Robert Murat's links with Oasis Club, Norwich

Robert Murat’s links with Oasis Club, Norwich

The Madeleine Foundation continues to investigate Robert Murat ( see our long article on him at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. I am putting this article on the public part of the forum as there is no good reason for keepng this information private.

One matter we have established is that Murat, during his time in Norfolk, was a frequent visitor to the Oasis Club at Thorpe St. Andrew, just outside Norwich. The Club was established by the late Harry Serruys, and is now owned and run by his controversial son, Andre Serruys (see some of the links below).

One matter of which the general public are not generally aware is that Andre Serruys has a large private suite at the club which is frequenlty used for gambling and other pursuits. The club has, historically, been visited by police officers who have enjoyed its facilities. Murat, we have established, was close to many of these police officers and a regular visitor to the club in his Norfolk days. As senior polie officers were involved in the club’s activities, they insisted on CCTV being installed at various places inside the club.

Harry Serruys was close to Christopher Gurney, owner of an airstrip on north Norfolk, who has close family connections to the owners of Barclays Bank. Gurney’s airstrip was regularly used to fly our arms and other materials destined for the Middle East. Surruys maintained an ocean-going boat in the Mediterranean.

Below is a recent article about the Serruys Property Company - and below that is the original biograpjhy of Murat in The Times, referring to hios time in Norfolk where of course he was a trusted translator for Norfolk Police.

the Serruys Property Company (SPC)

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Entrepreneur Andre Serruys will be looking to bounce back emphatically in 2011 after settling a £91.5m legal dispute which has dragged on for more than two years.

Mr Serruys and his business, Serruys Property Company (SPC), were subject to a breach of warranty writ by water and waste management giant Sita UK in 2008, which related to the sale of Mr Serruys’ Lenwade-based scrap metal business Easco, which Sita bought the previous year.

Sita alleged Easco was “replete with dishonest practices” and effectively worthless – which Mr Serruys’ legal team strenuously denied, claiming the complaints should never have been brought.

During the legal battle, Mr Serruys’ and SPC’s assets were frozen after Sita brought complaints of fraud against Mr Serruys – all of which were dropped when the case settled out of court in November.

But the effect of the freezing order was that Mr Serruys was unable to take investment decisions without Sita’s approval, which he said had frustrated his attempts to seize opportunities and progress projects which were already under way.

Now the order has been lifted, SPC will be looking to make up for lost time.

Within weeks, details of two major development projects surfaced.

They are a £100m plan to build almost 700 homes and a marina on the Deal Ground site, a 45-acre plot of land between Trowse and Whitlingham, on the outskirts of Norwich.

The plans also include a state-of-the-art new headquarters for infrastructure services firm May Gurney, with office space for additional new tenants.

The second scheme is for more than 80 new homes on the site of the Lakenham Sports and Leisure Centre site in Lakenham, Norwich, which has stood empty for years.

An overhaul of SPC’s Oasis Sports and Leisure Club in Thorpe St Andrew could also be on the cards, and it remains to be seen whether SPC will target new opportunities in the scrap metal industry in which Mr Serruys made his name.

Profile: Robert Murat, suspect in Madeleine case

Michael Horsnell of The Times

Robert Murat, a suspect in the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, adored his own daughter and desperately missed her after his marriage broke down.

The former car salesman “lost” her when his wife, Dawn, returned to her native Norfolk with their daughter four months after the family had emigrated to Portugal because she was homesick and he stayed behind.

Mr Murat, 33, whose father is Portuguese, carried on as a self-employed property consultant on the Algarve, but visited the child regularly.

Gareth Bailey, a close friend and former colleague of the suspect at Inchcape Autoparc used car dealership in Norwich, where Mr Murat had worked for four years, said the family embarked on a new life in Portugal in 2005.

Married in 1994 in Dereham, Norfolk, the couple had been trying for a baby for years until she fell pregnant in 2002 and had looked forward to moving abroad.

”But Dawn was unhappy in Portugal and became homesick,” Mr Bailey said. “She is a Norfolk girl and her family are in Norfolk.

”She only stayed with Rob for three or four months before she decided to come home with [their daughter]. He had already got a life out there, so he decided to stay. At first, he kept his relationship with Dawn and kept flying back to the UK to spend time with her and her daughter.

”He was going backwards and forwards between Portugal and here all the time, often only staying a couple of days before going back there. In the end, their relationship just fizzled out.”

Friends today described Mr Murat's daughter, four, who is also blonde, as “his life”.

