Today in History

1979 'Mr Asia' murder victim found

It was a gangland murder with international links, which unravelled New Zealand's largest drug syndicate. It was a gruesome mystery in the heart of the English Northwest – the downfall of 'Mr Asia'.

The mutilated body of Marty Johnstone, leader of the Mr Asia drug syndicate, was found in Eccleston Delft, a flooded disused quarry in Lancashire, by a pair of local divers. His execution had been ordered by Terry Clark.

Clark was a career criminal, a small-time crook who became a police informant after being imprisoned for burglary. After his release from prison he became a cannabis customer of Marty Johnstone.

Clark's drug interests moved into the big league when he started trading in cocaine and heroin. Escaping to Australia after a large shipment of heroin was uncovered in Auckland, he was picked up in a marijuana raid and deported back to New Zealand to face trial. Miraculously, he was acquitted. It was later rumoured he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying off witnesses.

Clark was by now a very wealthy man. He bought property in the Bay of Islands and Fiji, and changed his name to Terence Sinclair. But with his terrible power came terrible consequences. Addiction and death trailed closely in his wake. Because of fears that 'Pommy' Harry Lewis would talk, his body was found without hands or teeth. Doug and Isobel Wilson, who had been recruited to distribute heroin, did talk to the police, and their bodies were found in a shallow grave in Melbourne. It was the murder of the Wilsons that led Australian police to issue a warrant for Clark's arrest. But he had fled once more.

When he was arrested and charged with Johnstone's murder, Clark was worth millions. The Mr Asia money was stashed in safes and bank accounts all around the world. Much of it was rumoured to be buried in sacks in the New Zealand bush.

Terry Clark died in prison in 1983.

Image: Terry Clark (NZ Herald)