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Gangsters suspected of the double murder of Terry Gooderham and Maxine Arnold were later bugged talking about cutting off the legs and arms of another victim, a retired cop has revealed
The 1989 unsolved gangland executions of a couple has been linked to a third mystery murder.
Terry Gooderham, 39, and Maxine Arnold, 32, were kidnapped and forced to drive to Epping Forest in East London, where they were found shot dead 35 years ago this week.
Bar stocktaker Terry was apparently killed to stop him revealing a scam involving a Krays associate hijacking booze lorries to supply a pub protection racket. Mick Randall, a former Met detective, told The Mirror an organised crime gang suspected of masterminding the murders was later bugged discussing cutting off the head and arms of another victim.
The dead body was in a car boot and the gangsters were planning to remove his limbs in order to frustrate identification because of his tattoos. A torso matching that description was found in Bolney, Sussex in October 1991 and local police were convinced it was a London crime.
The still unidentified victim, believed to be in his 30s, had his arms broken and his head removed with an axe or bolt cropper. One hand was severed six inches below the elbow the other two inches below, perhaps to cut away a tattoo. The body had been dressed after death in a shirt and trousers belonging to someone else. His missing head and limbs were never found.
Mr Randall said he believes all three murders remain unsolved because of police corruption. He said: “These gangsters were overheard discussing cutting off the head and arms of a dead body in a car boot to frustrate identification because of his tattoos. A torso matching that description was found in Bolney, Sussex and local police there were convinced it was a London crime but got no assistance from the Met.”
Former Sussex detective superintendent Peter Kennett, who investigated the unsolved torso case in 1991, confirmed he was not aware of the “dynamite” intelligence from the bug. Mr Kennet, who went on to lead the successful murder hunt for Sarah Payne’s killer, said: “Logic would suggest it was a gangland killing and the dismembering was to prevent identification. The head was cut off below the shoulders. The intelligence of an east London gangster discussing a similar murder would have been very beneficial.”
Two former senior Met detectives who oversaw the bugging operation confirmed that the Met had intelligence about a murder from the probe. The bug, they said, was placed in a Portacabin in Canning Town, east London, where one of the organised crime group ran a legitimate business. Detectives were overlooking the premises from a high rise flat to match voices to those who visited.
One source separately explained that the police corruption emanating from the Gooderham and Arnold murder investigation was hived off into a secret operation codenamed Crocus. It became the basis for a shadowy police anti-corruption unit known as the Ghost Squad which only caught a fraction of the up to 250 bent cops it claimed were operating in the Met in the nineties. Mr Randall has re-examined the three murders and spoke to former officers who worked on them.
He submitted his findings to the Met’s current anti-corruption squad, the basis for the BBC drama Line of Duty, but got no response. His report in September 2023 concluded: “It would appear that the Met was completely comfortable with the decision to allow criminals to murder and remain at large in order to keep the intelligence product rolling in relation to corruption.”
Mr Randall said: “There has always been reasonable grounds to arrest those involved in the Epping Forest murders. They have hidden in plain sight for 35 years. Once the decision to ‘let them run’ is made, there can never be any going back. The decision that was made is buried, never to be discussed again. In 35 years, the Met has never put out one honest media appeal for the Gooderham and Arnold murders.” He added that his informant, the late enforcer Albert Reading, told him Krays associate Connie Whitehead, who has also died, had put up a contract for Terry’s murder.
Mr Randall said Reading was concerned about corrupt cops protecting those responsible and spoke out because a “liberty” had been taken by killing an innocent woman. The detective tried to pass the intelligence to the murder squad within two weeks of the crime, but said it was intercepted and the suspects were never questioned. The intelligence would have been a “game changer”, he was later told by a detective on the murder squad.
Terry, a pub stocktaker, and Maxine were kidnapped from her east London flat by two gunmen. They forced them to drive to a nearby forest where they were shot in the head with a 12 bore shotgun. One of Maxine’s relatives, who asked not to be named, told the Mirror five years ago: “Her murder destroyed her mother, who never got over it until the day she passed away. We want justice for Maxine. If the people who killed her are still alive then the police should have another look at this.”
A Met spokesperson said: “As with all unsolved cases, these murders are subject to periodic review to consider if they can be advanced with the passage of time. No charges have been brought. The MPS has recently been contacted by a former officer presenting possible new information relating to the murders. As with all information this will be carefully assessed and this is ongoing at this time.”
A Sussex police spokesperson said: “We would always consider any new information that might lead to new lines of enquiry.”
