Second charge against Thorpe revealed
NZPA London
The former British Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, already accused of conspiring to murder a
man who claimed to have once had a homosexual relationship with him, faces an additional charge of incitement of murder, legal officials have said. He appeared in court in Minehead, Somerset, on August 4 charged with three other men of conspiring to murder a former male model, Norman Scott. But it has been revealed that Mr Thorpe alone faces a second charge over the case — Britain’s biggest political scandal in recent times. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said that Mr Thorpe had also been accused of unlawfully inciting David Homes, the former joint deputy treasurer of the Liberal Party, to murder Mr Scott. Mr Holmes is one of the four men charged with conspiracy. All are on bail and on remand until October 9. Officials would offer no reason why the second
charge was not read out when Mr Thorpe first appeared in court. Mr Thorpe, aged 49, who led the Liberals — Britain’s third biggest political party — for 19 years until resigning in 1976, is still a member of Parliament. He has always strenuously denied Mr Scott’s allegations that they had a homosexual affair in the early 1960 s and has pledged to stay in politics. Charles Vaggers, chairman of the North Devon Liberal Association, said that Mr Thorpe had confirmed that he had always been fully aware that two charges were made against him on August 4 at Minehead, and had always referred the charges against him in the plural. “No new charges have been brought against Mr Thorpe and any suggestion to that effect is therefore both erroneous and misleading.”
Second charge against Thorpe revealed
Press, 4 September 1978, Page 9
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