In 1984, at the age of 78, world-renowned rose grower Hilda Murrell was found brutally murdered in the Shropshire countryside. She had just gained approval to testify on the unsolved [problems of radioactive waste at the first British planning inquiry into a new nuclear power plant at Sizewell, Suffolk. The police theory that a lone , panicking burglar robbed and abducted Hilda in her own car for petty cash erupted into a sensational political conspiracy involving prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's plans for British nuclear energy and the controversial sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War. The West Mercia police took until 2005 to secure the conviction of Andrew George as Hilda's unlikely murderer - in 1984 he was a 16-yeat-old truant from a local foster home who could not drive. The case spawned numerous books, plays and TV programmes as it became one of the most baffling British murders of the 20th century. Now, Hilda's nephew Robert Green - a former Royal Navy Commander who operated nuclear weapons before holding a key position in Naval Intelligence during the Falklands War - tells the story of his extraordinary pursuit of the truth. Believing that Hilda was abducted by those who wanted to find out what she knew about the Falklands conflict and problems in the Sizewell nuclear power plant, and undeterred by ongoing harassment, Green exposes the implausibility of the police theory and uncovers explosive new evidence that should have acquitted Andrew George. This is the incredible true story of Hilda Murrell - and one man's quest to find out how and why his beloved aunt met such a violent and bizarre death.
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Robert Green served for twenty years in the Royal Navy from 1962-82. As a Fleet Air Arm observer/ bombardier-navigator, he flew in Buccaneer nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters. On promotion to Commander in 1978, he worked in the Ministry of Defence before his final appointments as Staff Officer (Intelligence) to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet. Having taken voluntary redundancy in 1981, he was released after the 1982 Falklands War, and trained as a roof thatcher in Dorset. In 1984, the murder of his beloved aunt and mentor Hilda Murrell led him to examine and then challenge the hazards of nuclear electricity generation. This, plus the break-up of the Soviet Union, followed by the 1991 Gulf War caused him to speak out against nuclear weapons - the first ex-Commander with nuclear weapons experience to do so.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rob Green's newly published book about the murder of his aunt - the Shrewsbury peace campaigner and rose grower Hilda Murrell - blows wide open the whole dubious court case in spectacular fashion.
To have a quarter of a century of intermittent, drip-fed evidence painstakingly collaborated and concentrated into 200 concise pages is a stark revelation. How can so much of it have been overlooked at Stafford Crown Court in 2005? Just 10 percent of the information in "A Thorn In Their Side" should be enough to cause grave concern about a miscarriage of justice.
The book lists 50 unresolved questions that were barely dealt with at the trial of Andrew George; who was convicted of abducting and murdering Miss Murrell single-handed - even though he was only a 5 foot 2 inches tall 16-year-old boy at the time who had no knowledge of how to drive a car. One single piece of evidence - the discovery of DNA material under Hilda's fingertips belonging to someone other than Andrew George (or any of his family) - would have been conclusive in acquitting him. Yet it was clearly stated in court that (based on DNA evidence) Andrew, and only Andrew, could have committed the crime,
The post-trial interview conducted in George's cell is both moving and telling, and amplifies the conclusion that Miss Murrell was `held' for three days by a team of abductors (who are still at large) before being dumped to die at Hunkington. Fresh accounts of how Miss Murrell's organs were removed for toxicology tests that were never conducted are alarming. These organs were then mysteriously `lost' by the authorities. 27 years later, the police still can't find her brain.
It's a remarkable book - and if true justice is to be done it has to be taken seriously by our judiciary.
To have a quarter of a century of intermittent, drip-fed evidence painstakingly collaborated and concentrated into 200 concise pages is a stark revelation. How can so much of it have been overlooked at Stafford Crown Court in 2005? Just 10 percent of the information in "A Thorn In Their Side" should be enough to cause grave concern about a miscarriage of justice.
The book lists 50 unresolved questions that were barely dealt with at the trial of Andrew George; who was convicted of abducting and murdering Miss Murrell single-handed - even though he was only a 5 foot 2 inches tall 16-year-old boy at the time who had no knowledge of how to drive a car. One single piece of evidence - the discovery of DNA material under Hilda's fingertips belonging to someone other than Andrew George (or any of his family) - would have been conclusive in acquitting him. Yet it was clearly stated in court that (based on DNA evidence) Andrew, and only Andrew, could have committed the crime,
The post-trial interview conducted in George's cell is both moving and telling, and amplifies the conclusion that Miss Murrell was `held' for three days by a team of abductors (who are still at large) before being dumped to die at Hunkington. Fresh accounts of how Miss Murrell's organs were removed for toxicology tests that were never conducted are alarming. These organs were then mysteriously `lost' by the authorities. 27 years later, the police still can't find her brain.