Mr Bailey, who last saw his friend two months ago, added: “He is a laidback guy who loves the wonderful weather and the relaxed lifestyle out there.

”But he was upset about being away from his daughter. She is his first child and she means a lot to him. When she was born, it was the best thing ever for him. I know he stays in contact with [her] and telephones her all the time from Portugal. She is his world and he loves her to bits.”

Mr Murat was born on November 20, 1973, at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Hammersmith, west London - the elder son of John Henry Queriol Murat, a company director, who is Portuguese, and Jennifer (nee Eveleigh), from Sidmouth, Devon.

Mr Murat’s parents were then living in Richmond-upon-Thames, but moved to Portugal, where he was educated.

As a young man, he returned to Britain, where he took a variety of jobs and enjoyed playing darts and clay pigeon shooting.

Mr Murat, who lost an eye in a motorbike accident as a teenager when he crashed into the wall of a railway station, worked for the turkey tycoon, Bernard Matthews, at the company factory in Lenwade, Norfolk, between 1994 and 2000.

He and his wife, who has a son, David, now 20, by a previous marriage, bought a modest, semi-detached, three-bedroom house, now worth £190,000, in The Street, Hockering - a quiet Norfolk village near Deerham (population 230).

Mr Murat went on to become a successful car salesman with Inchcape for four years before moving on to work at Desira car dealership in Norwich, selling Nissans, Alfa Romeos, Fiats and Citroens.

But he also earned £150 a time as a translator for Norfolk police, using his language skills to help their inquiries among the large Portuguese community in the county.

Mr Bailey remains certain of his friend’s innocence. He said: “I would trust him with my own daughter. It was a complete shock to hear what has happened in Portugal. If I was to give him a character reference, I would describe him as brilliant and a real people person.

”He is ever such a likeable guy and probably one of the most helpful people you could come across. He was very conscientious when I worked with him and spent masses of time with customers - almost to the point where he would become annoying. It’s just the way he is.

”He is one of those overly helpful people who likes to get involved. Sometimes at work, I had to tell him to go away in a friendly way.”

Mr Murat had a reputation, not only in the car trade but in Hockering, as something of a Good Samaritan.

His next door neighbour, Colin Shackcloth, 85, said: “He is a lovely man, but, two years ago, I realised he was gone. I went round with a little present at Christmas, a box of chocolates and Dawn said: ’Robert has gone back and he is stopping there."

Mr Shackcloth, a retired display manager, added: “He always struck me as a down-to-earth kind of fellow. If you wanted anything, he would help. If you needed it, he would be round to replace a bulb for you. What he is supposed to have done just doesn’t fit.

”They were both very nice to us. We never had an angry word since they moved in about 11 years ago. I can’t say a bad word about him.”

Police stood guard at the house, from which Mrs Murat was driven away at speed by police late on Monday night carrying her daughter in a blanket.

The little girl and her mother are being cared for at an undisclosed address.

Mrs Murat’s mother, Margaret Chapman, who lives in Norwich declined to comment.

Geoffrey Livock, 71, said: “I was speaking to Dawn after the little girl went missing last week and she said that Rob had been helping out the police in Portugal. Dawn said she could not understand how anyone could take a little girl like that.”

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Harry Serruys former Director of Norwich Football Club:

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Well, 246 views in 24 hours on this thread is quite good (more than 1 every 6 minutes), maybe Robert Murat and his fans have been taking a little look here.

Let's see if we can probe Murat's time in Norwich a bit further, and I'll refer back to this paragraph in The Times report I quoted from:

"Gareth Bailey, a close friend and former colleague of the suspect at Inchcape Autoparc used car dealership in Norwich, where Mr Murat had worked for four years, said the family embarked on a new life in Portugal in 2005".

Now, this report tells us that Murat worked at Inchcape Autopart used car dealership. We also know that he worked for a Nissan car dealership while he was in Norfolk, namely Desira (Nissan).

In yesterday's article I explored these links that Murat had:

* With senior Norfolk Police Officers through the translation services he provided for them

* With the private Oasis Club in Thorpe St. Andrew, where police officers would regulalrly attend private functions

* With the late Harry Serruys, who founded the Oasis Club, and his son Andre Serruys who now owns the club and has such wide business interests that he is widely regarded as the ricjest man in Norfolk. He is said to have made most of his mint from scrap metal.

I can now reveal that the boss of Inchcape, John Ives, employed Murat in a senior capacity. Moreover, John Ives used to supply Rolls Royces to Harry Serruys, in which he took his friends to certain private functions at the Oasis Club.

