Police suspected murdered businessman Howard Baron may have foreseen his death and tried to ensure his family would get an insurance payout, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.
Superintendent Anthony Carroll, who was a junior officer when Baron was shot in 1972, agreed police had been 'very interested' in the insurance policy.
Baron's son, 48-year-old Bruce, is fighting a court battle for a payout on the US$110,000 (HK$850,000) personal accident policy. He claims his family was fraudulently denied the cash.
Mr Carroll was asked by Mr Justice Conrad Seagroatt about the motives behind questions he asked insurance agent Ilet 'Fred' Fredericks when investigating the killing in January 1973.
The police officer had asked whether he thought Baron might have deliberately allowed the policy to lapse in the hope of taking advantage of new conditions which would allow it to cover murder as well.
He told the judge: 'We wanted to establish whether Howard Baron felt he was under any personal threat at the time he did this, whether he felt that people were going after him to kill him.' Mr Fredericks, who was interviewed 10 days after the murder, replied: 'No, Baron just did not like to pay his bills.' He added that the premium on the policy was due long before May 1972 when the insurance company had decided to include murder in personal accident policies.