New light in mystery of hanged journalist

THE DEATH of Jonathan Moyle is one of the enduring mysteries surrounding the murky world of Britain's arms dealings with Iraq.

Along with the scandal of Matrix Churchill, the West Midlands company which was allowed to supply machine tools for Iraqi weapons factories, the strange death of the 28-year-old defence journalist shone an unwanted spotlight on Britain's role in assembling Saddam Hussein's war machine.

When the body of the former RAF helicopter pilot was discovered hanging in a 5ft high wardrobe of a Santiago hotel room, the Chilean authorities were quick to deduce that he had committed suicide.

But members of his family was convinced that the explanation for his death was far more complex. They maintained that the editor of Defence Helicopter World was on the point of publishing an expose on an arms deal with Iraq involving British and Chilean companies.

Eight months after his death an inquest was opened in Mr Moyle's home town of Exeter, Devon. But the coroner was forced to adjourn the hearing after a pathologist said that vital body organs were missing.

Yesterday, the coroner's office confirmed that the inquest will resume later this month. The decision follows nearly eight years of investigation by Mr Moyle's father, Tony, a retired schoolteacher, who has long been convinced that his son was killed after being given a sedative in his coffee.

He is anxious not to pre-empt the findings of the inquest, but maintains that there is "no question" that his son was murdered. He wants the truth to come out, he said because "after all this time it would be nice to get everything completed."

Jonathan Moyle died in room 1406 of the Carrera Hotel on 31 March, 1990. His body was found hanging from a clothes rail, several inches lower than his body height. At first, the Foreign Office accepted the Chilean authorities' view that he had committed suicide.

But it later emerged that Mr Moyle had been working on a story that Carlos Cardoen, a wealthy Chilean arms dealer, had brokered a deal to supply Iraq with helicopters equipped with guided missiles. At the time Mr Cardoen was earning millions from Iraq's war with Iran and was also linked to the deals by which Matrix Churchill supplied lathes to manufacture Iraqi ammunitions.

Mr Moyle had arrived in Santiago as a delegate at an international defence conference. He began investigating claims that Mr Cardoen was preparing to convert the Bell 206 civilian helicopter into an attack aircraft carrying a guided missile system, which was jointly manufactured in Britain, Sweden and the US.

When news of his death was relayed to the Moyle family there was immediate disbelief. Mr Moyle senior has since spent pounds 10,000 investigating the circumstances surrounding his son's death.

His concerns helped prompt a re-think by the Chilean authorities and a judicial investigation in Santiago in September 1991 concluded that the young Briton had been murdered and that his killers had faked his suicide. Two years later, when an identity parade in Chile failed to identify a suspect, the murder hunt was halted. But the investigation into his death was re-opened by the Santiago Court of Appeal late last year.

Nearly eight years on and with Britain again on the verge of war with Iraq, the Moyles hope that the authorities will help them to establish the truth.