One of Harry Serruys's main contacts at the Oasis Club was the headteacher of a private high school at Happisburgh (pronounced Hazeboro) on the North Norfolk coast, who was investigated for child abuse allegations.

Let's also probe another clsoe member of Harry Serruys' circle at the Oasis Club - John Brunton, who, as it happens, also owned a pub in the same village of Thorpe St Andrew.

Brunton achieved a certain notoriety in 2000. When Reggie Kray was released from prison due to failing health, Brunton very kindly took him in to his upmarket pub near Norwich:

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EXTRACT:

Associates say [Reggie Kray] he chose the Town House hotel in Thorpe St Andrew because it overlooks the river Wensum and he has not seen running water since he was jailed. "What he really wanted was to look at the river," said Kray's friend and local publican John Brunton, 52, who is helping to organise Kray's own security at the hotel. He said: "As soon as he arrived in the room we drew back the curtains so that he could enjoy the view.

SNIPPED

++++++++++

Later, in 2006, Brunton was involved in a brutal attack on two men and tried to cover it up with a £20,000 bribe:

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EXTRACT:

Frain, formerly from Reading but then living in Essex, was summoned to Norwich to 'lean on' a taxi driver who had been severely beaten up outside a pub in Norwich. Known for his extreme violence, Frain was brought in after Kim Mullen, 52, refused to accept a bribe of £20,000 from his attackers Karl Unsworth and John Brunton, Norwich Crown Court heard. Mullen had gone to the pub with his son Danny to pick up his other two sons, Lee and Ricky, because there had been some trouble. Two men came out of the pub and attacked Danny. When Mr Mullen went to help his son he was struck from behind. He was treated in hospital for serious injuries that included a split on the top of his head and fractures to his nose, left wrist and his middle finger. The court heard that Mr Mullen and his family had to move out of their home into protective police custody during the trial because of the danger they were in.

SNIPPED

There's a lot more to come out about goings-on at the Oasis Club, Thorpe St. Andrew.

All this information is being analysed and processed - and as soon as I am able to post more, I will do so.

I am following with interest as i used to work there late 80s early 90s.

jsz131719 wrote:I am following with interest as I used to work there late 80s early 90s.

Thank you for joining.

If you worked at the Oasis Leisure Club 'in the late 80s and early 90s', that was I feel sure before Robert Murat was a regular there. It was also long before Harry Serruys, the club's founder, died.

I do have some questions for you though, even though you may not know Robert Murat, and would be glad if you could help please?

* Did you know Andre Serruys?

* Did you know Sonya Serruys?

* Did you know Eric Serruys?

* Did you ever go to Harry Serruys' private suite there?

* Did you ever gamble at the Oasis Club?

Thanks!

I know all of these people but would not feel comfortable answering these quesions on an open forum.

jsz131719 wrote:I know all of these people but would not feel comfortable answering these questions on an open forum.

Well, thank you, you've actually answered 3 of my 5 questions already.

The main purpose of this forum is to seek the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about what really happened to Madeleine McCann.

In that respect, the role of Robert Murat in the whole matter is very much under the microscope.

You would expect it to be, given that when Dr Gerald McCann was asked a straight question: "Do you already know Robert Murat", he ducked it and refused to answer, replying: "I am not going to comment on that".

Another reason for paying close attention to Murat, of course, is that he lied 17 times when interviewed by the Portuguese Police on 14 May 2007. He had to make wholesale changes to his evidence about what he was doing from 1 to 4 May, after the police confronted him with evidence from his mobile 'phone records showing where he was located during these four days.

On top of that, why did Brian Kennedy fly out with his trusted in-house lawyer, Edward Smethurst, the McCanns' co-ordinating lawyer, on 13 May, to meet with the lead suspect in the case, Robert Murat, his lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, his mother, and his aunt and uncle?

These and of course the other revelations made to the Portuguese Police by Carlos Carlos and the Portuguese lady who said there was child pornography on his computer make Murat a source of interest for those who wnat to solve what the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell last year called the 'complete mystery' of what really happened to Madeleine.

So can you help us with any information at all about Robert Murat's activities in Norfolk?

why are you curious about the gambling link? And do you have the name of the teacher from Happisburgh?

jsz131719 wrote:why are you curious about the gambling link? And do you have the name of the teacher from Happisburgh?

So can you help us with any information at all about Robert Murat's activities in Norfolk?

Not at this time, i am curious as to what you think the link with the Serruys family might be?

Tony Bennett wrote:

jsz131719 wrote:Not at this time,

How soon then?

