British veteran confesses to strangling ex-policeman to death in gay lover’s fight
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Premeditated: A former British soldier has been charged with the murder of his gay lover in France (file photo)
An SAS veteran has been charged with murder in France after detectives said he had confessed to strangling his gay lover.
Officers arrested Maurice Martin after the passport of his partner John Bradshaw, 55, was found in a Citroen Berlingo he had sold.
Bradshaw, who was a police officer in Britain before retiring, had been reported missing on August 30 by his daughter.
Martin, 27, who is from Birmingham and had served in Kosovo and Iraq, was arrested after selling his van to a local Frenchman, who found Bradshaw’s passport and other documents inside.
The ex-soldier led police to a lake where her boyfriend’s body had been dumped in some bushes.
Limoges prosecutor Michel Garrandaux said: “Martin has been charged with premeditated murder after confessing.
He said he had transported the body in a van hidden under a tarp. The strangulation occurred after an argument.
Bradshaw’s daughter, whose name has not been identified, said the couple met earlier this year and settled in France together.
Crime scene: Lake Cieux in the Limousin region of France, near where the body of John Bradshaw was found (file photo)
He lived with them in their apartment in the town of Fredaigue, near Limoges, in western France.
Neighbor Patrick Besse said of Martin: ‘If he hadn’t made a confession, I would find it hard to believe he did something so terrible. He didn’t speak a word of French, but he seemed trustworthy.
A French judicial official said Martin would be tried for murder next year at a date to be defined.
- This article was modified on March 9, 2023 to correct an erroneous claim that Mr. Martin had worked in the SAS, which he denies.
