Suave diplomat fall foul of false
HE IS the British diplomat who helped football hero Bobby Moore fight allegations that he’d stolen a diamond bracelet weeks before the Mexicoworld Cup.
Now, on the 50th anniversary of the England captain’s shock arrest, Sir Keith Morris says it was Moore’s coolness under pressure that ultimately was his best defence against the untrue claim.
In May 1970, Sir Alf Ramsey’s England squad arrived in Latin America to defend their World Cup title. But within hours of landing in Colombia for a warm-up match, a scandal erupted.
Moore and teammate Bobby Charlton were accused of stealing a £625 diamond and emerald bracelet from a shop in the El Tequendama hotel where they were staying in Bogotá.
A week later, Moore was arrested when the team stopped in the Colombian capital after a friendly in Ecuador.
Now, “Our Man in Colombia”, Sir Keith, 85, describes in detail for the first time the diplomatic machinations that went on behind closed doors and reveals Moore’s “extraordinary coolness” as events unfolded.
Morris was deputy head of mission at the British Embassy from 1969 to 1971, but a changeover of ambassadors meant he was in charge.
“I escorted the team from the airport to the hotel on Monday, May 18,” he says. “I saw Ramsey give a press conference, but I’d left by the time Moore and Charlton were accused of stealing the bracelet from the glass-fronted Fuego Verde shop.
“Next morning, the manager, Clara Padilla, the owner and a detective from the National Police came to see me.
“I had this beautiful leaflet with photos of all the players, and she pointed at Robert Moore and Robert Charlton, the two most popular people in England at the time.”
Morris was shaken but was given no indication an inquiry was continuing after Moore and Charlton’s statements. Nor did there seem grounds for one as it was Padilla’s word against theirs. Meanwhile the match had to go ahead, and the day after the friendly, Morris organised for Moore to be interviewed by a detective from the DAS, a hybrid security service/ CID, and rival to the National Police.
“He measured Moore’s hand and decided it was too big for him to have stolen the bracelet from the cabinet. England went on to Ecuador, everyone hoping the incident was behind us. My new ambassador, Tom Rogers, arrived Friday evening and I updated him.
“What we did not know was that a new witness had appeared,” adds Morris – and on May 25, events took a dramatic turn. “The team had a fivehour stop in Bogotá so arranged to watch a cowboy film at the same hotel, the sort of old-fashioned thing Alf liked.
“We arrived at the airport to take Lord Harewood, president of the FA, as well as the chairman and secretary out to a fancy lunch. I was with our Colombian information officer, Julio Tobon, who was very well connected. “The tourist police tipped him off that two detectives from the National Police were waiting to arrest Moore at the airport.that would have been a huge scandal, so I said, ‘Let me talk to your boss’. The head of the National Police, Bernado Camacho Leyva, lived two doors from us and our daughters were best friends. I rang and managed to stop them.we agreed Moore would go to the hotel and I’d take him to a magistrate to make a deposition. I read a version that claimed two armed police burst in but actually it was me who took him away!
“Meanwhile, Tobon had contacted Vicente Laverde, a former justice minister and outstanding lawyer, who took on the case pro bono. He did it both from traditional Colombian Anglophilia, gratitude for British help in winning independence and passion for football.”
Moore was questioned for four hours, and it became clear the authorities weren’t going to let him go.
“The key became, ‘Keep him out of jail’, not just because of the effect on Moore but also because if the British press reported it, there would have been anger on both sides, and harder for the Colombians to release him.”
Morris got them to agree to house arrest at the home of the president of the Colombian FA, Alfonso Senior, who was “naturally deeply concerned about