Murray murders: Inside police investigation and turf wars that have delayed justice

Hawks detectives were taken off the double murder case of Cloete and Thomas Murray shortly after they identified key suspects and were preparing to arrest several people.

In the immediate aftermath of the Murrays' deaths on 18 and 19 March 2023, a task team comprising detectives from the Serious Organised Crime Unit of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or the Hawks, were assigned to assist Gauteng police detectives under the police's Organised Crime Investigation Unit (OCIU), under the hand of a senior prosecutor.

But News24 can reveal that the Hawks officials were booted out at the request of Brigadier Pulane Gopane, the head of OCIU Gauteng, allegedly for leaking information to the media, an accusation that was made unofficially and had apparently not been substantiated.