British oil chief shot dead in Belgian street

Nicholas Mockford, 59, was gunned down as he left an Italian restaurant in a suburb of the Belgian capital Brussels.

The shooting is understood to have happened on 14 October, but Belgian authorities had imposed a news blackout – something they said was common in investigations of serious crimes.

Belgian authorities now say they are seeking the public’s help in solving the killing.

The ExxonMobil executive was shot four times in Neder-over-Heembeek, according to police. His wife Mary was beaten and left covered in blood, cradling her husband and shouting for help. He died on the way to hospital.

A Belgian police report made public on Thursday said Mr Mockford and his wife, Mary, were walking toward their car when a man threatened Mrs Mockford, hit her in the face several times, and then tried to grab her purse. A second man then appeared and fired four shots at Mockford, who died on the spot, the report said.

The assailants, who were wearing motorcycle helmets, initially escaped on foot but were later seen on a motorcycle, according to the report.

A woman who lived opposite where the couple had parked their car told Reuters she had heard three shots and then called the police. When she went out to investigate, she recognised Mr Mockford’s wife as a customer of her husband’s hairdresser.

“She was clearly shocked and she said that they had demanded money, money, car, car. Those were the words she heard. One would imagine it was a car-jacking,” she said.

Shortly before the attack, a white van crossed the couple’s path. Investigators are asking the driver of the van to come forward.

Suspects on the run

The Belgian prosecutor’s office said last night that there was a “judicial instruction” from Martine Quintin, the investigating judge, which meant they could give no “explanation” and no detail about the killing, which a spokesman said was “usual in such a serious murder investigation”, the Telegraph reported.

Police initially suspected Mr Mockford had been killed in a failed car hijacking, according to reports, though the couple’s Lexus sports utility vehicle had not been taken after the shooting. Chief Inspector Wim Van Leifferenge said that no-one had been arrested and that those responsible were still on the run. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that a British national had died on 14 October.

Mr Mockford is understood to have worked for ExxonMobil since the 1970s and was head of marketing for interim technologies for ExxonMobil Chemicals, Europe, promoting new types of greener fuel.

A ‘family man’

Brought up in Leicestershire, he had moved abroad from Chichester some years ago, living in Belgium and Singapore. He was married to his Belgian wife for 15 years and has three grown-up children living in Britain from his first marriage, the Telegraph said.

A family member, who asked not to be named, told the newspaper they thought he had been killed in a professional hit. The relation said: “We are all confused about what has happened. Nick was a genuinely lovely, clean-cut, mild-mannered, family man.”

He added: “He was shot so calmly and so quickly, it smacks horribly of a professional hit, but we can’t fathom why. He isn’t the type to cave in to blackmail and it just doesn’t compute.”

A spokesman for ExxonMobil said: “We are shocked by the tragic death of one of our employees on Sunday, October 14 in Brussels. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues and we are supporting them as best we can at this very difficult time.”