Henri Exton
- Exton is a shareholder in Oakley International - the private investigation company hired by the McCanns at a fee of £100,000 per month plus expenses
- Oakley International was set up by Kevin Halligen in 2007
- Exton met Halligan at the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge
- Exton took a 'back seat' in the investigation following publicity about the Oakley International contract with the McCanns
- Exton allegedly oversaw a five-man surveillance team operating for six weeks in Portugal
- Operatives were paid "upfront" therefore Exton was paying out-of-pocket, as the recent articles below indicate.
- Quote: "Exton, a former national head of undercover operations for the British police, is owed more than £100,000 by Halligen for work he did on the Madeleine case.
- Exton allegedly investigated paedophile rings and went undercover among gypsies throughout Europe
- It is technically illegal in Portugal to run a "second investigation" during an open Portuguese investigation
- Exton headed Greater Manchester Police undercover unit before he retired in 1993
- During the Seventies and Eighties Exton's work included uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses
- Exton then worked for the Government (using his expertise)
- Exton was allegedly involved in M15 operations
- Exton received the Queen’s Police Medal and an OBE (1998)
- "when he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for outstanding skills and bravery, it was kept secret."
- Exton became a private detective after retirement
- Suppression of Henri Exton's name demanded
Source: http://cryptome.org/0001/henri-exton.htm - London Solicitors Bindman and Partners, acting on Exton's behalf demanded that his name be erased from the September 25th Hollingsworth article below.
ARTICLES:
September 25, 2009
Mark Hollingsworth Investigates The McCann Files
by Mark Hollingsworth
Disillusioned with the Portuguese police, Gerry and Kate McCann turned to private detectives to find their missing daughter. Instead the efforts of the private eyes served only to scare off witnesses, waste funds and raise false hopes. Mark Hollingsworth investigates the investigators.
It was billed as a ‘significant development’ in the exhaustive search for Madeleine McCann. At a recent dramatic press conference in London, the lead private investigator David Edgar, a retired Cheshire detective inspector, brandished an E-FIT image of an Australian woman, described her as ‘a bit of a Victoria Beckham lookalike’, and appealed for help in tracing her. The woman was seen ‘looking agitated’ outside a restaurant in Barcelona three days after Madeleine’s disappearance. ‘It is a strong lead’, said Edgar, wearing a pin-stripe suit in front of a bank of cameras and microphones. ‘Madeleine could have been in Barcelona by that point. The fact the conversation took place near the marina could be significant.’
But within days reporters discovered that the private detectives had failed to make the most basic enquiries before announcing their potential breakthrough. Members of Edgar’s team who visited Barcelona had failed to speak to anyone working at the restaurant near where the agitated woman was seen that night, neglected to ask if the mystery woman had been filmed on CCTV cameras and knew nothing about the arrival of an Australian luxury yacht just after Madeleine vanished.
The apparent flaws in this latest development were another salutary lesson for Kate and Gerry McCann, who have relied on private investigators after the Portuguese police spent more time falsely suspecting the parents than searching for their daughter. For their relations with private detectives have been frustrating, unhappy and controversial ever since their daughter’s disappearance in May 2007.
The search has been overseen by the millionaire business Brian Kennedy, 49, who set up Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned, which aimed ‘to procure that Madeleine’s abduction is thoroughly investigated’. A straight-talking, tough, burly self-made entrepreneur and rugby fanatic, he grew up in a council flat near Tynecastle in Scotland and was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness. He started his working life as a window cleaner and by 2007 had acquired a £350 million fortune from double-glazing and home-improvement ventures. Kennedy was outraged by the police insinuations against the McCanns and, though a stranger, worked tirelessly on their behalf. ‘His motivation was sincere,’ said someone who worked closely with him. ‘He was appalled by the Portuguese police, but he also had visions of flying in by helicopter to rescue Madeleine.’
Kennedy commissioned private detectives to conduct an investigation parallel to the one run by the Portuguese police. But his choice showed how dangerous it is when powerful and wealthy businessmen try to play detective. In September 2007, he hired Metodo 3, an agency based in Barcelona, on a six-month contract and paid it an estimated £50,000 a month. Metodo 3 was hired because of Spain’s ‘language and cultural connection’ with Portugal. ‘If we’d had big-booted Brits or, heaven forbid, Americans, we would have had doors slammed in our faces’ said Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson for the McCann’s at the time. ‘And it’s quite likely that we could have been charged with hindering the investigation as technically it’s illegal in Portugal to undertake a secondary investigation.
The agency had 35 investigators working on the case in Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. A hotline was set up for the public to report sightings and suspicions, and the search focussed on Morocco. But the investigation was dogged by over-confidence and braggadocio. ‘We know who took Madeleine and hope she will be home by Christmas,’ boasted Metodo 3’s flamboyant boss Francisco Marco. But no Madeleine materialised and their contract was not renewed.
