Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE LEGACY ed to people this idea to elf kidnapped N PAUL GETTY III TO FUTURE WIFE
r. e l him. Meanwhile, the victim’s father was desperately trying to get the ransom together.
Then, in November 1973, a torn, bloody ear was sent to a newspaper. A letter read: “This is Paul’s first ear. If within 10 days the family still believes that this is a joke mounted by him, then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits.”
He developed pneumonia after what was left of his injured ear became infected. His grandad eventually stumped up the cash but only as much as was tax deductible, lending a further $1million to his son Big Paul, John Paul’s father – as long as he repaid it plus 4% interest.
Gisela says Little Paul, a “lovely naive boy”, never fully recovered from the “tragic experience” which left him physically and emotionally scarred.
The ear in the post “was so terrifying, beyond words”, she says. “It was the cruellest and most unimaginable thing.” Nine men were arrested for the crime and two were convicted – but Little Paul was shunned by Getty and fell out with Big Paul in the wake of the kidnapping, and descended into heroin and alcohol addiction. He wed Gisela, already pregnant with Balthazar, nine months after his release but the marriage finally broke down. A stroke in 1981 left him quadriplegic, partially blind and unable to speak. He died seven years ago, aged 54. Was Gisela’s late husband the kidnap mastermind? “I think Paul abandoned the idea, but was so involved he could not get out.”