A BODY found by police divers is believed to be that of the missing Whitemoor prison officer, Mr Peter Curran, Rachel Borrill reports from London. The body was found yesterday in a car submerged in a Cambridgeshire river.
Mr Curran (38) disappeared in March 1995 after being suspended from his job on suspicion of supplying toiletries to inmates. But his wife Christine has always claimed his disappearance is connected with the attempted breakout from Whitemoor by five IRA men and an armed robber six months earlier. She believes he may have been murdered.
After being told of yesterday's discovery, Mrs Curran said she found it "incredible" that her husband could have committed suicide or been killed in a road accident. "I think as I did before that something else was going on here. It is one accident too many. I think he may have been killed."
At the trial of the six Whitemoor prisoners last month, Mr Michael Mansfield QC, for the defence, claimed that prison officers had colluded in the escape. But the trial collapsed after only a few days because of prejudicial media coverage. Another Whitemoor prison officer was killed in a car accident as she drove to the court to give evidence, fuelling further speculation.
Mr Mark Freeman of the Prison Officers Association said he hoped the discovery of Mr Curran's body would end the innuendo and conspiracy theories.
It is understood that police discovered Mr Curran's badly decomposed body strapped into his car in a river at Chatteris, Cambridge after a tip off. The body will not formally be identified until today. But Mrs Curran said police had confirmed that the serial number of the vehicle's chassis matched her husband's blue Peugeot hatchback.
Mr Ian Bruce, the Conservative MP who has criticised the police inquiry into Mr Curran's disappearance, said it was "pointless" to speculate whether there was a connection to the Whitemoor escape until the coroner's report. "There is no indication at all that Mr Curran would have given evidence in a trial. He was not linked to the situation in what police thought then or since. I think we should be very careful not to get into this conspiracy theory."
Mr Mansfield said he was "clearly concerned" about the discovery and repeated his demand for a public inquiry.