CAMPER van killer Denis Mulder was beginning a life sentence today as police admitted they were still mystified as to why he turned to violence.

Businessman Tony Robinson, 61, who owned the Spectrum Copy Shop in Brighton, was shot in the head after taking

Mulder on a test drive in his van.

After blasting Mr Robinson at close range, 51-year-old Mulder calmly drove the van back to Second Avenue, Hove, where he dumped it with his victim's body inside.

Mulder, a South African national, is described as a man of above-average intelligence, fluent in Dutch, Zulu and English.

Friends in his homeland described him as "honest, honourable and responsible", a man with no hint of violence in his character.

An electrician by trade, he ran successful swimming pool and yacht-chartering businesses in South Africa and the USA.

But bad luck, ill-health and failed marriages brought out an evil and villainous side. He turned to crime and hoped smuggling drugs would reverse his fortunes.

Hardships and adversity might explain the switch to trafficking, but it does not resolve why he was prepared to kill. To this day, detectives have no idea why Mulder felt it necessary to use violence against, let alone shoot, Mr Robinson.

One policeman involved in the case said: "Mulder was previously of good character. This sudden bent to extreme violence is totally bizarre."

The murder happened two days before Mulder kidnapped John and Sheila Barnes, from Peacehaven, during a test drive of their camper van. He held a gun to Mrs Barnes's head before leaving them at Gatwick.

It was grotesque behaviour, yet Mulder had no history of psychiatric problems.

He made no attempt to plead innocence or disguise his actions when he was arrested at Gatwick after the kidnapping.

He was in possession of a loaded Rossi .38 snub-nosed revolver, four loose rounds of ammunition and handcuffs.

He admitted to police he had been on a test drive with Mr Robinson and then freely admitted: "I shot this guy."

Mulder appeared calm during interviews, but a note found in his Renault 5 told how he had planned to commit suicide in a Brighton hospital. A string of business, health and marital problems, and now murder and kidnap had, in his mind, brought his life to an end.

His swimming pool business failed, two marriages broke up, and a yacht-chartering business in the Caribbean foundered when a vessel was lost during a hurricane.

Mulder suffered two strokes which left him

partially paralysed and unable to speak properly.

He struggled to talk to officers, but he made a point of showing remorse, and even apologised to Mr and Mrs Barnes for the trauma he had put them through.

Police described Mulder and his string of calamities as "pathetic", but in no way did it excuse his violence.

Mulder had beaten the security services of three countries to bring his murderous revolver into Britain.

He bought the Rossi .38 snub-nose and ammunition in his native country.

He concealed the gun in a trunk and shipped it to Rotterdam in Holland, slipping it past both South African and Dutch customs.

Mulder then flew to the UK, bought a Renault, and drove to Holland and waited at the home of relatives to pick up the trunk.

His drug-smuggling career began with the purchase of cannabis, worth about £2,000, which he hid, along with the gun, in a tent strapped to the roof of his car. He then sailed by ferry to Britain and sneaked the contraband by Customs officers, probably at Harwich.

He was finally jailed for life yesterday after admitting murder and kidnap.

Friends of Mr Robinson welcomed yesterday's verdict. Jeff Stevenson, 45, who runs Roger's Newsagents in Norfolk Square, Brighton, near Mr Robinson's copy shop, said: "Tony was a customer for about nine years He was a lovely person. I just hope that life does mean life."

Jack Harding, 31, landlord of the Lion and Lobster pub, said: "Tony was lovely gentleman. Everybody who knew him will be happy to know about this verdict. No one should have the right to take somebody's life."

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