Former officer tells of clubbing parents to death: Confession statements made by two brothers ended the seven-year-old mystery of a couple's disappearance

A CHANNEL ISLAND court yesterday heard how a former Army officer clubbed his wealthy parents to death with a martial arts weapon and was then helped by his brother to hide the bodies.

Their stories were read out to magistrates in St Helier, Jersey, at the end of a seven-year murder mystery. Roderick Newall, 28, formerly of the Royal Green Jackets, confessed to killing his parents on the night of 10-11 October 1987, at the culmination of a drunken row which had brought back childhood resentments.

His brother Mark, 27, formerly a financier with the Banque Arabe et Internationale d'Investissements in Paris, who admitted helping dispose of the bodies, said he had left the house before the row, and claimed he had only helped conceal the crime because otherwise Roderick would have committed suicide.

The remains of Nicholas Newall, 56, and his wife Elizabeth, 47, lay undetected 2ft-3ft beneath a field after vanishing from their house in Clos de l'Atlantique, St Brelade, Jersey. They were officially declared dead in 1990, and the sons jointly inherited their estate.

Roderick Newall was arrested on a yacht off North Africa in August 1992 after the Royal Navy sent two frigates to track him down on behalf of the Jersey authorities. He was taken to Gibraltar, and extradited after a 14-month legal fight.

Mark Newall was arrested, by French police as he left his flat in Paris in March 1993 and extradited to Jersey the following month.

Roderick Newall has admitted murdering his parents, while Mark Newall has pleaded guilty to assisting in the disposal of the bodies, and helping conceal the crime and the disposal of the murder weapons and evidence.

Yesterday the magistrate, David Trott, committed the case to be heard at the Royal Court in St Helier, the equivalent of an English crown court. The brothers stood side by side in the dock at Jersey Police Court. They did not speak, look at each other or express any emotion during the 50-minute committal hearing. In Jersey, unlike Britain, committal proceedings can be reported in the press.

The court heard that on the night of the killings the Newall family had been out together for a celebration dinner.

Detective Inspector Martin Fitzgerald, who was part of the original inquiry in 1987 and now heads the police investigation into the double-murder, read the court a statement made by Roderick Newall the day before he was brought back to Jersey on an extradition warrant last November.

The confessions began: 'I admit I killed my parents on 11 October 1987. My recollection is not completely clear after so much time.

'After Mark left, my parents and I continued talking and drinking in the sitting room. A heated argument developed in which many old wounds were re-opened. It came to a head with my father and I standing face to face. I told him what I thought about him - things which I had never said before. He pushed me and I fell, hitting my head on the dining room table; I found myself beside a box of my possessions I had sorted and removed from the attic earlier in the day.'

On top of this box was a pair of rice flails - martial arts weapons - which he 'grabbed and used to club' his father.

'I remember him falling. The next memory was sitting on the floor in the hall. I got up, went into the sitting room and saw my father's body. I couldn't find any pulse. In a complete panic I checked the kitchen and the bedroom where I found my mother's body. It triggered a memory of also attacking her. I could find no pulse again. I then realised I had killed both my parents.'

Some time later he had contacted his brother. 'I told him what had happened, and said the only thing for me to do was to kill myself. He persuaded me not to.'

The court heard that Mark Newall had arrived at the house and found his brother sitting holding their father's shotgun. 'He calmed me down and perusaded me not to take my life,' Roderick Newall said. The brothers then took the bodies in a hired van to Greve de Lecq, on the north of the island, and went back to clean up the house. Explaining his decision to confess, Roderick Newall said: 'My feelings of guilt and remorse have built up ever since that night. I have found it increasingly hard to live a lie.'

He said he had wanted to help his father's twin brother, Stephen, and his wife by removing the uncertainty, but he had been worried by the effect of the disclosure on his grandmother. 'I have still not understood how I was capable of committing those horrific crimes. I think it was probably caused by the bitter childhood memories awakened by the argument. I am sorry Mark is suffering when his only involvement was after the killings and to help and protect me.'

Det Insp Fitzgerald told the court how Roderick had first offered to confess only on condition that his brother should not be charged, but had been told that such a deal was out of the question. When he had completed reading Roderick's statement, he read a statement made by Mark Newall earlier this week.

The court also heard from Dr Gyan Fernando, a Home Office pathologist. He said Mr and Mrs Newall had died from multiple injuries to the head. They both had extensive fractures to their skulls, and many cuts on their scalps. They were identified from their dental records.

(Photographs omitted)