Murdered Red Cross girl and man on the run from police both worked for David Blunkett
Last updated at 1:53 AM on 29th May 2011
The man being hunted by police after his ex-girlfriend was found strangled was a former adviser to two Labour Home Secretaries.
Martin Collett, 35, who is wanted in connection with the murder of Red Cross worker Angela Hoyt, 34, worked for both David Blunkett and Charles Clarke.
The body of Canadian-born Angela, who also once worked for Mr Blunkett, was found on Tuesday at the £200,000 cottage the couple shared in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
Happier times: Angela poses with Martin by a canal during a holiday in Bruges
Police have since been scouring the area for Mr Collett, including in the grounds of the stately home Hatfield House.
The two fell in love six years ago when they both worked at the Home Office. He was a briefing manager and she a junior member of the media office.
Mr Collett’s duties included preparing Mr Clarke and his predecessor Mr Blunkett for parliamentary questions. Miss Hoyt handled media issues and often took Mr Blunkett’s guide dog Sadie for walks. Both moved on to new jobs outside London.
But last night Angela’s family claimed the slender blonde had been living in terror of Mr Collett, who allegedly subjected her to brutal tirades and once slapped her so hard he bruised her face.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, her twin sister, Ami, and parents, Dwight and Barbara Hoyt, revealed that four days before she was killed, she told him she had had enough.
Angela apparently gave him until May 31 – next Tuesday – to move out of the house and formally accused him of harassment at her local police station.
Sisters: Angela, left, with her twin Ami in 2008. Angela's family have revealed that four days before she was killed, she told Martin she had had enough
Ami said: ‘Martin had a terrible temper, and she wanted to make sure everything was legally recorded.
‘The police offered to physically remove him immediately from the house. But she told them she was determined to do things amicably. She said: “He has nowhere to go.”
‘She wanted to give him time to find somewhere to live and our father was going to wire her cash on Monday so she could repay him money he had given her towards buying the house. Even though she put up most of the money, she wanted to be fair to him.
‘She was supposed to give Dad her bank details last Monday. But none of us could reach her. I was very agitated – I am her identical twin and twins have intuition. I told my mother: “Something bad has happened.” ’
Although the family say Angela did not request police protection, she is believed to have told officers that Martin’s behaviour had taken a sinister new twist recently, when he allegedly posted obscene and hate-ridden material on her Facebook page.
Ambitious and driven: Angela, pictured outside Number 10, was 'so excited' when she got her job at the Home Office
The police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Authority has launched an investigation into the handling of her complaint.
Police broke down the door of Miss Hoyt’s home last Tuesday and believe she may have been killed as long ago as last Sunday.
The daughter of an executive of the Royal Bank of Canada, Angela was an ‘ambitious and driven’ career woman and amateur athlete. She left Canada for the UK in 1999 to study for a journalism degree in Wales.
In 2000, she married a fellow rugby enthusiast, Jonathan James, and the couple moved to London where she started work in Whitehall.
‘She was so excited when she got the job at the Home Office,’ Ami said.
‘She would go with David Blunkett to No 10 quite a bit. She’d brief him and she talked about taking his dog for a walk and she often said what a nice man he was.
Tragic: Angela Hoyt was found dead at her house in Hatfield
‘She and Jonathan were very happy at first but they were very young and they drifted apart. In 2004, they broke up and sold their apartment. It was all very civilised.’
Ami said her sister met Mr Collett through her job. She said: ‘Martin originally got a PhD in isotopes but he had changed fields and gone into government.’
At the Home Office, the former scientist was a briefing manager for Mr Blunkett and then appointed to a similar position with Mr Clarke.
At first Ami was charmed. ‘I thought the world of Martin,’ she said. ‘He was very complimentary about my sister, her accomplishments, her attributes. He seemed really genuine. He’d praise her mind and her looks and he was a very good conversationalist.’
