A year on, I still don’t think my friend Mikus committed suicide

The remains of 33-year-old Mikus Alps were identified by forensic investigators two days after his car was found burnt-out in a secluded area near Petit Bot on 8 January 2018.

An inquest has yet to be held about the case but international media speculation about possible Russian involvement in the man’s death appears to have been ruled out.

During the investigation, a man was found guilty of drugs and firearms charges and he has since been released.

Paul White, 50, said he was the person who handed in to police what they later called a ‘sombre and reflective note’ from Mikus Alps before being arrested and later released without charge on drugs-related charges which came about as a result of the investigation.

He said it read ‘more like a will’.

‘It started off with “Hello, my friend if you’re reading this I’m probably in a better place, I’m happy with everything I’ve done throughout my life,” everything’s good sort of thing. He wanted him to do a few things such as all his business debts and everything like that he wanted paid.

‘He said that he wanted half of the money to go to the Ukrainian Defence Army [League] and half to go to an ex-girlfriend of his, I think she lives in Latvia.

‘Where he wanted his ashes scattered, and not to be upset, love to us all, really.

‘To me it sounded like, not a suicide note, but a will almost, like he knew what was going to happen and therefore he wanted to get it all set out.’

Mr White, known as Chalkie, says the letter was handed to him by a third party he does not want to name. ‘When the letter was passed on it was a case of “don’t open it yet, you’ll know when it’s the right time”.

‘Maybe a month or two months before that [Mikus] was saying that weird things were happening, people were following him.

‘There was an incident where he knew he was being followed so he drove up to Icart, he parked his car in the car park there and went for a walk. When he came back there was a note on his car with just the number 200 on it.

‘It was a code that was taken on by Russian criminals and the like.

‘If you were issued a 200 that means that pretty soon you won’t be around any more, basically. He stated that that had happened, all this information I gave to the police and that as well, but they weren’t interested – they were too busy trying to make something out of nothing.

‘I could’ve put a match to [the letter] and nothing would’ve been any different and none of this would ever have happened, but no, because I thought it’s the right thing to do; I’m going to go up there I’m going to hand the letter in.

‘I told them there was a couple of garages that Mick had, the lock-ups, quite a few all over the island. I told the police: have you checked this one, have you checked this one? At the end of the day, it’s one of my friends is presumed dead or at least missing.

‘So therefore if it’s foul play I want to help out in whatever way I can because it’s the least Mick deserves and it’s my friend.

‘At the time it was all “thanks Paul, what you’ve done is the right thing we really appreciate it”.

‘A couple of weeks later they’re coming through my door at 6.40am with a search warrant, while my children are in bed,’ he said.

Following a separate arrest which led to the conviction of the two men a paper list ‘of handwritten names and weights’ was found, one of the names on the list was ‘Chalky’.

This was one of the reasons given for a search warrant later being issued for Mr White’s property.

‘Just because of a nickname you know, Chalky, there’s a note which the police described as a dealers’ list, it’s spelt with a y for a start, I don’t even spell mine with a y it’s ie for a start. But as far as a nickname goes it could be anyone, unfortunately for me it’s a common name,’ he said.

Another reason given for the search was that Mr White was seen approaching one of the lock-up garages belonging to Mr Alps in the days after his disappearance wearing ‘dark hooded clothing’ which Mr White said he was wearing because of the cold weather that night.

The search took place on 23 January at Mr White’s family home. A search dog ‘indicated’ in the garage.

‘I had some money that I had been saving so I was hiding the money for safekeeping.

‘Well it’s £3,000, you know I’m a grown man I work a cash business, I have done for the last 22 years. £3,000, that’s what, £50 a week? It’s no big deal it’s all tax, it’s all money that I’ve declared.

‘While the police were searching the garage I said to the officer: ‘Hang on a minute I’ve got some money here,’ which I actually handed to them.

‘I told the officer to make a note of this and allegedly he did. They carried on the searching I was taken into custody I was there all day,’ he said.

Mr White was then arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs and released on bail. In March, he was told no further action would be taken.

‘They said that it was no further action due to no evidence which, I’m not being funny, from the start I’d told them there was nothing to do with it,’ he said.

The money seized by police was returned to Mr White nine months later, but he said there have been lasting effects as a result of the investigation.

‘I’ve had accusations of like that I’m involved in murder I’m involved in drug smuggling, gun running, it’s all hearsay, it’s bull. It’s like, really? I wouldn’t be working six days a week if I was having that sort of money. I wouldn’t be in the debt I’m in now if I had that sort of money.

‘I’m doing nothing wrong I’m a single parent. I do my bit. I go to work, I pay my taxes, that’s it I don’t drink, well, I have a beer every now and then, I don’t take drugs or anything like that.

‘I’ve had a past don’t get me wrong, but that was like 25 years ago, still to be tarred with the same brush as if I’m some sort of gangster is so far from the truth, I’m an old man who’s just living life now with a family.

‘You’re tarred with a brush and that’s that, people aren’t allowed to change, even though I’ve served my debt to society.

‘What bugs me most is at the end of the day this is about Mick, and his family and friends and they’ve turned it into some sort of like hunt to see, well we can’t sort anything out with the Mick case but we’ll just keep the public happy, well we didn’t get that but we got this instead.

‘I want to see either someone is brought to justice or it turns out that he killed himself... which I doubt very much.

‘I don’t think he committed suicide put it that way. Definitely don’t think he committed suicide at all,’

The police have not concluded the case. However, its latest statement said there is ‘no evidence linking Mr Alps’ activity in the Ukraine with his remains being found in the burnt-out car in Guernsey’.

When asked about Mr White’s claims the police said: ‘If any member of the public believes they have been treated unfairly they should submit a formal complaint for us to investigate. We have a robust complaints process and officers in our Professional Standards Department investigate any allegations reported.

‘We have provided several detailed updates and in each one we have explained that this is a very complex investigation. We have said we will tell the public 100% of what we can tell them. While I am conscious of the desire for more information, the facts are that it is common for investigations of this complexity to take a significant amount of time.

‘Speculation in this case has been unhelpful to say the least. The facts are these: the investigation has so far established that the remains found in the vehicle in January were that of Mikus Alps. A handwriting expert confirmed that a letter handed into police, which was sombre and reflective in content, was written by Mr Alps. The remains of a shotgun were also found in the car next to the remains of Mr Alps. Mr Alps was a supporter of a pro-Ukrainian movement and had visited the country. We are aware that Mr Alps’ Facebook account has been active since his remains were found; it is not uncommon for people to share their social media log-in details with others.

‘Based on what we have established so far, there is no evidence linking Mr Alps’ activity in Ukraine with his remains being found in a burnt-out car in Guernsey,’ said Patrick Rice, former head of law enforcement.