UK NEWS

‘TIP-OFF BY GHOST’ SPARKS £20K HUNT FOR MURDERER

A nationwide investigation began after tip-offs from psychics

Friday November 6,2009

By Jo Willey

POLICE were criticised for a “ludicrous waste of money” after spending more than £20,000 on a murder inquiry based on a “tip-off” from a dead man’s ghost.

Detectives began the nationwide investigation after a group of psychics contacted them, an inquest heard yesterday.

Keep-fit fan Carlos Assaf, 32, was found hanged in his flat and police suspected suicide.

But the psychics told officers Mr Assaf’s spirit had claimed he had been strangled by gangsters who forced him to drink petrol and bleach.

A team of highly trained officers embarked on a hunt after the psychics saw “a lion, a horse and the name Tony Fox in their visions”.

Detectives visited more than a dozen pubs called the Red Lion and Black Horse for miles around. They even tracked down a man called Tony Fox who was immediately eliminated from the inquiry. A second post mortem was carried out on father-of-one Mr Assaf, of Lampeter, West Wales, but no bleach or petrol was found in his digestive tract.

The inquest in Aberystwyth heard conclusive evidence that baker Mr Assaf had hanged himself from a weight-training bench after rowing with his girlfriend in March.

Ceredigion coroner Peter Brunton recorded a suicide verdict and questioned the police inquiry based on the tip-off.

He said: “There was a great deal of communication between the mediums and the police.

“A great deal of effort was expended in following these leads up.”

After the inquest Mr Assaf’s family said they were “grateful” to the police for investigating the information from beyond the grave.

His mother Shirley said: “There is no doubt in my mind now that my son took his own life.”

Mark Wallace, of campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, slammed the costly search as a “ludicrous waste of valuable time and money that could have been used to follow up real leads in other crimes”. A Dyfed Powys Police spokeswoman said: “Police have a responsibility to the deceased, their family and the public to investigate all deaths thoroughly.”