According to reports, a former counterterrorism officer with Scotland Yard cancelled his home insurance before allegedly dying himself in a home explosion.
The 60-year-old retired superintendent Malcolm Baker passed away earlier this month when a fire ravaged his isolated Exmoor house.
The top level of the home was completely destroyed, and the roof was blown off by the explosion, which could be heard approximately a mile away from the house.
The Sun reports that Mr. Baker emptied the bank accounts he shared with his wife Francesca Onody, 50, and cancelled the family’s home insurance before the explosion.
Police yesterday night said that they do not think a third party was involved in the explosion, but Mr. Baker’s estranged sister stated that she believed foul play had occurred.
62-year-old Phillipa Baker stated: “Malcom wouldn’t take his own life.
“Self-immolating in an explosion is complete nonsense; it wouldn’t occur.”
“I’m very certain he wouldn’t commit suicide, particularly in such a horrifying manner,” I said.
No, he wouldn’t do that; that is quite strange.
The event was “tragic,” but it also seemed to be a “wicked act of spite against his girlfriend and children,” according to former Met Det Chief Insp Mick Neville, who spoke to The Sun.
After a family argument about 20 years ago, Mrs. Baker, a resident of Caterham, Surrey, said that her brother “shut me off” and that she hasn’t seen him since.
My brother would have made enemies throughout his life, she said, but
He was a leader who did not take being called a fool lightly.
Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent turned Russian dissident, was fatally poisoned in London in 2006, and Mr. Baker supported US authorities in their reaction.
Later, a UK public investigation came to the conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably sanctioned” the poisoning.
West Somerset villagers in the adjacent village of Brompton Regis think the explosion was intentionally caused by opening the valve on a container of liquefied propane gas.
Human bones that had been burned at the site are undergoing DNA testing to see whether they belong to Mr. Baker, who previously contributed to the 2005 investigation into the 7/7 London tube bombings.
Police community support officers were stationed there this week to keep an eye on traffic, while a mobile major incident support unit stayed there along a dead-end road.
Since the incident on September 14, a team of up to 30 cops has combed the area, according to neighbors. Initially, the neighbors had concerns that the bomb may have been related to the Russian government or Mr. Baker’s past as a police officer.
However, according to Avon and Somerset Police officers, Mr. Baker killed himself due to domestic issues.
Concerning the cops’ “previous interaction” with the dead, the force has reported itself to the police watchdog.
Directors of a management consulting firm that offers security and crisis management advise as well as counterterrorism techniques are named as Mr. Baker and his wife(corr), Francesca Onody, who raises rare breed pigs.
But a month ago, one of their businesses was disbanded, and early this year, Mr. Baker quit as a director of both the company through which they sold their meat and the agricultural venture in which he and his wife, 50, were partners.
When the Hiccombe House house burst a fortnight ago at approximately 6pm, Miss Onody was not there.
It’s thought that the couple’s teenage son and daughter were born after they were married in 2004. According to his sister, Mr. Baker has a second son from a prior relationship.
‘There is no gas connection to that cottage so it didn’t happen by mistake,’ said Withiel Fox, 60, a local homeowner.
There was a lot of discussion regarding what may have occurred because of his history. After the explosion, he was missing, and there were suspicions that the Russians could have been responsible.
Prior to his nearly 31-year retirement from the Metropolitan Police in October 2011, Mr. Baker was working on security for the 2012 London Olympics.
But a neighbor stated that after moving to Exmoor National Park, he had a difficult time adjusting to rural life and had “lost out with numerous local individuals.”
Avon and Somerset Police said that inquiries were being conducted on the coroner’s behalf and that the agency suspected the bones recovered belonged to “one of the inhabitants of the residence.”
We can confirm that we are looking into this event as an instance of arson with the aim to threaten life, he said, but at this time we don’t think there was any participation from third parties, and we are not looking for anybody else in connection with our inquiries.
“We can confirm we have received a referral from Avon and Somerset Police concerning earlier police interaction pertaining to residents at a home in Brompton Regis where a significant fire occurred on September 14,” a spokeswoman for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said. We are now evaluating the referral to determine if an IOPC inquiry is necessary.