Thorpe ‘tried to fix witnesses’

Press, 14 May 1979, Page 8

Thorpe ‘tried to fix witnesses’

NZPA-Reuter London Jeremy Thorpe, a former leader of the British Liberals, hatched a plot to murder his former homosexual lover, then tried to tamper with witnesses as the police net closed on him, it was alleged at the Old Bailey on Friday. Mr Peter Taylor, Q.C., prosecuting, said Thorpe’s close friend, David Holmes, had acted as “manager” of the plan to kill a former male model, Norman Scott. Under Holmes had been two businessmen, John le Mesurier and George Deakin, who had hired and paid an airline pilot, Andrew Newton. as would-be assassin. Mr Taylor was continuing the case for the prosecution on the fourth dav of the trial in which Thorpe and three

others have denied conspiring to kill Mr Scott.

The former Liberal leader has also pleaded not guilty to trying to persuade Holmes to murder Mr Scott.

Mr Taylor outlined the role each of the four men allegedly had played in the plot before calling the Crown’s “star” witness, Mr Peter Bessell, whose evidence is expected to last a week. Mr Taylor said the four conspirators had become “anxious and jittery” when police inquiries had begun about April, 1977. Thorpe issued a strong statement denying allegations against him. “but behind that bold front was a very worried man, you may think, particularly about his part in financing the con-

spiracy,” Mr Taylor told the jury. “His mental turmoil and his fear can best be measured by the lengths to which he now went to try to protect himself. “It comes to this, one has to say regretfully — seeking to tamper with the witnesses or potential witnesses.” Mr Taylor claimed Thorpe had tried to persuade a businessman. Mr Nadir Dinshaw —godfather to his son. Rupert—to lie about cash given to Liberal funds by a benefactor, Mr Jack Hayward. The money was said to have gone to Holmes for the murder “contract.”

Thorpe had also tried to tamper with Mr Dinshaw’s account of events, and to have Mr Hayward press the

key witness, Mr Bessell, toil stay out of England. .1 “There were culpable lies” : in a police statement Thorpe made in June. 1978, he said. 1 This referred to large sums < of money obtained from Mr ■ Hayward, said Mr Taylor, but it was “not so” — as t claimed by Thorpe — that he < had arranged for £20,000 to i be deposited with account- 1 ants as an iron reserve for 1 future election expenses. i Mr Taylor said the “iron 1 reserve” had immediately | been siphoned off to Holmes. ] He added: “We submit that , Mr Thorpe instigated and ' was party to the conspiracy ' to kill Mr Scott, and that Mr i Holmes was party to it and acted as its manager, keeping ] Mr Thorpe in the background.” Deakin and ie Mesurier

had worked under Holmes to hire and pay Newton “for his services.” Mr Taylor then called Mr Bessell to start giving evidence as the first Crown witness. Thorpe stared fixedly ahead of him as the elegantly dressed Mr Bessell, a former close friend and fellow Liberal M.P., told the jury that Thorpe had confessed to him that he was homosexual . . . said the Scott problem was a “black cloud” hanging over him . . . and suggested killing him and dumping the body down a mine shaft. The trial was adjourned until today, when Mr Bessell t is expected to continue his evidence.