The mother of a British conspiracy theorist who died suddenly in Poland has said she fears he was murdered.

Max Spiers, 39, was visiting the eastern European country to give a talk but was found dead on a sofa days after she says he texted her to say: “Your boy’s in trouble. If anything happens to me, investigate.”



Vanessa Bates, 63, said the Polish authorities told her her son died in July of natural causes but no postmortem examination was carried out.

“I think Max had been digging in some dark places and I fear that somebody wanted him dead,” she said. “Max was a very fit man who was in good health and yet he apparently just died suddenly on a sofa.”

Spiers, a ufologist and paranormal researcher originally from Canterbury in Kent, claimed to have been the victim of a mind control programme run by Britain and the US in conjunction with surviving Nazis, including an attempt to create a “superman” warrior.

Believers have long raised concerns that UFO researchers are being killed by “men in black” and Spiers’ death prompted online discussion suggesting he was murdered because of his work.

On the whistleblower website, Project Camelot, Kerry Cassidy wrote: “This death is very suspicious. I now have reason to believe a cover-up is in motion.”

Talking about her son’s acquaintances in Poland, Bates told KMTV: “These people seemed to be involved in some very, very dark and dangerous areas of the world and I was afraid that as he was gaining popularity and fame perhaps somebody would want him out of the way ie not alive any longer.’



Spiers’ body was flown home a week after his death and a postmortem examination was carried out in Kent. Bates said she was still waiting for the results and had not been told whether there would be an inquest.



“Apparently, he had not suffered any obvious physical injuries but he could have been slowly poisoned, which is why the results of toxicology tests from his postmortem are so important,” the English teacher said.



The North East Kent coroner’s court said it could not comment on the case unless an inquest was announced. In the event of a death overseas an inquest should usually take place “if the cause of death is unknown or if it was sudden, violent or unnatural”.

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We provided assistance to the family of a British national following his death in Warsaw, Poland, in July.”