earlier in the year, Richard suffered having his business destroyed by arsonists, and apparently was worried about something before his death.  His mother believes it was motivated by jealousy over his success as a young man.  Possible.  But to do what they did was extreme in regards to outright envy.  Could it have been that he was approached to launder money and he refused?  Laundering money usually means drugs.  It would explain the arson attack, and the shooting of him could have been a decision that he could have been very troublesome for them.  With the authorities.  More and more businesses are being used or targeted to launder money.  Villains now realise that you cannot put in your own bank and think "Nobody would think of looking there!"  That is moronic.  To do it properly, you need intelligent businessmen, bankers, lawyers, accountants, to carry it off successfully.  A businessman with brains would be ideal.  But most are not crooked.  I hope the Deakin family receive closure on this terrible tragedy.