It's a remarkable book - and if true justice is to be done it has to be taken seriously by our judiciary.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book could have been a crime novel except the plot was too complicated for a fictional writer to dream up and, unlike most crime novels, the murder is not solved nor are the real perpetrators apprehended. But it comes very close. The sheer scale of the research, compilation and cross referencing of facts, observations and opinions and their interpretation through the eyes of a loyal, retired serviceman and law abiding subject of the British Crown, lead one to the inevitable and chilling conclusion that seeming police incompetence was a cover for state security intervention, liquidation and fabrication.
But what former Royal Navy Commander Rob Green is suggesting, nay affirming, his aunt Hilda Murrell was subjected to couldn't happen in this country, could it? Well, anybody who was involved in anti-nuclear activities during the 1980s was placed under Police Special Branch surveillance in their own localities. Those asking the more penetrating questions and those encouraging others to join them in actively opposing the nuclear state were subject to more intensive forms of intimidation - and worse - at the hands of MI5 and their sub-contractors. The `civil' nuclear power industry also had a surveillance arm.
Hilda Murrell was one of those anti-nuclear activists whose research and writing was deemed dangerous enough by the security state to warrant their full attention and to prevent her ideas from spreading and challenging those who held power. Although it is hard to comprehend in our post-Cold War environment and less ideological times, those who held power decided that those who fundamentally challenged it, could legitimately be harassed, have their human rights suspended and be marginalised - all in the name of defending freedom and democracy.... Read more ›
But what former Royal Navy Commander Rob Green is suggesting, nay affirming, his aunt Hilda Murrell was subjected to couldn't happen in this country, could it? Well, anybody who was involved in anti-nuclear activities during the 1980s was placed under Police Special Branch surveillance in their own localities. Those asking the more penetrating questions and those encouraging others to join them in actively opposing the nuclear state were subject to more intensive forms of intimidation - and worse - at the hands of MI5 and their sub-contractors. The `civil' nuclear power industry also had a surveillance arm.
Hilda Murrell was one of those anti-nuclear activists whose research and writing was deemed dangerous enough by the security state to warrant their full attention and to prevent her ideas from spreading and challenging those who held power. Although it is hard to comprehend in our post-Cold War environment and less ideological times, those who held power decided that those who fundamentally challenged it, could legitimately be harassed, have their human rights suspended and be marginalised - all in the name of defending freedom and democracy.... Read more ›
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Ardura
Format:Paperback
In March 1984, the peace of the pretty English town of Shrewsbury was shattered by the brutal murder of one of its most respected citizens - Hilda Murrell. This renowned plantswoman and passionate anti-nuclear campaigner was abducted from her home, killed, and dumped in a wood outside the town. `Bungled burglary', said the police. `State crime', said Hilda's friends, citing the fact that she was due to deliver a paper at the first British planning inquiry into a controversial new nuclear power plant at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast. Unusual occurrences reported by several of Hilda's friends around the time of her death were summarily dismissed by the police, adding to the sense that a cover-up was going on. When Labour MP Tam Dalyell, pursuing the truth about the sinking of the General Belgrano in the Falklands War, said his sources had confirmed British intelligence involvement in Hilda's murder, the tale took yet another strange twist.
All these events had a profound effect on Hilda's nephew Robert Green, a former Commander with the Royal Navy. Convinced burglary was not the murder motive and increasingly disillusioned with police handling of the case, he began his own enquiries and persisted despite intense harassment from shadowy forces. In 2011, 27 years after his aunt's death, Green's painstaking research culminated in this extraordinary book "A Thorn in their Side", written in conjunction with his wife Kate Dewes.
Green's and Dewes' exemplary detective work has pieced together a jigsaw of mind-boggling complexity. Who could ever imagine that such a huge, and extraordinarily clumsy, operation would be required to eliminate a responsible, highly intelligent patriotic woman exercising her democratic right to protest?... Read more ›
All these events had a profound effect on Hilda's nephew Robert Green, a former Commander with the Royal Navy. Convinced burglary was not the murder motive and increasingly disillusioned with police handling of the case, he began his own enquiries and persisted despite intense harassment from shadowy forces. In 2011, 27 years after his aunt's death, Green's painstaking research culminated in this extraordinary book "A Thorn in their Side", written in conjunction with his wife Kate Dewes.
Green's and Dewes' exemplary detective work has pieced together a jigsaw of mind-boggling complexity. Who could ever imagine that such a huge, and extraordinarily clumsy, operation would be required to eliminate a responsible, highly intelligent patriotic woman exercising her democratic right to protest?... Read more ›
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