Until now, few details have emerged about the private investigation during those crucial early months, but an investigation by ES shows that key mistakes were made, which in turn made later enquiries far more challenging.
ES has spoken to several sources close to the private investigations that took place in the first year and discovered that:
* The involvement of Brian Kennedy and his son Patrick in the operation was counter-productive, notably when they were questioned by the local police for acting suspiciously while attempting a 24-hour ‘stake out’.
* The relationship between Metodo 3 and the Portuguese police had completely broken down.
* Key witnesses were questioned far too aggressively, so much so that some of them later refused to talk to the police.
* Many of the investigators had little experience of the required painstaking forensic detective work.
By April 2008, nearing the first anniversary of the disappearance, Kennedy and the McCanns were desperate. And so when Henri Exton, a former undercover police officer who worked on MI5 operations, and Kevin Halligen, a smooth-talking Irishman who claimed to have worked for covert British government intelligence agency GCHQ, walked through the door, their timing was perfect. Their sales pitch was classic James Bond spook-talk: everything had to be ‘top secret’ and ‘on a need to know basis’. The operation would involve 24-hour alert systems, undercover units, satellite imagery and round-the-clock surveillance teams that would fly in at short notice. This sounded very exciting but, as one source close to the investigation told ES, it was also very expensive and ultimately unsuccessful. ‘The real job at hand was old-fashioned, tedious, forensic police work rather than these boy’s own, glory boy antic,’ he said.
But Kennedy was impressed by the license-to-spy presentation and Exton and Halligen were hire for a fee of £100,000 per month plus expenses. Ostensibly, the contract was with Halligen’s UK security company, Red Defence International Ltd, and an office was set up in Jermyn Street, in St James’s. Only a tiny group of employees did the painstaking investigative work of dealing with thousands of emails and phone calls. Instead, resources were channelled into undercover operations in paedophile rings and among gypsies throughout Europe, encouraged by Kennedy. A five-man surveillance team was dispatched in Portugal, overseen by the experienced Exton, for six weeks.
Born in Belgium in 1951, Exton had been a highly effective undercover officer for the Manchester police. A maverick and dynamic figure, he successfully infiltrated gangs of football hooligans in the 1980’s. While not popular among his colleagues, in 1991 he was seconded to work on MI5 undercover operations against drug dealers, gangsters and terrorists, and was later awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for ‘outstanding bravery’. By all accounts, the charismatic Exton was a dedicated officer. But in November 2002, the stress appeared to have overcome his judgement when he was arrested for shoplifting.
While working on an MI5 surveillance, Exton was caught leaving a tax-free shopping area at Manchester airport with a bottle of perfume he had not paid for. The police were called and he was given the option of the offence being dealt with under caution or to face prosecution. He chose a police caution and so in effect admitted his guilt. Exton was sacked, but was furious about the way he had been treated and threatened to sue MI5. He later set up his own consulting company and moved to Bury in Lancashire.
While Exton, however flawed, was the genuine article as an investigator, Halligen was a very different character. Born in Dublin in 1961, he has been described as a ‘Walter Mitty figure’. He used false names to collect prospective clients at airports in order to preserve secrecy, and he called himself ‘Kevin’ or ‘Richard’ or ‘Patrick’ at different times to describe himself to business contacts. There appears to be no reason for all this subterfuge except that he thought this was what agents did. A conspiracy theorist and lover of the secret world, he is obsessed by surveillance gadgets and even installed a covert camera to spy on his own employees. He claimed to have worked for GCHQ, but in fact he was employed by the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) as head of defence systems in the rather less glamorous field of new information technology, researching the use of ‘special batteries’. He told former colleagues and potential girlfriends that he used to work for MI5, MI6 and the CIA. He also claimed that he was nearly kidnapped by the IRA, was involved in the first Gulf War and had been a freefall parachutist.
Very little of this is true. What is true is that Halligen has a degree in electronics, worked on the fringes of the intelligence community while at AEA and does understand government communications. He could also be an astonishingly persuasive, engaging and charming individual. Strikingly self-confident and articulate, he could be generous and clubbable. ‘He was very good company but only when it suited him’ says one friend. He kept people in compartments.’
After leaving the AEA, Halligen set up Red Defence International Ltd as an international security and political risk company, advising clients on the risks involved in investing and doing business in unstable, war-torn and corrupt countries. He worked closely with political risk companies and was a persuasive advocate of IT security. In 2006, he struck gold when hired by Trafigura, the Dutch commodities trading company. Executives were imprisoned in the Ivory Coast after toxic waste was dumped in landfills near its biggest city Abidjan. Trafigura was blamed and hired Red Defence International at vast expense to help with the negotiations to release its executives. A Falcon business jet was rented for several months during the operation and it was Halligen’s first taste of the good life. The case only ended when Trafigura paid $197 million to the government of the Ivory Coast to secure the release of the prisoners.
