Raphael Rowe

Raphael Rowe is an English investigative journalist, best known for his work with BBC Panorama.

Convicted in 1990 of murder as part of the M25 Three, after 12 years in prison, the convictions of Rowe and his two co-defendants Michael George Davis and Randolph Egbert Johnson, were overturned in July 2000. Rowe later commented:

Rowe was born and brought up in south-east London. Described in court as a "career criminal", he had previous convictions, including malicious wounding.

At some time between 0150 and 0340 UTC an armed gang of three men wearing balaclavas and driving a stolen green Triumph Spitfire approached a car in Chelsham, Surrey in which Peter Hurburgh and Alan Eley were having sex. The gang dragged the two men from the car, tied them up and stripped and beat them. The gang then poured petrol over the two men, and Eley lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, Hurburgh was dead, having sustained five fractured ribs and a fractured sternum, which had bruised his heart leading to death from cardiac arrest.

The assailants abandoned the Triumph Spitfire at the scene and stole Hurburgh's car, an Austin Princess which they then drove around the M25 to Oxted, Surrey. Here, at around 0340 UTC, they broke into a home belonging to Richard Napier, then aged 66, who lived with his wife and 40-year-old son. The gang threatened the family with a knife and two handguns, one of which was described as a revolver. Timothy Napier sustained multiple knife wounds and Mrs Napier was instructed to remove her rings and jewellery. She was told that if she refused her fingers would be cut off. The house was ransacked and after 20–30 minutes, the robbers left, taking Timothy Napier's Toyota Corolla which had been parked near the house. Peter Hurburgh's Austin Princess was found abandoned 100 yards (90 m) from the Napier's house.

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