London jeweller helped catch Dr King assassin

A Paddington jeweller who bravely fought off an armed robber inadvertently helped catch Martin Luther King's assassin.

Recently declassified FBI files reveal the role Maurice Isaacs and his wife Billie played in bringing to justice James Earl Ray, the man convicted of killing the civil rights leader in 1968.

The couple did not know the identity of the gunman who tried to hold up their Treasures at Paddington Jewellers store in May of that year.

After a spate of similar robberies, Mr Isaacs decided to fight back, punching the man in the face and grabbing his gun.

The robber fled, but was arrested at Heathrow Airport a month later. It was only then that they learned it was James Earl Ray, wanted on suspicion of murdering Dr King and pursued across the Atlantic by American secret service agents.

The tale has come to light as the couple's daughter, Valerie Goldston, 68, prepares to close the jewellers, which will be turned into a sandwich shop.

Mrs Goldston said: "They had absolutely no idea who he was. It was the whole aftermath that was the most surreal."

At the time, Mr and Mrs Isaacs agreed not to press charges, to expedite Ray's extradition to the US where he was jailed for 99 years after pleading guilty to the murder.

Bizarrely, the Isaacs were called to Washington DC 10 years later to be questioned about the robbery when Ray was suspected of being linked to the assassinations of President John F Kennedy and his brother Robert.

The claims were never proven and Ray - who died in 1998 - spent the rest of his life denying that he killed Dr King amid various conspiracy theories.