Halligen made a fortune from Trafigura and was suddenly flying everywhere first-class, staying at the Lansborough and Stafford hotels in London and The Willard hotel in Washington DC for months at a time. In 2007 he set up Oakley International Group and registered at the offices of the prestigious law firm Patton Boggs, in Washington DC, as an international security company. He was now strutting the stage as a self-proclaimed international spy expert and joined the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge, where he met Exton.
During the Madeleine investigation, Halligen spent vast amounts of time in the HeyJo bar in the basement of the Abracadabra Club near his Jermyn Street office. Armed with a clutch of unregistered mobile phones and a Blackberry, the bar was in effect his office. ‘He was there virtually the whole day,’ a former colleague told ES. ‘He had an amazing tolerance for alcohol and a prodigious memory and so occasionally he would have amazing bursts of intelligence, lucidity and insights. They were very rare but they did happen.’
When not imbibing in St James’s, Halligen was in the United States, trying to drum up investors for Oakley International. On 15 August 2008, at the height of the McCann investigation crisis, he persuaded Andre Hollis, a former US Drug enforcement agency official, to write out an $80,000 cheque to Oakley in return for a ten per cent share-holding. The money was then transferred into the private accounts of Halligen and his girlfriend Shirin Trachiotis to finance a holiday in Italy, according to Hollis. In a $6 million lawsuit filed in Fairfax County, Virginia, Hollis alleges that Halligen ‘received monies for Oakley’s services rendered and deposited the same into his personal accounts’ and ‘repeatedly and systematically depleted funds from Oakley’s bank accounts for inappropriate personal expenses’.
Hollis was not the only victim. Mark Aspinall, a respected lawyer who worked closely with Halligen, invested £500,000 in Oakley and lost the lot. Earlier this year he filed a lawsuit in Washington DC against Halligen claiming $1.4 million in damages. The finances of Oakley International are in chaos and numerous employees, specialist consultants and contractors have not been paid. Some of them now face financial ruin.
Meanwhile, Exton was running the surveillance teams in Portugal and often paying his operatives upfront, so would occasionally be out-of-pocket because Halligen had not transferred funds. Exton genuinely believed that progress was being made and substantial and credible reports on child trafficking were submitted. But by mid-August 2008, Kennedy and Gerry McCann were increasingly concerned by an absence of details of how the money was being spent. At one meeting, Halligen was asked how many men constituted a surveillance team and he produced a piece of paper on which he wrote ‘between one and ten’. But he then refused to say how many were working and how much they were being paid.
While Kennedy and Gerry McCann accepted that the mission was extremely difficult and some secrecy was necessary, Halligen was charging very high rates and expenses. And eyebrows were raised when all the money was paid to Oakley International, solely owned and managed by Halligen. One invoice, seen by ES, shows that for ‘accrued expenses to May 5, 2008’ (just one month into the contract), Oakley charged $74,155. The ‘point of contact’ was Halligen who provided a UK mobile telephone number.
While Kennedy was ready to accept Halligen at face value, Gerry McCann sharp, focused and intelligent was more sceptical. The contract with Oakley International and Halligen was terminated by the end of September 2008, after £500,000-plus expenses had been spent.
For the McCanns it was a bitter experience, Exton has returned to Cheshire and, like so many people, is owed money by Halligen. As for Halligen, he has gone into hiding, leaving a trail of debt and numerous former business associates and creditors looking for him. He was last seen in January of this year in Rome, drinking and spending prodigiously at the Hilton Cavalieri and Excelsior hotels. He is now believed by private investigators, who have been searching for him to serve papers on behalf of creditors, to be in the UK and watching his back. Meanwhile, in the eye of the storm, the McCanns continue the search for their lost daughter.
9 Sep. 2008
Wanted: Our ex-top cops to join hunt for Maddie
Manchester Evening News
TOP former detectives from Greater Manchester Police could be recruited to help find Madeleine McCann. Chief Supt Steve Heywood, head of the force's serious crime division, has been asked to provide a list of retired or about-to-retire officers.
Madeleine was snatched while on holiday in Portugal just a few days before her fourth birthday in May last year. The Find Madeleine Fund was set up with help from individual donations and is now being bankrolled by Brian Kennedy, boss of Sale Sharks rugby union club.
It is understood that he is considering the list provided by several police forces. Among the names is former Det Supt Andy Tattersall, who retired last year. The two men have already spoken about the case.
Another former Manchester police officer Henri Exton, 57, is involved in the hunt. He is understood to be a shareholder in private investigations firm Oakley International. It is understood that Mr Kennedy is happy with the work being done by Oakley but Mr Exton is taking a 'back seat' following publicity around the case.
