'National security' at stake in secret Murder trial

[TonyGosling]

A court order banned any speculation about the matters held behind closed doors.

Chinese conman murdered reclusive author in £4m home to steal his identity and plunder his fortune

By Tom Kelly
Last updated at 2:10 PM on 16th January 2009

A Chinese conman tortured a reclusive writer in his £4million home and then bludgeoned him to death 'like a seal pup' to plunder his fortune.

Wang Yam hatched the evil scheme to steal the identity of Allan Chappelow, the prize winning biographer of George Bernard Shaw, after running up massive debts to fund his lavish lifestyle as a bogus financial advisor.

As the 86-year-old author's battered body lay decomposing under half a ton of papers in his study, the fraudster impersonated his victim in phone calls to the bank to move cash to his own account.

But Yam's plan collapsed when he called to query a delay in a £20,000 transaction and bank staff became suspicious that his heavy Chinese accent did not sound like the eccentric English writer.

Police broke into Mr Chappelow's run-down Grade II-listed home in Hampstead, Northwest London, where they discovered the author's brains had been literally bashed out in the sadistic murder.

The writer is believed to have had hot wax poured over him as he was tortured for information in the attack which left 'more blood than in Sweeney Todd', the Old Bailey heard.

Yesterday Yam was convicted of murder, burglary and theft after two extraordinary trials in which most of his defence was held private for national security reasons.

The prosecution, backed by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, was granted the gagging order - unprecedented in a murder trial - despite a Court of Appeal bid to overturn it and complaints by senior barristers that the fundamental principle of a fair trial is that it is open to the public.

A court order banned any speculation about the matters held behind closed doors.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1119437/Chinese-conman-murdere d-reclusive-author-4m-home-steal-identity-plunder-fortune.html