On July 20, 1996, on Sunday, the wind was sunny and cloudless. A pair of fishermen in Brixham Harbour, Devon, England, the father and son drove their fishing boats to the fishing grounds as usual, but this A day’s luck was not good. After more than ten hours of work, there was still nothing. The father and son were unwilling to give up, and went to a densely-packed sea six miles away to continue fishing. Outside of the fish, the body of a man appeared, and they immediately notified Coast Guard.
The guard came to the scene of the incident and carefully checked the man’s condition. The man was wearing a blue and white shirt, a pair of trousers, a pair of brown leather shoes on his feet, and a Rolex watch , age Around 45 to 60 years old.
After forensic examination, the man had been in the water for less than a week. He had some bruises on his left hip and leg, and there was a crack on the back of his head. The cause of his death was drowning. The police felt that the man was likely to accidentally fall into the water during the voyage and caused the accident, and several wounds on his body were caused by the impact when he was pulled onto the fishing boat by a net.
As there is no other certification information on the man, there is only a Rolex watch worth six or seven thousand pounds. A good feature of this watch is that it is waterproof. It can move in deep water, but because of energy storage, it can run for up to 2 to 3 days if it is not carried in the hand.
Rolex watches are very precious. Each watch has a unique number engraved on the back, which has become a unique identification code in the world. Therefore, the police contacted the manufacturer through this identification code. After verification, it was found that this piece was sold 10 years ago. The buyer’s name is Ronald Joseph Pratt.
After investigation, Ronald rented an apartment in Chelmsted before his death. The police immediately went to the rental house and found the landlord. They asked the landlord "Do you know anything about Ronald? What's the situation?"
The landlord said, "I don’t know him. The renter is David Davis. He handles all the procedures. I don’t have Ronald’s contact information, but I do have David. Phone".
The police were very happy when they heard that they asked for a phone number and immediately contacted David. David came to the police station and said, "I and Ronald are friends, but we haven't seen each other for months."
David
When he heard the news of Ronald's death, David showed a sad look on his face. He said, "Ronald is not only my good friend, but also my partner. I lent money to Ronald to start a business back then. Both Ronald's parents have passed away and there is only one brother. Don’t communicate much".
The alert got Ronald's brother's contact information from David, and then went to make detailed inquiries, but the facts are as David said, Ronald did not know what his brother was up to before? The two parties don't communicate very often.
As the police still have some questions to ask David, they wrote down David’s contact information and address, so they visited the house. When they came to a village in Essex, England, according to the address provided by David Four houses were found. There was no house number at the time. The police only knew that the house where David lived was called London Farmhouse, so the police randomly found a house and knocked on the door. It was not David who opened the door, but an old man with gray hair. The old man told the police, "My house is called the London cottage, and the London farmhouse is next to me." The police were afraid that he would knock on the wrong door again and proceeded to the old man. After confirming, "The owner of the London farmhouse is called David Davis?"
Unexpectedly, what the old man said surprised the police. He said, "There is nothing called David Davis here." People, the owner of the London farmhouse is Ronald Joseph Pratt".
Isn't Ronald the dead? Since the house belonged to the deceased, why did David live here? Did David take care of Ronald's house temporarily?
With these questions, the police knocked on the door of the London farmhouse, and it was David who opened the door. However, the police did not express their suspicion, but asked him some of his original questions. , Immediately returned to the police station and reported David's living in Ronald's house to the police officer.
person in charge immediately realized the seriousness of the problem,He asked his men to confirm the situation of Ronald once again. The police once again found the father and son of the fisherman who had recovered the corpse and asked them, "Aside from this corpse, did you salvage anything else that day?"
Originally, the police did not have any expectations. The man hesitated, but said, "In addition to this corpse, there is also an anchor weighing more than ten pounds."
The police's eyes lit up and said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier, where did the anchor go?"
"I gave the anchor to my friend, but I can give you contact information."
According to the contact information, the police found the fisherman’s friend. The friend handed over the anchor. Through laboratory analysis, it was found that the crack in the back of Ronald’s head was not caused by the fishing boat, but by the anchor hitting it. At the same time, the belt rope on Ronald's trousers was also detected to contain metal zinc residue, and the surface of the anchor was plated with a layer of zinc.
Combining the above two points, the police concluded that Ronald did not fall into the water, but was attacked on the head with an anchor, and then hung the anchor on his belt and pushed him into it. In the sea, that is to say, this case is not an accident, but a complete murder case.
At this time, David naturally became the number one suspect in the eyes of the police. After investigation, the police found that the name of the credit card used by David was also Ronald's name. Even after Ronald's death, he was still using this card. . The police felt that David had embezzled Ronald's credit card, and when he formed a huge debt, he planned to murder him, leaving the debt untouched.
