A SENIOR district judge has been warned by detectives investigating the murder of a retired colonel in Hertfordshire that he may be the real target of the killer.

Timothy Workman, who has presided over many high-profile terrorism cases, shares the same surname as Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Workman, the pensioner shot dead on his doorstep in Furneux Pelham, Hertfordshire, last week.

Officers have visited Mr Workman, who sits at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in Central London, to warn him that the killing could be a case of mistaken identity. Robert Workman, an 83-year-old retired army officer, died from a single shotgun wound late last Wednesday.

Officers yesterday released a recording of an anonymous 999 call made from a public phone box in the early hours of Thursday morning, where an elderly man is heard trying to direct police to the pensioner’s property.

Mr Workman’s helper, Josette Swanson, raised the alarm a second time after finding him slumped by the front door when she arrived for work. But it has emerged that, despite the attendance of police, paramedics, a local GP and several other villagers, no one noticed for another three hours that the pensioner had been shot. Undertakers drew attention to the bloody gunshot wound under his jumper when they began removing the body.

Hertfordshire police said that the force could only apologise for a serious oversight by officers, who had presumed that the frail pensioner had collapsed of natural causes.

The focus of the murder investigation, which has shocked the quiet Hertfordshire backwater, yesterday moved to the 999 call. Police believe that the caller — who revealed considerable local knowledge, used antiquated spellings and referred to Mr Workman’s house by a name not used for many years — might hold the key to finding the killer. Voice experts say they think the call was made by a man aged over 50 and possibly over 60 who was not disguising his accent.

He initially appeared to ask the ambulance service to attend “Hollyhock Cottage, The Causeway”, Furneux Pelham. But he then spelt out the name as “Hollycock”. Mr Workman’s address was Cock House, but police said it had been referred to as Hollyhock Cottage for a short period more than 20 years ago by Mr Workman’s late wife, Joanna, who wanted to call it after a favourite plant.

The house is also still listed in the phone book as Hollyhock Cottage. In another oddity the caller spells Furneux Pelham as “Furneaux Pelham”. The village is normally spelt without the “a” although it is spelt with an “a” on an old village sign that stands near the church. When the operator asked the caller to “bear with me a moment”, his last words were “That’s near Buntingford”, and the line went dead.

As officers continued house-to-house inquiries yesterday a police spokeswoman confirmed that Judge Workman, no relation of the victim, had been advised about his safety. She said: “The motive for the killing is unclear so Mr Workman has been told to be vigilant. It could be that the gunman got the wrong person and Mr Workman is the real target.”

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