Ian Stuart Spiro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ian Stuart Spiro (14 December 1946 – 8 November 1992) was a commodities broker who in 1992 murdered his wife and children, then killed himself.[1] Police stated that he was a "low-level conduit by United States government intelligence agencies and the United Kingdom's MI-6" from 1981 to 1986, and the case stirred a conspiracy theory that the family was murdered by assassins or terrorists because of Spiro's history as an intelligence operative.[1]
In the 1980's Spiro worked for the CIA and London intelligence in Lebanon. He assisted Oliver North in the attempts to free US hostages there during the Lebanon hostage crisis. In 1985 he helped arrange meetings in Lebanon between Terry Waite and leaders of the Islamic Jihad Organization in order to negotiate the release of western hostages.[2]
The Spiro family had lived in Beirut, France, Switzerland, London and New York before renting the $1,000,000 house in San Diego in August 1991. Spiro sold the house in Switzerland to a Saudi prince.[3]
They were renting the San Diego property at $5,000 per month.[4] By the time of the murders, the rent had not been paid in 3 months.[5]
Two weeks before the murders, Spiro claimed to a friend that he had received numerous telephone threats. Spiro asked the friend, a lawyer named James W. Street, if he could borrow a firearm from him. On October 22, 1992, Street gave Spiro a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver.[6]