The brother of murdered John Marshall - accused of being a drug dealer - has broken a three-year silence in an attempt to clear his name.

Angry Stewart Marshall said he had chosen to speak out in frustration that his brother's death is still being linked to drugs.

Car dealer John, 35, from Little Burstead, was found shot dead in his Range Rover three years ago after driving to Kent to finalise arrangements for a house he was buying.

Because John had previously been business partners with drug pusher Pat Tate - discovered dead in a Range Rover in Rettendon five months earlier - police immediately linked the two.

Stewart said: "The police spent the first three months investigating the drugs link because it was just after and so similar to the Rettendon murders.

"But then the police issued a statement saying John's murder had nothing to do with drugs.

"But two weeks ago one of the national newspapers printed an article on people murdered by hitmen alongside a piece on Jill Dando. The story said John was a drug dealer and that's just lies.

"It's about time the truth was told. We're just starting to put it all behind us and trying to get on with life and now it's all flared up again."

He added that Toni, John's wife, had been left fuming by the allegations resurfacing and the couple's children - Tyron, ten, Kianna, five and Kire, 16, had been taunted at school.

Stewart, a 31-year-old insurance claims investigator from Luton, said: "They're taking a lot of flak. The kids were really young at the time but now they're coming home and saying 'what's this about Dad being a drug dealer?'.

"It's hard for Toni to explain it to the kids. It's ironic this has flared up when the third anniversary of his death is coming up tomorrow."

Stewart said his brother couldn't have been further from a stereotypical drug dealer.

He said: "He was someone who was home by 6.30 every evening to play with his kids. Does that sound like a drug dealer?

"There is no evidence he had anything to do with drugs and we just want to make it clear he wasn't a dealer.

"This has caused the family a lot of stress. My mother had five heart attacks last year and it's all being brought back to her."

The police said last year there was nothing to suggest John was "anything other than an honest businessman" whose worst crimes were dodging the taxman and smoking a bit of cannabis.

His business deals rarely involved money changing hands. He would swap cars for work to his home or a swimming pool in his back garden.

Officers revealed John's partnership with Tate had broken up because John wouldn't stand for the dealer's behaviour.

Appealing - Stewart Marshall denies his brother had anything to do with drug dealing

Picture: ANDY PALMER

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