Mark Dyer: Founder of The Hacking Trust
Mark Dyer is an accomplished British businessman whose career spans more than four decades of property investment, corporate acquisitions and product innovation. As one of the founders of The Hacking Trust, he has spearheaded over £750 million in successful transactions across the UK’s commercial and residential property sectors, building a reputation for fast, principled dealing and long-term partnerships.
Early Career and the Path to The Hacking Trust
Mark’s working life began in the early 1980s as an estate agent in West London. Within two years he had become the top salesman at his firm, and by 1985 he had launched his own agency, Nelson Randolph Estates, with offices in SW1 and W1. After selling that business in 1988, he moved into property investment proper, first launching a company aligned with the government-backed Business Expansion Scheme, then founding and running multiple property funds across the lettings, residential and investment sectors in partnership with private investors.
That experience laid the groundwork for what would become his life’s work. In 1997, Mark founded The Hacking Trust PLC.
Today, The Hacking Trust PLC is a widely recognised brand across the UK, particularly known for its large-scale postal acquisition campaign, which generates over one million letters annually from a state-of-the-art in-house mailing facility in Reading. As one new contact recently put it: “Your letter arrived at the perfect time… though now I realise you’ve written every year for over 20 years.” That consistency is the point.
A Family Legacy of Innovation
Innovation runs deep in Mark’s family. On his father’s side, the Randolph family were highly successful manufacturers and prolific inventors, with a legacy that includes the bonded edge, garden tools, aviation fire-suppression systems used on aircraft worldwide, aviation pyrotechnic devices, match equipment, ceremonial swords and a wide range of household products.
Mark has continued that tradition. In 2023, after suffering more than twenty jellyfish stings during a single swim in the Mediterranean, he set out to design a solution and went on to invent Stingblade, a dedicated tool for treating jellyfish stings, designed and manufactured in England using recycled fishing nets.
Leading the Search for Muriel McKay
Mark is also the grandson of Muriel McKay, whose 1969 kidnapping became one of the most notorious cases in British criminal history, among the first major ransom kidnappings in the UK, and one of the country’s earliest murder convictions secured without the recovery of a body. Mark was just five years old at Christmas when his grandmother was taken.
For years, Mark has been the driving force behind uncovering the truth, ultimately compelling one of the perpetrators to admit responsibility for the kidnapping after a 52-year silence. Between 2021 and 2025 he led an exhaustive search for Muriel’s remains, and in November 2021 he secured a final admission from the Chaplin family identifying the most likely burial site. In 2025 his speech on the case was awarded the Cicero Non-Political Speech Award.
His work has been covered by the Mirror, BBC, The Times and Sky News. Mark has said publicly that he will not rest until Muriel is brought home.
Working with Mark and The Hacking Trust
Under Mark’s leadership, The Hacking Trust acts as principal for its own investments, meaning decisions are made in-house, quickly, and completions follow swiftly. For business owners considering an exit, retirement, or the transition of an inherited company, that direct approach removes much of the friction that typically surrounds an acquisition.
If you’ve received a letter from The Hacking Trust and would like to find out how Mark and his team can help shape your exit strategy, you can get in touch here.
