Solved case · 1999
Also known as Jason Martin-Smith's murder · Jason Martin-Smith murder
The short answer
Jason Martin-Smith, an English man reported missing in 2001, was murdered in Hastings after informing police about a pawnbroker robbery; the case went unsolved for 14 years until Mark Searle was convicted of his murder in 2015.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for Murder of Jason Martin-SmithJason Martin-Smith (born December 1972) was an English man from Kingston upon Thames who moved to Hastings, East Sussex in 1999. He was reported missing after 22 August 2001, and his disappearance was later confirmed to be a murder that remained unsolved for 14 years.
Martin-Smith became acquainted with his eventual killer through a drug deal and was drawn into a plan to burgle approximately £36,000 from Price Attack pawnbrokers in Farnborough, Hampshire, having previously worked there and retained a set of keys. He was arrested on 10 July 2001 following a police search of his girlfriend's home, and during a second interview identified other members of the gang involved in the robbery, receiving only £25 in return for his role. Fearing retaliation after being accused of "grassing," Martin-Smith armed himself with a gun and chisel. On 21 August 2001, he was spotted outside a friend's house on Wilmington Road, Hastings, by Steve McNicol, then forced into a car by Mark Searle and Jimmy Millen. Witnesses the following day reported seeing Searle and Millen, along with an unnamed third man, in a lock-up on Battle Road, Hastings, where an axe was used and Martin-Smith's torso was seen on the floor. Millen later told an associate that Martin-Smith had been shot six times and strangled with fridge wire; his body was never recovered.
A murder investigation was launched in January 2002 after police received information that Martin-Smith had been shot. Frank Torpey, Mark Searle and Steve McNicol were arrested in dawn raids but later released on bail after the Crown Prosecution Service declined to pursue charges in March 2002. Searches of Kelk Wood and the Battle Road lock-up produced insufficient evidence. Sussex Police reopened the case in 2014 after new witnesses came forward; by this time, Torpey had died. In February 2015, Searle and McNicol were charged with murder and conspiracy to kidnap.
On 21 August 2015 — the 14th anniversary of Martin-Smith's disappearance — Mark Searle was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, conspiracy to kidnap and perverting the course of justice, with a minimum tariff of 29 years. Steve McNicol was jailed for four and a half years for conspiracy to kidnap after his murder charge was discontinued at the start of the trial.
The case is closely linked to the unsolved killing of Jimmy Millen, who was fatally shot in a drive-by attack in Hastings in October 2001. Millen's family later told police of his involvement in Martin-Smith's murder. In March 2023, Sussex Police searched woodland near Marley Lane, Battle, following a tip-off, but no remains were found.
Jason Martin-Smith is born in Kingston upon Thames, London.
Martin-Smith moves to Hastings, East Sussex.
Martin-Smith is arrested following a police search of his girlfriend's home; he later identifies other gang members involved in a robbery.
Martin-Smith is abducted outside a friend's house on Wilmington Road, Hastings, by Mark Searle and Jimmy Millen after being spotted by Steve McNicol.
Witnesses see Searle, Millen and a third man at a lock-up on Battle Road, Hastings, where Martin-Smith is killed and dismembered.
Jimmy Millen is shot four times outside his home in a drive-by attack and later dies in hospital.
A murder investigation into Martin-Smith's death is launched after police receive information he had been shot; Millen's family tells police of his involvement.
Police search Kelk Wood for human remains and the Battle Road lock-up, finding insufficient evidence.
The Crown Prosecution Service declines to charge Torpey, Searle and McNicol, and the case is dropped.
Two fishing lakes are searched for a potential firearm linked to Millen's murder; none is found.
Sussex Police reopen the Martin-Smith case after new witnesses come forward; Frank Torpey has died in the intervening years.
Mark Searle and Steve McNicol are arrested and later charged with murder and conspiracy to kidnap.
Mark Searle is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, conspiracy to kidnap and perverting the course of justice; Steve McNicol is sentenced to four and a half years for conspiracy to kidnap.
Sussex Police search woodland near Marley Lane, Battle, following a tip-off; no remains are found.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
English man murdered in Hastings, East Sussex in August 2001; his body was never found.[3]
Doorman and former boxer fatally shot in a drive-by attack in Hastings in October 2001; his family later said he had been involved in Martin-Smith's murder.[3]
Found guilty of murder, conspiracy to kidnap and perverting the course of justice at Lewes Crown Court in August 2015; sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 29 years.[3]
Convicted of conspiracy to kidnap in August 2015 and jailed for four and a half years; murder charges against him were discontinued at the start of the trial.[3]
Officially named a person of interest by Sussex police; not charged. Arrested and interviewed on suspicion of the 2001 murder of Jason Martin-Smith, telling investigators the group 'just wanted to get hold of him'; released on police bail; died before the case against him could proceed. His co-suspects Mark Searle (murder) and Steve McNicol (conspiracy to kidnap) were later convicted at trial in 2015.[3]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
UNSOLVEDListen48 Lower Park Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England · 1990s
Thirteen-year-old Billie-Jo Jenkins was beaten to death with an iron tent peg at her foster family's home in Hastings, England, in February 1997. Her foster father was convicted, then acquitted after two retrials ended without a verdict, and the case remains legally unsolved.
SOLVEDListenWestern Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England · 1990s
James Ashley, 39, was shot dead by an armed Sussex Police officer while unarmed and naked in his flat during a mistaken pre-dawn raid in January 1998; the officer was later acquitted of murder on grounds of self-defence, and the family's civil case reached the House of Lords.
SOLVEDListen22 Grand Parade, Eastbourne, Sussex, England · 1860s
In 1860, Eastbourne schoolmaster Thomas Hopley beat his 15-year-old pupil Reginald Cancellor to death while attempting to correct perceived "stubbornness," leading to a landmark manslaughter conviction that shaped UK law on corporal punishment.
Robin Hood Hills, West Memphis, Arkansas · 1990s
Three eight-year-old boys were found murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993; three teenagers were convicted the following year in a case marked by disputed evidence, allegations of coerced confession, and claims of a Satanic motive, and were released in 2011 after entering Alford pleas.
Credit: Photo by Calvin Beale, as an employee of the Economic Research Service, part of the…Public domainSourceSOLVEDListenMadison, Jefferson County, Indiana · 1992
In January 1992, twelve-year-old Shanda Sharer was abducted and killed in southern Indiana by four teenage girls, all charged as adults; each pleaded guilty and received prison sentences.
Credit: en:User:Paul.hPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenPetaluma, California, United States · 1993
Polly Hannah Klaas, a 12-year-old girl, was abducted at knifepoint from her home in Petaluma, California, on October 1, 1993, and later found murdered. Richard Allen Davis was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death.
