Between May 19th and June 30th, Dutch station AVROTROS/NPO Radio 1 aired the podcast series De Showbizzmoord. Click here to listen to the seven episodes.
Dutch journalists Lammert de Bruin and Babs Assink investigated the mysterious death of record executive and producer Bart van der Laar.
Van der Laar was shot in his house in Hilversum, the Netherlands on November 10th, 1981. Three days later, he died from his wounds (see article posted on November 11th, 2016). He was involved in Carrere/CNR records in the late 1970s. Luv' signed a 750.000 Dutch guilder deal with him in October 1979.
Van der Laar later ran the short-lived TTR label with his partners Ruud Wijnands and German publisher Rolf Baierle. In addition to Luv', his artist roster included Francis Goya, Corry Konings, Babe, Benny Neyman and Lenny Kuhr. He co-wrote "Het is een wonder", the Dutch entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 performed by Linda Williams. A feud over the authorship of this track followed.
After his murder, gay prostitute Martien Hunnik was arrested and convicted on the basis of a confession he made but later retracted. He was released from jail in the early 1990s. Van der Laar's death remained a mystery.
Hunnik then tried to get hold of his file and when he was refused, his lawyer and the public prosecutor requested a new trial. It became apparent that Hunnik was probably innocent. In addition, medical experts said that Hunnik was ‘very susceptible to suggestions’ and inclined to exaggerate at the time of his confession.
In 2016, Martien Hunnik was acquitted. One year later, Netherlands Public Prosecution Service announced that he received damages and apologies from the State (see news posted on April 25th, 2017).
In the final episode of the podcast series, journalists Lammert de Bruin and Babs Assink discussed an alternative scenario in the Van der Laar's case. It was suggested that two people known to Van der Laar (who are still alive today and whose names remain anonymous) most likely killed him on the orders of a business partner, Ruud Wijnants (who died in 2001).
According to the Supreme Court, the alternative scenario is 'very plausible'. Because the case is time-barred, there is no further investigation. The murderers' names should not be mentioned. One of them was Bart van der Laar's handyman and he knew him well. He would have pulled the trigger. He can be heard in the podcast in a distorted voice. But he continues to deny his involvement in the death of the flamboyant record producer.
Source: AVROTROS/NPO Radio 1, Omroep Brabant, ED.nl
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