Former Army officer 'admitted killing parents'

A FORMER Army officer carried out a 'carefully planned and brutally executed double murder' of his parents, a court in Gibraltar was told yesterday.

Roderick Newall, 27, was not arrested for the murder until five years later when he 'confessed' to his father's twin brother. The former Royal Green Jackets officer also allegedly confessed to a girlfriend.

Desmond de Silva QC, for the prosecution, told the first day of extradition proceedings that the murder was carried out by Mr Newall and his brother Mark, 26, in October 1987 after the family had been out for a meal together to celebrate Mrs Newall's birthday.

The bodies of Nicholas Newall, 56, a Lloyd's underwriter, and his wife Elizabeth, 48, who lived in St Brelade, Jersey, have never been found. They were last seen dining at a hotel in Petit Port, Jersey, with both their sons.

After the meal, Mr Newall, who was arrested at sea last August, and his brother murdered their parents at their own home, it was alleged. They made attempts to clean the house, but forensic evidence concluded that sustained violence had taken place in the lounge and traces of blood were found.

In July 1992, Mr Newall met his uncle and aunt, Stephen and Gaye Newall, for tea at a hotel in Perthshire, Scotland. There Mr Newall allegedly confessed he would be blamed for the crime. During the secretly recorded conversation 'the accused gazed in the face of his father's identical twin and there spurted from his lips the pent-up guilt he held (for) so long', Mr de Silva said.

In 1991 Mr Newall formed a relationship with a Brazilian woman. On one occasion, Mr de Silva said, 'with tears running down his face, he shook her shoulders and words tumbled out, 'I'm a murderer, I'm a murderer, I'm a murderer'. He told her he was responsible for the murder of his parents.'

He said that on 3 September 1990 Mr Newall had filled in an affidavit to obtain his share of his parent's pounds 500,000 estate. Jersey authorities are seeking Mr Newall's extradition to the Channel Islands to stand trial with his brother Mark, a financier, who was arrested in Paris in March this year.

The case continues on Monday.