Former Leicestershire man killed in Brussels shooting may have been assassinated
Nicholas Mockford, 60, was shot as he left an Italian restaurant in the Neder-over-Heembeek district of the capital Brussels.
A BRITISH oil executive brought up in Leicestershire who was gunned down in Brussels could have been the victim of targeted assassination or a random mugging and car-jacking attempt, Belgian police have said.
Nearly two weeks after 60-year old Nicholas Mockford was shot dead in a quiet suburb after a night out with his wife, a police spokeswoman said: “All lines of inquiry are being pursued”.
Mr Mockford, a departmental manager at ExxonMobil’s office near the Belgian capital, was shot four times and died on his way to hospital.
Detaisl of where in Leicestershire Mr Mockford was brought up have not yet emerged.
He is said to have worked for ExxonMobil since the 1970s and lived in Chichester, Belgium and Singapore.
He is reported to have three grown-up children living in Britain from his first marriage.
The attack happened on October 14 but Belgian police imposed a news blackout.
It came when he strolled back to his car with his Belgian wife after the couple had dined at a small Italian restaurant in the quiet residential suburb of Neder-Over-Heembeek in northern Brussels.
First his wife was badly beaten in what police say could have been an attempted handbag snatch.
Then the attackers, believed to be two men wearing crash helmets, turned their attention to Mr Mockford, shooting him in the chest, shoulder and head.
Local residents in the street of small terraced houses went to help but he died before an ambulance could get him to hospital.
The attack was reported in Belgian newspapers at the time, but with few details about the identity of the victims.
When Mr Mockford’s link to a global oil company emerged, police confirmed that a targeted attack on a specific individual was one obvious line of inquiry.
But a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil said that, although the death was a shock, there was nothing to suggest a link with the company.
However, one family member, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Telegraph that they thought he was killed in a professional hit.
The relation said: “We are all confused about what has happened. Nick was a genuinely lovely, clean-cut, mild-mannered family man.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.
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