In 2006, he left politics, telling fellow workers he was going to become a banker. But he told Ami he was going to medical school in Liverpool.
By now his relationship with Angela was troubled, said Ami.
‘He had a charming side and then this other side. They had fights, massive blow-ups. He pushed her and shoved her. Once she said he smacked her across the face. I saw the bruise a couple of days after.
‘They’d break up but he was very manipulative and he’d persuade her to get together again. He’d say, “Oh darling, I was such a fool. I’m sorry! How lovely you are. I am so proud of you.”
‘I was really worried. I said, “Break up with him. You deserve better.” But she said, “We’re in love. I want to spend my life with him.” ’ Angela had also left government, finding a job as a media adviser with the Red Cross back in Ottawa. Martin soon joined her in Canada.
‘Martin is very clever,’ said Ami. ‘He’d got a scholarship to medical school but then he decided he didn’t want to be a doctor because he didn’t like blood.’
Highly regarded: Angela forged a successful career as a communications officer for the Red Cross
Before long, Angela moved backed to London and became a highly regarded communications officer for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, Mr Collett decided on yet another career change.
‘He said he was going to be an airline pilot and he got into flight school in Welwyn Garden City near where they lived,’ Ami said.
‘He completed the course but the recession hit and he couldn’t get a job as a pilot.’
Last autumn, the Civil Service rehired him, in what the family described as a ‘health and safety position’.
Three months ago, Angela was dispatched to Islamabad in Pakistan to help with aid work following last year’s floods.
While she was there she told Ami her relationship was becoming ‘unbearable.’
Grisly scene: A police officer outside the house in Hatfield
‘One day while she was in Pakistan, I found I had been “defriended” on her Facebook page,’ Ami said.
‘Martin insisted he had nothing to do with it but Angela believed he had hacked into it and deleted me. He put up an anti-Israel video and disgusting lewd comments on her wall.
‘She told me he also had taken over her web mail and sent embarrassing emails to people she was working with.
‘I said, “Angela, don’t go home. He could kill you.” She said, “I have to go home at some point. He won’t kill me.”
‘She got home last Thursday and told him it was over. She went to the police on Friday, May 20, to file a report about what he did to her Facebook and email. She was going to see a lawyer on Monday.
‘She told the police she didn’t want a restraining order. She didn’t think she needed one. She said Martin seemed deflated and sad. He didn’t seem dangerous.
‘But on Saturday she told me she was going to spend the night with a friend. She said Martin was taking pictures of her, saying things to hurt her.
‘He was complaining about her looks, saying she had a double chin, which was ridiculous. She weighs less than I do and I’m a size six.’
Her father was the last family member to speak to her. Mr Hoyt said: ‘I spoke to her at four my time last Sunday. She was walking down Oxford Street. She said she’d had a lovely time with her friend.
‘I said: “Are you OK, dear?” and she said: “I’ll be fine.” But on Monday when I called her all I got was her voicemail.’
On Tuesday morning Ami filed a missing persons report with police. She said: ‘The police went round. There was no answer and none of the neighbours had seen her. After I told them my father couldn’t reach her they said they’d go round again.
‘I went to bed but I couldn’t sleep. At 3.30am I called them and a female detective constable said: “Your sister’s been found.” I knew right away she was dead.’
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ross, leading the investigation, said: ‘I appeal to Mr Collett to give himself up to police or ring and speak to one of my detectives to arrange to come and see us. At the moment he is the one and only suspect. We are not looking for anyone else.’
Officers were yesterday with Mr Collett’s parents in Bradford. Hertfordshire police said this was ‘routine’ and that the search centred on Hatfield where ‘Wanted’ posters have been distributed.
A Home Office spokesman said last night: ‘We can confirm that Mr Collett and Miss Hoyt both previously worked at the Home Office.’
* Angela’s family welcome donations to the Red Cross’s operations in Pakistan via www.icrc.org/eng/donations/index.jsp
(source: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391911/)================================================
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