TO his neighbours he was the suave businessman who had it all – a country pile, endless cash and a pretty young wife on his arm.
But Albert Walker was a fraudster on Interpol’s most wanted list who had stolen his best friend’s identity – and his ‘wife’ was really his teenage daughter.
When his pal Ronald Platt became suspicious, Walker took him on a fishing trip, killed him and weighed his body down with an anchor off the Devon coast.
The crime became infamous as the ‘Rolex murder’ after the watch Platt was wearing helped solve the crime – and Walker was sent down for life.
Now the chilling case is being examined in The Devil in Disguise: The Murder of Ronald Platt, which airs on Channel 5 tonight.
Earlier this year, The Sun revealed that Walker is about to start a new life after being granted parole in Canada.
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The news will come as a blow to daughter Sheena, who was just 15 when her dad took her on the run to Britain in 1990 as Canadian cops closed the net on his $1.7million financial scam.
She gave birth to two baby girls in 1993 and 1996, despite reportedly not having a boyfriend. Their parentage was never established.
Sheena, now 48, has rarely spoken about her ordeal, but told a TV interviewer in 2005: “I believe he’s a dangerous individual. I am scared of him.
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“I believe that he poses a threat, that I need to protect my family from him.”
The bizarre story of deception and murder started in Ontario, Canada in the 1980s where Walker portrayed himself as a devout Sunday school teacher, loving dad-of-four and a financial whizz who had studied at Oxford University.
In reality he was a Walter Mitty character who had dropped out of school and worked as a herdsman and labourer.
He fancied himself as a lothario and cheated constantly on wife Barbara, while making a name for himself as a money adviser andpromising investors a fortune.
But Walker siphoned their cash into his own accounts, enabling him to live a lavish lifestyle travelling across the world for ‘business deals’.
Unravelling
His life began to unravel in 1990 when Barbara, originally from Ayrshire, Scotland, finally kicked him out of the family home and cops honed in on his illegal business activities.
Some of his victims were left suicidal after handing over their life savings to Walker. One hanged himself.
The trickster was charged with 18 counts of theft and fraud involving $1.7m – but he had no intention of standing trial in Canada.
In December that year, Walker took daughter Sheena for what was meant to be a two-week skiing holiday. Instead, they flew to London for a week, then Geneva, where Walker laundered cash and opened secret accounts.
When the pair returned to Britain they set up home in Harrogate, Yorkshire where Walker ‘borrowed’ the name David Davis from one of his Canadian victims and set up a new financial firm called the Cavendish Corporation.
Chance encounter
When he bumped into a woman called Elaine Boyes, working as a receptionist in an antique shop, he conned her into believing he was an ex-banker worth millions and offered her a job.
Elaine made the mistake of telling Walker her boyfriend Ronald Platt, a former soldier and TV repairman, was obsessed with Canada and wanted to move there one day.
He was so enamoured with the country that he had the country’s maple leaf symbol tattooed on the back of his hand.
Elaine’s innocent remark sowed the seeds of deception for Walker.
He offered the couple directorship of his company and sent them away on business trips abroad – frequently asking them to convert money from Swiss Francs to British pounds as he laundered his stolen cash.
Platt’s family later dismissed speculation he was part of any of Walker’s scams, saying the only thing he was guilty of was “being gullible”.
In February 1993, Walker bought Platt and Elaine plane tickets to Calgary, Canada, as a ‘gift’ to start a new life.
He convinced them he would “sort out all the accounts” – but would need Platt’s driving licence, an ink stamp with his signature and birth certificate.
Within weeks of the couple leaving Britain, Walker dropped the name Davis and started calling himself Ronald Platt, stealing from customers along the way.
Baby mystery
Walker then moved Sheena to Tiverton, Devon, where his daughter gave birth to her first baby girl.
She later said she knew nothing about her father’s financial trickery, claiming he suggested they change their names to Ronald Platt and Elaine Boyes “for medical reasons” and should pose as a newlywed couple.
During the later murder trial, both the prosecution and defence were careful not to mention who fathered the children.
In 1994, the pair moved to the pretty town of Woodham Walter, three miles west of Maldon in Essex, where his daughter gave birth to another little girl 18 months later.
Walker, who neighbours described as “trying to look young” with trendy clothes and expensive dental work, was convinced he had got away with his crimes.
But his empire was suddenly threatened when Platt unexpectedly returned to Britain after running out of money in Canada – and moved into a house in nearby Chelmsford.
It’s not known how he explained to Platt he was using his name, but in July 1996 Walker took him out on his yacht, Lady Jane, off the coast of Teignmouth, Devon, for a ‘day out fishing’.
Detectives believe he smashed Platt over the head, tied him to the anchor and threw him overboard.
Gold bars
Walker might have gotten away with his heinous crime had a fisherman not pulled Platt’s body from the sea two weeks later.
His corpse was in such a state that the only clue cops had to identify him was the serial number on his Rolex Oyster watch.
They traced it back to a jewellers in Harrogate who told them the owner was called Ronald Platt.
They traced Platt to an address in Chelmsford where the landlord said he had moved out – but supplied the phone number of a friend called David Davis.
Using his pseudonym, Walker told cops his friend had moved to France. However, alarm bells rang when an officer went to visit ‘Davis’ and accidentally knocked on a neighbour’s door, who said: "That’s not Mr Davis, it’s Ronald Platt."
When detectives raided Walker's home they found Sheena stuffing 20lb of gold bars worth £60,000 into a nappy bag.
Police had their man, but still needed to prove his guilt.
They examined the victim’s Rolex, which gave them an estimated time of death from the moment it wound down after 22 hours under water.
GPS showed Walker was out on his boat in the same area at the time of the murder.
'Ruthless killer'
In 1998 Walker was given life at Exeter Crown Court, where Mr Justice Neil Butterfield called him a “ruthless killer” who plotted his crime with “chilling efficiency”.
Sheena gave evidence against her father at trial but never mentioned her children in testimony.
In 2005 Walker was allowed to move to a Canadian prison to serve out the rest of his sentence. He was given an extra four years for his part in defrauding clients in the late 80s.
He has twice been denied parole in his home country. But last month he was given permission to spend 60 days outside jail in British Columbia – so long as he returns each night at 9pm.
It is the first move towards freedom in Canada.
Authorities have banned him from having contact with female kids under the age of 16, or using any name other than his own.
He has also been told to steer clear of financial work, not to have contacts with his victims and stay out of Ontario, where Sheena is now believed to live.
According to parole board papers, seen by Canadian press, he has been taking computer lessons and learning about internet safety during his time behind bars.
The Devil in Disguise: The Murder of Ronald Platt will air on Channel 5 at 10pm tonight.
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