Mr Tattersall co-wrote the A To Z Checklist of Murder Investigation which is used by police forces across the country. He worked on the investigation into the murder of special branch officer Stephen Oake and was involved in the Jill Dando murder case. Mr Tattersall insisted the conviction of Barry George was safe but it was quashed on appeal. A spokesman for GMP said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers. As far as we are aware, no decision has been made by the fund."
Madeleine was abducted from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz on May 3 while her parents were dining 50 yards away. During the summer, Portuguese police shelved the case and lifted official suspect status on Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, from Leicestershire. Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "Kate and Gerry McCann, the fund and its backers have always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources in the search for Madeleine. "If police expertise is potentially available anywhere, the fund and Gerry and Kate would naturally considering using it."
McCanns look to ex-cops
Wigan Observer
9 September 2008
Chief Supt Steve Heywood, head of Greater Manchester's serious crime division - which covers the Wigan area - has been asked to provide a list of retired or about-to-retire officers. Madeleine was snatched while on holiday in Portugal in May last year.
The Find Madeleine Fund was set up with help from individual donations and is now being bankrolled by Brian Kennedy, boss of Sale Sharks rugby union club. It is understood that he is considering the list provided by several police forces.
Among the names is former Det Supt Andy Tattersall, who retired last year. The two men have already spoken about the case.
Another former GM police officer Henri Exton, 57, is involved in the hunt. He is understood to be a shareholder in private investigations firm Oakley International.
A spokesman for GMP said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers.
"Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "Kate and Gerry McCann, the fund and its backers have always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources in the search for Madeleine. If police expertise is available anywhere, the fund and Gerry and Kate would naturally considering using it."
Super Cops Join Search For Maddie
10 September 2008
Daily Star
John Mahoney
Ex-police help hunt
A CRACK team of retired supercops is being hired to help the hunt for Madeleine McCann.
Scotland Yard, Cambridgeshire and Greater Manchester (GMP) forces have been approached for lists of former detectives who could bring fresh leads. The elite squad of officers – all retired or close to collecting their pensions – will be recruited by the Find Madeleine Fund and told to re-examine previous evidence.
The fund is being bankrolled by leisure tycoon Brian Kennedy, 48, who owns Sale Sharks rugby union club and boasts an estimated £350 million fortune.
One experienced officer he has met is ex-Det Supt Andy Tattersall, who retired from GMP last year. His high profile probes included the 2003 murder of special branch officer Stephen Oake, 40, during an anti-terror raid and the 1999 shooting of Jill Dando, 37. Last month Barry George, 48, was cleared of Dando's murder after a retrial but Tattersall had insisted George's conviction was safe. He also co-wrote a crime manual called The A To Z Checklist of Murder Investigation.
Another ex-Manchester officer believed to figure in the new team is Henri Exton, 57, now a private eye.
Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. Her parents Kate and Gerry, both 40, are understood to approve of the new inquiry team. Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry, the fund and its backers have always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources."
Last night a GMP spokesman said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers. As far as we are aware, no decision has been made by the fund."
A Gong For The Secret Detective
31 December 1998
Manchester Evening News
Steve Panter
A Top-Secret detective who risked his life time after time in the line of duty has been honoured for his courage.
The master of deep infiltration of major crime rings becomes an OBE today.
Henri Exton headed Greater Manchester Police undercover unit before he retired five years ago.
The former detective chief inspector has continued in his specialist field and is now with the Ministry of Defence.
His work while he was in Manchester varied from penetrating notorious soccer gangs to uncovering evidence which proved a convicted killer innocent.
Mr Exton was later "loaned out" by GMP to other forces and on one such mission was held hostage by a gang he inflitrated in the south of England - but retained his cover. His early successes in Greater Manchester in the 1970s and 80s involved uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses.
He was heavily involved in the huge armed robbery inquiry Operation Belgium, so-called because of his Belgian family background.
He became a trusted "member" of notorious 1970s soccer gang the Young Guvnors who followed Manchester City and caused serious violence across the country. In fact he became a leader of the Guvnors and had to take part in some organised incidents to preserve his cover. He even had to endure a beating in a cell in Wales inflicted by police officers who were convinced he was a soccer thug.
In Italy, during the 1990 World Cup, he wore an Italian policeman's uniform then switched sides to pose as a football hooligan.
One triumph was pretending to be a drugs buyer. His role was so sensitive that, when he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for outstanding skills and bravery, it was kept secret.
Two other officers have been awarded the Queen's Police Medal for their services in Greater Manchester. Chief Supt Andrew Glaister, who retired last March after 35 years as an officer in Manchester, was head of GMP's C division.
The other officer honoured today cannot be named.