But this conjecture was quickly overturned, because Ronald’s credit card did not have an overdue bill, which means that David has been swiping the card for many years, and Ronald has continued to repay David, then What is the relationship between David and Ronald that makes Ronald willing to pay his debts for David?
At this time, the police learned another important clue, that is Ronald once had a girlfriend named Elaine. The police immediately approached Elaine to ask about Ronald. Elaine had been with Ronald. Loved for more than 10 years, and the two broke up in 1993.
Elaine said, "When I was working in an auction house in 1991,One day I received a guest. He was David Davis. He came to visit the auction house. We talked about art-related topics. David’s gentle personality left a deep impression on me. We talked It was more speculative. Later, David came up with an idea. He wanted to start a company and let me take charge of the company's specific affairs. Later I agreed to David’s proposal and told David that my boyfriend Ronald is a TV repairman. He has always wanted to live in Canada. The reason he didn’t go was because he didn’t have money. When we saved enough, we would immigrate. To Canada. "
Attachment continued, "The reason I say this is to tell David that we may go to Canada together soon after we save enough money, but when David heard this, not only was he not depressed, but rather quite. Happy, he told me that it is a good thing to have a dream. Otherwise, you and Ronald will come to my company to work together. My salary will not be low. It is estimated that you will be able to save money and go to Canada soon. I couldn't refuse David's kind invitation. Ronald was also very happy to hear that such a pie could fall from the sky. He and I joined the company and became the director of the company.
The policeman asked, "Then how much do you know about David?"
Elaine replied, "I have heard David say that his current wife is not the original spouse, and his ex-wife has been asking him for alimony, so he does not want his name to appear on the company's documents, causing unnecessary For the loss, let Ronald and I sign, and all the affairs of the company will be borne by the two of us."
"There is one more weird thing. One year after we entered the company, on Christmas Eve in 1992, David Ronald and I were invited to be a guest at home. During the meal, he suddenly took out an envelope with two one-way tickets to Canada, telling us that going to Canada is our lifelong dream and the money we saved is also It was almost enough, so he bought us a ticket to Canada and gave us a sum of money to let us go to Canada to start life again."
"Have you gone?
"I was hesitant at the time. After all, Canada is not familiar with the place where we are born. We still need to find a job first. How to deal with what we encounter is also a problem. But Ronald is very excited. He wants to go to Canada very much and agrees with pleasure. , And continue to do my work,In the end, I was successfully persuaded to go to Canada with him, but when the two of us were about to leave, David made a request. He told Ronald that for the normal operation of the company, you are still Dong Dong of the company. But I need to leave your identity documents, including birth certificates and other information. Later, Ronald did not object and left these materials."
The police asked, "Then why are you going back to the UK?"
"We arrived in Canada in February 1993, and I was not comfortable with it at the time. Life, we didn’t find a job we wanted, so I wanted to return to the UK. But Ronald wanted to stay there. It is for this reason that we finally broke up. I left Canada and returned to the UK, and Ronald remained there.
"You saw it again later." David?
"After returning to the UK, one of my friends got married one year. I went to the wedding. This friend of mine also knew David. David met me at the wedding, but David was very surprised at the time. He didn't know that I had returned, and he kept persuading me to return to Canada, but how could I go back? However, a strange thing happened a few days later. David moved away from Harrogate. It seemed that he didn't want to see me."
"Have you contacted David again?
"My last contact was in October 1996. At that time, I heard that Ronald had returned to the UK. Although we have broken up, it is impossible to let go of the relationship we have had for more than ten years. We still have a deep relationship. Feelings, so I wanted to ask David about Ronald’s situation, but David told me at the time that he and Ronald met in June, and Ronald went to France afterwards."
"I'm very sorry , David didn’t tell the truth, Ronald is dead," the policeman said.
Elaine was very sad when she heard this, she asked, "How did he die? "The police introduced the process of Ronald's death in detail, and Elaine seemed unacceptable.
At this time, the police had realized that Ronald's death was inseparable from David. Based on the evidence in hand, the police made a statement in 1996. On November 31st, David was arrested on charges of murder. At the same time, the police wanted to hear how David’s current wife Sarah described the incident.
When David’s two daughters were young,So the police asked David’s wife Sarah to prepare some diapers and took the children to the police station for investigation. But when David’s wife went out carrying a large bag of things, the police found something was wrong, because the bag looked like It was so heavy that Sarah couldn't handle it at all.
The police opened the bag. The contents of the bag surprised the police. In addition to some clothing and diapers, there were 25,000 pounds, 8000 Swiss francs, 17 gold bars and a few expensive paintings. In addition, the birth certificates of the two daughters are also in it, and the name of the father is Ronald.
