William Foxton, 65, who had served in the British Army and more recently worked as a defense contractor in Afghanistan, died from a single bullet wound to the head in the southern English port city of Southampton on Tuesday, police said.
“A pistol was recovered at the scene. Police do not believe the death to be suspicious,” a police statement said. . . .
“I want Madoff and others involved to know that they have my father’s blood on their hands,” Willard Foxton was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.
“I’m very angry. My first thought was to show up at Madoff’s trial in New York and throw my father’s medals in his face.”
During much of the 1990s and earlier this decade, the father-of-two worked in the Balkans, where he was the head of the European Commission Monitoring Mission. In Kosovo he worked with aid worker Sally Becker, known as ‘The Angel of Mostar.
Miss Becker, who helped rescue 170 wounded children and their families from an orphanage during the Balkans war, yesterday (THUR) said: “Bill was one of he most exceptional men I have ever met, He was a larger than life character who worked tirelessly on behalf of the victims of war. He would not hesitate to risk his own life for others.”
Emrys Davies, 74, a former British ambassador who headed the British delegation to ECMM in 1995, said Mr Foxton once crawled across a minefield to save a trapped child.
He said: “The news of his death really is desperately sad. It was an honour to know Bill. I’d like to wring Bernie Madoff’s neck.”
