SHOWDOWN AFTER 43 YEARS
that would have done it, I don’t know.” He revealed the gun came from his private collection and was the “only one that worked”.
Norman told how a more powerful bullet could have gone through his dog and hit him too.
Thorpe and his alleged accomplices were tried in 1979 for plotting to murder Norman.
But they were cleared by a jury in what was dubbed the “trial of the century”. Fascination with the case DRAMA Blake Harrison as Newton in the BBC series about the scandal has been reignited by BBC drama series A Very English Scandal, with Ben Whishaw as Norman and Hugh Grant as Thorpe.
Norman recently told the Mirror there were four other attempts on his life. He said: “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.”
He added: “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 has become common knowledge and now accepted as fact.” He and Dennis were brought together on Dartmoor by the Mail on Sunday. Newton, who lives in Surrey under the name Hann Redwin, was the only protagonist ever convicted over the scandal. He was jailed for two years in the 1970s for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger Norman’s life. Newton claimed Thorpe, who died in 2014, paid him £5,000 to kill Norman. Ben Whishaw and Hugh Grant in drama Until the past few weeks, detectives had believed that Newton had died 14 years ago. But after it was discovered recently he was alive, we revealed last week that police called at a house where he had been staying in Dorking, Surrey. Detectives wanted to question him over allegations he hired his old school friend Dennis to kill Norman, then stepped in when Dennis had a change of heart. After finally speaking to 71-year-old Newton – played in the BBC drama series by Blake Harrison – bosses at Gwent police said last week: “We had reasonable grounds to conclude Andrew Newton/Hann Redwin was deceased.
“Recent information indicated this may not be correct. Having confirmed his status and whereabouts, officers spoke to Mr Redwin.”
But police added he was unable to provide more evidence and that the case would remain closed.
However, Norman still hopes his claims will one day be proven.
He told the Mirror: “I’m still very confident that the truth will out. I’ve always said that.
“I know justice will prevail in the end. I still dream of justice.
“I would love it if somehow it’s proved in a court of law that I was telling the truth.
“As the years have passed, many people have come up to me and said they believe me. It is very heartening.”