Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World's Most Secretive Industry

by Matthew Campbell

Late in 2013, Veale arrived for a meeting at Talbot’s offices across from the neoclassical Royal Exchange, where Lloyd’s was housed through the nineteenth century. About fifteen people took their places around a large conference room table: representatives of the Brillante’s insurers as well as their lawyers, there to discuss the latest developments in the case. After the lawyers spoke, explaining the finer points of litigation procedure, it was Veale’s turn to present, and he pulled up a PowerPoint presentation on a wall-mounted screen. He was supposed to be giving a synopsis of his investigation’s progress so far, as well as a rundown of next steps. But in the middle of the deck, he’d inserted a slide that wasn’t strictly part of the work he was being paid to do. It contained just one image: David Mockett’s burned-out car, photographed just after the bombing that killed him. “It’s important to remember,” Veale said to the group. “A really decent man was murdered.”