They are devastated by the death,” said a police spokesman.With the exception of a couple of minor offences several years ago, Mr Bristow had not been in trouble with the law. There is no evidence so far to suggest he had any involvement with drugs, and checks on his bank account found he was solvent but not with big injections of cash.He was described as a likeable, friendly chap who often helped others. The police went as far as to say “he had the image of a Mr Nice Guy who was everyone’s friend”.Mr Nice Guy had been due to take his children on a weekend trip the day before he disappeared. He was last seen leaving the Chequered Flag at about 11.30am on Friday 4 August and driving off in his black Chrysler people carrier, registration number W531 YKP. He took with him a green fabric holdall containing a change of clothes.He was never seen again after that Friday. But the following morning his Chrysler was left outside the flat he shared with his girlfriend, almost certainly by people involved in the murder.

The holdall bag is missing along with a chunky gold ring, which must have been prised from the dead man’s finger.Police are not disclosing where he was shot in the head – although a single bullet from behind is most likely – or whether a shotgun or a revolver was used.Detective Chief Inspector Colin Murray, the officer in charge of the case, said: “He was executed We believe he was lured to his death. What we don’t know is whether it was by somebody he knew or how many were involved in the execution and disposing of the body. This was a premeditated, well thought out plan.”The body was never intended to be found It was a professional job. We believe he was most likely to have been shot near the river and placed on a boat, but it is possible that he was shot on the boat.”We don’t know the motive for the killing.

There is also nothing to suggest he’s got lots of enemies, has ripped someone off, owes money, or has a violent domestic life.”We are still pursuing the angle that he may have been involved in a high level criminal activity – this is still the most obvious explanation, but at this stage there is nothing to support this.”The town’s hardman reputation is also hampering the investigation. “To call it a wall of silence is an exaggeration, but there are people who will not talk to us, let alone make a statement,” said the detective.Back at the Chequered Flag one of Mr Bristow’s drinking buddies thought the explanation was simple. “He did someone a wrong ‘un and just got unlucky, that’s all.”. The phone number change introduced four months ago in six cities, including London, has not been a success. Every day, up to 15 per cent of the millions of calls inside those cities is misdialled, using the old code number.

The phone number change introduced four months ago in six cities, including London, has not been a success. Every day, up to 15 per cent of the millions of calls inside those cities is misdialled, using the old code number.
Now, the people at the organisation overlooking the wider change are concerned that when the changes are enforced across the country next month, it will lead to the telephone Armageddon widely predicted in April – and more worryingly, that it will principally be caused by machines, not people, making calls.The expectations about how unready Britain, and especially Londoners, would be when the change occurred on 22 April, turned out to be correct. Nearly 40 per cent of people misdialled a local number when the changes were introduced – far above the 25 per cent that the telecommunications watchdog, Oftel, had expected based on its experience in 1995, when every phone number across the country had a “1″ added as its second digit.Anyone who dialled wrongly in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Coventry, Portsmouth or Southampton was put through to a recorded message telling them how to redial. But though the proportion of correct calls has risen steadily – to 68 per cent in June, 73 per cent in July, and between 85 and 90 per cent now – there is clearly a hard core of calls which are continually misdialled.The number changes, such as “020″ as a general prefix for London numbers (which changed from seven to eight digits) were introduced to accommodate the exploding demand for numbers for faxes, mobile phones and especially the internet.Andrew Lawford of the Big Number organisation, set up to coordinate the telecoms companies, is getting ready for the bigger day in September when people who live outside those six cities will also have to use the new prefixes. Until now, somebody living in Edinburgh, for example, could still dial the old “0171″ prefix for a London number and be put through.