I am curious as to what you think the link with the Serruys family might be?

I've already explained this in my article. Robert Murat was a regular visitor there [The Oasis Club]. As were some of his good mates in Norfolk Constabulary who knew him on account of his translation work. Both Harry Serruys and Robert Murat were very well connected, and not only with senior members of Norfolk Constabulary.

Interesting because Colin Port (Gamble's buddy) would have been at Norfolk Constabulary at this time. Port moved to Avon and Somerset in 2005 (same year Murat moved to Portugal). Port has been connected to Operation Ore because he authorised the raid on the home of the expert witness who has threatened to expose Ore. Intriguing!

Cheshire Cat wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:

jsz131719 wrote:Not at this time,

How soon then?

I am curious as to what you think the link with the Serruys family might be?

I've already explained this in my article. Robert Murat was a regular visitor there [The Oasis Club]. As were some of his good mates in Norfolk Constabulary who knew him on account of his translation work. Both Harry Serruys and Robert Murat were very well connected, and not only with senior members of Norfolk Constabulary.

Interesting because Colin Port (Gamble's buddy) would have been at Norfolk Constabulary at this time. Port moved to Avon and Somerset in 2005 (same year Murat moved to Portugal). Port has been connected to Operation Ore because he authorised the raid on the home of the expert witness who has threatened to expose Ore. Intriguing!

Well, Cheshire Cat, I am reassured that you are still here and placing your miscroscope, as it were, over some of the details of this case. Isn't Colin Port the current CC in the Avon and Somerset force, and thus ultimately responsible for the investigation into the murder of Joanna Yeates?

Also, do you have any links please to the raid on the home of the expert witness, I did read about this some years ago now but would like to revisit the subject.

Tony

Don't want to derail this thread but here are two useful links:

A letter from Jim G to the Times:
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Jim Bates in his own words:
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"Truth begins to emerge

After a week or more of posturing and one tabloid running the story of a wealthy individual using clever lawyers to get his child porn back, The Times on May 27 2009 finally revealed that amongst the material seized by the police during their unlawful search was that concerning the coming Operation Ore group action.

It also reported that Colin Port, Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset, was served with a High Court summons alleging contempt of court at his force headquarters the previous day, but that Port was 'adamant that he will not return' the material seized from Jim Bates."


Cheers

Found this link in relation to Colin Port

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regarding his investigation into the 1999 car bombing and murder of republican
lawyer Rosemary Nelson in N.Ireland.

Did you know this?

"Meanwhile, he (Murat) married an Anglo-Portuguese woman, went to the USA, on a honeymoon, late last year, but did not go unnoticed: “Here, I feel the discomfort of seeing people pointing at me, but over there I was recognised, as well.”

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So did Murat marry Michaela as well?

Estelle wrote:Did you know this?

"Meanwhile, he (Murat) married an Anglo-Portuguese woman, went to the USA, on a honeymoon, late last year, but did not go unnoticed: “Here, I feel the discomfort of seeing people pointing at me, but over there I was recognised, as well.”

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So did Murat marry Michaela as well?

The final section of my 122-page article on Robert Murat: 'From Arguido to Applause', concluded with this - Section S (Michaela Walczuk was 'German-born' but her name is Polish, suggesting Polish ancestry):

S. A happy ending? Murat marries Michaela Walczuk

Here’s how one newspaper reported Murat’s wedding to Michaela Walczuk on 17 April 2009:

“Robert Murat has married the woman who stood by him when he wrongly became a suspect in the Madeleine case”, writes James Murray.

“His bride, German-born Jehovah’s Witness Michaela Walczuch, 34, never doubted Mr Murat for a second and remained loyal throughout the time he was under suspicion. The civil ceremony, held on April 17 on a beach just a few miles from Praia da Luz, was witnessed by 50 close relatives and friends of the couple.

“Among them was 35-year-old Mr Murat’s daughter S_____ from his first marriage. Mr Murat’s brother Richard was best man. Also there was Mr Murat’s mother Jenny, 72, who still lives just 100 yards from the apartment where Madeleine vanished”.

Most stories would end here, with the words: ‘And they lived happily ever after’. But perhaps there is more yet to be revealed about the involvement of Robert Murat in the Madeleine McCann mystery. One of the outstanding questions that still remains a puzzle is just what made him book that flight to Portugal in the early hours of 1 May 2007.

Appendix 1: The PDA records of Robert Murat’s telephone calls

Here is the record of telephone numbers the Portuguese police retrieved from Robert Murat’s telephones [SNIPPED]: