Some things appear to be entirely black and white. However, that’s only on the surface. Nothing is quite black and white when it’s done behind closed doors.
Allan Chappelow was born on August 20th, 1919 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of brilliance. His father was educated, a socialist, and liberal-leaning. He was also a successful decorator and upholsterer. A British man by birth, Allan’s father moved to Denmark in order to avoid conscription during the first world war.
When Allan was 14, his father moved the family back to England, specifically in Hampstead, London. Allan enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and the best education available. In order to avoid the second world war, Allan applied for “conscientious-objector status”. This earned him a one way ticket to working hard labour as a farmhand in Hampshire.
Following the war, Allan studied moral sciences at Trinity College Cambridge. In the 1950s, he began a successful career as a freelance photographer and writer. Allan was well known for his photos and writings about his childhood hero, George Bernard Shaw. The playwright became a good friend of his, and the subject of his life’s work.
Despite a seemingly lavish lifestyle, Allan was described by neighbours as being unkempt in appearance, and a little eccentric. His house was also in a bit of shambles, having seemingly never seen a day of upkeep since Allan inherited the house from his father in 1976. The Guardian described it as follows: “The kitchen was an unhygienic jumble of tins and utensils, the wallpaper peeling, the roof leaking, piles of manuscripts and book proofs littered the rooms, and his bedroom was like a dosser’s. The garden was overgrown and untended.”
For all intents and purposes, Allan really seemed a bit of a recluse. However, that wasn’t quite the case. He often traveled abroad, and was often motivated by his life’s work – a continued research project into the life, history, and works of George Bernard Shaw.
He even traveled to Texas in order to go over papers about Shaw held at the university archives in Austin, Texas. He even met up with a family member in order to chat and catch up. Patty Ainsworth indicated that Allan was quite proud of the fact that he’d lived in the same house for six decades. That was the last time Patty would ever see Allan.
In the spring, estimated between May and June of 2006, Allan Chappelow, aged 86, was found dead in his home.
What alerted police to any wrongdoing was that they were alerted to suspicious activity on his bank accounts. They went to pay him a call and figure out what was going on.
What they found was Allan’s body. He was found with multiple broken ribs, extensive fractures to his neck which indicated asphyxiation, and a crushed skull. Police also noticed dried wax and burn marks on Allan’s upper torso. He was lying underneath pages of the manuscript for his latest book.
Police had a suspect. He was a 45-year-old financial trader. A Chinese man who was a British citizen. Wang Yam had stolen Allan’s bank details from his mailbox and used them for his own personal gain. He was found and arrested in October of 2006 in Switzerland, and subsequently charged with murder. The case, it would seem, is solved. But nothing about this case is as black and white as all that.
Wang had quite a history himself. He was the “son of a Red Army general whose grandfather had been Mao Zedong’s third in command”. Wang was educated, and especially good with computers. He’d also worked on research involving Chinese nuclear weapons. Fleeing to London for his involvement in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Wang was granted refugee status in Britain. Then, he became an informant for MI6.
In 2006, Wang was desperate. He’d made a series of very poor business decisions. His personal finances were a complete mess. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he riffled through Allan’s over-full mailbox, and found bank statements. From there, he made a series of fraudulent transactions, and used a stolen card to make purchases. It was through this financial evidence that police traced him all the way to Switzerland, where Swiss authorities apprehended him and extradited him to Britain. For a smart man, he’d certainly made some dumb decisions.
Police figured Wang murdered Allan so that he would never discover the financial theft. However, there was no evidence to indicate that Wang had ever entered Allan’s home. Police had found footprints and cigarette butts at the scene. They did not belong to Allan, or Wang.
Wang was given a trial date. However, we will never know what was said during that trial. As it was discovered that Wang was an informant for MI6, they were very determined to keep his side of the story very, very quiet. In an unprecedented move, a public interest immunity (PII) certificate was issued in December 2007.
In essence, a gag order was placed over the trial so that Wang’s evidence and/or testimony could not be heard outside of the courtroom on the grounds of national security. The press were not invited, nor allowed to speculate.
The trial began on Februaty 4th, 2008. Other than the official police theories and charges stated above, no one knows – or will ever know – what was said during this trial. However, it is noted that Wang never disputed the financial charges, though he’s since stated over and over again that he is innocent of murder.
March 28th, 2008, a jury was sent to deliberate. On the 31st, they came back and found Wang guilty of stealing £20,000 by deception. On April 1st, the found him guilty of handling stolen goods. They could not reach a verdict about the charge of murder.
On October 13th, 2008, a retrial was set for Wang Yam. The prosecution publicly presented evidence for eight weeks. The gag order was still standing. The defence presented its case entirely behind closed and gagged doors.
On January 9th, 2009, a jury was sent for the second time to determine whether or not Wang was guilty of murdering Allan Chappelow. They returned on January 16th with a verdict. They found him guilty of murder. Wang was sentenced to life imprisonment, serving a minimum of 20 years.
Wang’s lawyers tried to appeal. They claimed that the gag order had denied Wang his basic human rights. In December of 2013, the verdict was upheld, and another PII certificate was issued claiming that the disclosure of Wang’s defence was a “real risk of serious harm to an important public interest”. The appeal was turned down once again in 2015 for the same reason.
To this day, there are still orders in place preventing the media from speculating about the reasons for this incredible secrecy. We are only to know that whatever MI6 wanted to keep quiet, it was kept quiet.
But Allan Chappelow’s death is still shrouded in complete mystery. Wang claims he did not murder the man. If he didn’t, then who did?
In 2014, a witness came forward with a story that could shed light on another suspect. Jonathan Bean only lived a couple houses down from Allan. He stated that one day, he noticed a man not fitting Wang’s description riffling through his mailbox. When he went to confront the man, he was threatened with a knife. The man went on to threaten his wife and child if he contacted the police. The man went back inside, waited until the knife-wielder left, and contacted police. They didn’t seem keen on following up. This occurred a few days after investigators estimate Allan was murdered.
Recently, another witness has come forward indicating other factors that may be involved in Allan’s murder.
It was already established that there was another person in Allan’s home when he was murdered. But no one knows who. Peter Hall believes he may have an idea – maybe not of a specific individual, but he thinks he knows where to look.
Between 2000 and 2006, Peter Hall visited a place on Hampstead Heath called the “spanking bench”. It was a place where people went in order to “punish” or “be punished” sexually. It was a place to explore a side of one’s sexuality at night. Peter also remembered seeing Allan as a regular visitor there. It is entirely possible that Allan’s death was a sexual encounter gone wrong.
This would explain some of the damage seen on Allan’s torso. Wax play and mild asphyxiation are indicators of the kind of sexual encounter known to occur at the “spanking bench”. Had the police looked more deeply into Allan’s personal life, the investigation may have gone another route.
Both Jonathan and Peter reached out to Wang’s lawyers, hoping to help. The prosecution doesn’t want to hear it. The gag order is still in effect, and they see no reason to go forward with another trial, despite the new witness testimony.
To this day, Wang maintains that he is innocent of murder.
It is highly unlikely we’ll ever know what really happened to Allan Chappelow. Maybe the right man is behind bars. Maybe something was overlooked. But what we do know is that the truth is never black and white, especially when half the story is told behind closed doors.
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Sources:
Has a crime writer now proved the innocence of ‘Hampstead killer’? – Vanessa Thorpe – The Guardian
Murder in Hampstead: did a secret trial put the wrong man in jail? – Duncan Campbell & Richard Norton-Taylor – The Guardian
Allan Chappelow Wikipedia page