Two arrested over murder of man abandoned in flat

JASON BENNETTO

Crime Correspondent

Two men were being questioned last night by detectives investigating the murder of a civilian police mechanic, who died after being beaten by burglars and left tied to his bed without food and water for 10 days.

The men, both in their mid-twenties, were arrested at 6am at an address in Kentish Town, north London.

Alan Holmes, 53, a garage hand at Kentish Town police station, died in hospital from blood clots and dehydration. He had been tied so tightly that circulation had been cut off to his hands and feet. Police said yesterday his cries for help would have gone unheard at the flat.

Mr Holmes was described as a quiet, gentle man who had studied law at Belfast University, but failed to graduate, before moving to London, where he had lived in the same flat for 30 years.

Burglars had broken into his second-storey home above an empty shop in Parkway, Camden Town, in the early hours of Boxing Day.

The alarm was raised when he failed to return to work on 2 January and police eventually broke in on 4 January.

His two bank cash cards had been taken and used to withdraw pounds 1,000, police said. His passport, driving licence and a Victorian silver picture frame were also taken.

Police said robbery appeared the only motive for the killing.

Detective Chief Inspector John Yates said Mr Holmes was too ill to give a full statement before he died.

He added that Mr Holmes may have been targeted because he was well known to people in the area.

"Mr Holmes led a very, very quiet lifestyle. He did not drink, except for perhaps half a pint at Christmas. "This was a horrendous attack, truly awful. He had serious injuries and could not move for 10 days."

Mr Holmes's sister, Mavis Yule, 55, said: "He was in a dreadful state. I don't know how anyone could have done this.

"He was a friendly, gentle person. He loved poetry and should have been a writer. He was very kind and would have given you the shirt off his back.

"Living in London, he saw people begging and sleeping in doorways. He felt very sorry for these people. He may have given them money for soup or given them a blanket - but he would never have let anybody he did not know into his flat."