It turns out that David has been stealing Ronald’s identity all the time, but why did he do it? The police were always puzzled.
David once told Elaine that he used to be an American banker, so the police thought David was an American, so the British police called the American police about David’s situation, hoping that the other party would verify David’s identity. But a reply came quickly, and no such person was found in the United States.
The investigator was very puzzled, so he sent David's information to Interpol again. Unexpectedly, the reply was quick this time, "This person is an international wanted criminal."
David is not an American. His real name is Albert Walker. He is a Canadian. He was born on the banks of the Ouse River in , Ontario. He and his wife Barbara were born in 1980. He and his two daughters moved to Ontario, where Barbara majored in accounting, and the two co-founded Walker Financial Services Group.
In the next ten years, the company has developed well. There are 35 employees. The business has changed from bookkeeping to financial management. Because the two are very business-minded, they have a lot of income, which attracts more and more people. The more investors join, the more tens of millions of wealth are managed.
During this period, Barbara gave birth to two more sons for Walker, and the family was upgraded from a family of 4 to a family of 6.
In 1989, a friend of Walker inherited 5.1 million fortunes. He gave the money to Walker and asked him to manage the money on his behalf. However, Walker did not put the money in the company account for operation, but put it in him I bought some famous watches, famous paintings, and famous cars on his personal account.Walker also had an extramarital affair with a woman.
There is no impermeable wall in the world. The spending of money soon let my friend know that the friend found Walker and said, "I want to see the investment situation of my assets". 3.5 million, my friend was very angry when he knew it, and asked Walker to provide details of the transaction.
At the same time, Walker's lover was also discovered by his wife. The wife was very angry and wanted to divorce Walker. At this time, Walker did not want to restore his wife or make up for the loss, but instead wanted to keep his good life.
So he started to transfer assets, transferred the money to the UK, and applied for personal bankruptcy to prevent his wife from asking for alimony.
Then Walker bought a ticket to the UK. Before leaving, he said to his wife, "I will be back at Christmas, and we will spend the holidays together." Walker also booked a Christmas room for dinner. Create the illusion that it will return.
Sarah and Walker
But when Merkel left Canada, everyone can no longer contact Walker, he mysteriously disappeared, and at the same time, he transferred the company More than 10 million U.S. dollars, and brought her second daughter Sarah.
After the incident was exposed, investors came to the door one after another. The financial company officially declared bankruptcy in July 1991, and 131 investors lost their money.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the local police department launched a joint operation. On April 2, 1993, the court issued a default verdict on Walker, convicting him of seven counts of theft, two counts of fraud and nine counts of money laundering. Crime, Walker's information has thus entered the International Criminal Police Organization's list of most wanted criminals.
After learning of these circumstances, the British police finally understood the truth of the matter. The reason why Walker murdered Ronald was because he wanted to use his identity. Only by obtaining the identity of Ronald can he live with peace of mind in Canada. Go down.
What Walker didn’t expect was that Ronald had only lived in Canada for three years and he didn’t want to stay in Canada anymore. He returned to the UK.At this time, Walker has become Ronald. In order to prevent his true identity from being exposed, Walker must kill Ronald.
On June 22, 1998, the Ronald murder case was officially heard. Although the police found a lot of evidence against Walker on Walker's yacht, they still could not prove that Walker was in that ship on the day of the crime.
At this time, a key witness became the key to the conviction of Walker. This person is not someone else, but Walker's current wife. The identity of this wife surprised everyone. His wife turned out to be his biological daughter Sarah. .
Sara told the judge that in July 1996, he and Walker and his two children were on vacation at Devon. Ronald happened to come to Walker, so the two drove their yacht early in the morning. Going out to play, when Walker came back, it was already more than ten o'clock in the evening, and Walker did not come back at this time.
Walker was very annoyed by his daughter's accusation. He said, "She must have remembered it wrong", but Sarah insisted that she remembered it correctly, and thus concluded that Walker was the last to see Ronald on the day of the accident. people.
In the end, the jury took two hours to come up with the result. Walker was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2016, Walker, who had been in prison in the UK for 21 years, was released on parole from . At this time, he was sent back to Canada. He was sentenced to 5 years 's fixed-term imprisonment for fraud that year, so he is still in prison today. Serving sentence.
Poor Ronald didn’t know the real reason why David killed him until he died. He originally thought he had taken a big advantage, but he didn’t expect that he would kill his life because of this advantage, so whenever the sky fell We must be vigilant to prevent those with ulterior motives from taking advantage of the pie, and we must be vigilant.
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