Truth about the Jeremy Thorpe sex scandal that haunts me still
Norman Scott opens up over Liberal leader’s hitman trial
The 1979 Old Bailey case was called the Trial of the Century and captivated the UK, leading the news agenda for months. Charismatic Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was charged with trying to have his gay lover, model Norman Scott, killed.
Jurors heard extraordinary allegations that included blackmail plots and the shooting of Norman’s dog during a bungled hit.
There was widespread astonishment when Thorpe and three other men were eventually found not guilty – but his political career was over.
Norman was criticised at the time but now hopes that a new BBC drama based on the incredible events will set the record straight.
He will be portrayed in A Very English Scandal by Ben Whishaw, who plays gadgets supremo Q in the James Bond films, while Four Weddings star Hugh Grant plays Thorpe.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror ahead of its release because he still admires the way we “courageously” told the truth in 1970s, Norman said: “I still believe justice will finally be done. The truth will still out.”
The series – which the makers showed Norman in a private preview at his Dartmoor home – brings back memories he had long buried.
And the scene in which he faces his would-be assassin moved him to tears.
Norman was alone with his beloved Great Dane, Rinka, on Exmoor when a gunman blasted his pet before turning the weapon on him – only for it to jam. Speaking to him at his home, I ask about the terrifying encounter and he recalls it in a hushed tone.
The chilling details are still clear in Norman’s mind as he says: “He shot Rinka and then he tried to shoot me.
“But the gun didn’t go off. Even now I can still see him shaking the gun in front of the car headlights shouting ‘f***, f***, f***’.
“I was so upset by the shooting of Rinka that I tried to give her the kiss of life. I was covered in her blood.” Norman, a devoted animal lover who has rescue dogs from Cyprus, helping the charity All Because of Freda, adds: “I was sobbing, heartbroken.
“Rinka was a beautiful dog. I walked her every day. It was horrible. To this day, I can’t watch a gun go off in a TV show, all these years later.”
Norman, 78, is the only person involved in the scandal who is still alive.
Thorpe had nicknamed him Bunny and the Old Bailey heard about a love letter in which he told him: “Bunnies can (and will) go to France.” The allegations in the case were extraordinary. Andrew “Gino” Newton, who shot Rinka, claimed Thorpe had paid him £5,000 to assassinate Norman.
Norman says: “There were five attempts to kill me. One of the plans was to get me a job in America and then get me on a helicopter and drop me over the Everglades in Florida.
“It seems incredible but it’s true. Another one was to get me drunk in a pub in the West Country and drop me down a tin mine in Cornwall.
“Another was to attack me with a chisel hidden in a bunch of flowers. It sounds bizarre and it sounds like the ramblings of a lunatic but it was all absolutely true.
“It’s become common knowledge and now accepted as fact.”
As we are speaking, Norman points out a photo on the sideboard in his front room. “Thorpe bought me that suit,” he says.
During our interview it is striking