Thorpe claims repeated

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34105, 18 March 1976, Page 17

Thorpe claims repeated

C.V.Z.P. A.-Reuter— Copyright) EXETER (England),

March 17.

A former male model has reiterated in court in Exeter, Sngland, allegations that he had been involved in a homosexual relationship with the Liberal Party leader, Mr Jeremy Thorpe.

Mr Norman Scott, whose claims have been strongly denied by Mr Thorpe, was the key witness against an airline pilot accused under the Firearms Act. Mr Scott said the defendant had tried to kill him after shooting his dog, but his pistol had jammed. The pilot, Mr AndrewNewton, aged 29. admitted illegally possessing a pistol and fatally shooting Mr Scott’s great dane, Rinka,

on a lonely country road in October, last year But he pleaded not guilty to a charge of having the weapon with intent to endanger Mr Scott’s lite.

According to the prosecution, Mr Newton killed the dog and tried to fire several other shots because Mr Scott had been blackmailing him for more than a year over a photograph showing Mr Newton in the nude. The defendant hoped to get the picture back by frightening Mr Scott and making him “realise that the blackmailing had to stop.” Mr Scott told the Court that Mr Newton had approached him in the street, and warned him that his life was in grave danger. He made him believe that a man was coming from Canada over documents he possessed, proving his sexual relationship with well-known personalities.

He said Mr Newton had also told him that he was being paid by Mrs Marion Thorpe, the Liberal Party leader’s wife, to protect his life. Asked whether he believed that his documents contained material damaging to the Liberal Party, Mr Scott replied: “Absolutely not. I was showing them to people to show that I had been hounded over the last 15 years because of that relationship, to show that there was a sex relationship which occurred. It is the reason why we are here today.”

He had asked Mr Thorpe several times to get a lost suitcase back “because until 1968 I think it was a blackmailable offence and I was worried for him.” Asked “what was a blackmailable offence,” Mr Scott replied: “Homosexuality." Mr Newton’s trial is expected to last several days.