FOR CAMELOT WORKER’S SUICIDE
we began seeing Eddie less and less. I asked Giles why and he said it was because Eddie owed him a lot of money.
“He didn’t tell me how much he owed him. I guess he couldn’t because it wouldn’t have made any sense.”
Then the simmering tension between the two fraudsters blew up.
In July 2015 Putman – who had served seven years in the early Nineties for raping a teenager – went to police and claimed Giles had blackmailed him “over six years” for a sum “in the region of £ 400,000”. He also accused Giles of burglary and criminal damage, smashing his car and CCTV system before fleeing with a mobile.
Olivier said: “I found a letter from the police which had all the allegations against Giles. I confronted him, but he was petrified and I couldn’t get a word out of him. He wouldn’t tell me anything apart from, ‘ I don’t know what came over me. I just got angry’.
“He was so laid back normally, but he was really worried about it and said, ‘I could go to jail’.
“Now I know it was the other allegations getting out he was worried about. He felt trapped. By August he was locking himself in his office for hours listening to depressive music.”
In September, Giles vanished. He drove to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire and killed himself.
Olivier says: “The day after Giles disappeared, a friend of his knocked on the door. He said, ‘Can I come in? I need to tell you something’.
“It was like all of a sudden I had been thrown into a James Bond movie. It was surreal. But as crazy as it sounded, it all also made sense. I was crying and thinking, ‘How didn’t
I spot this?’” In his note, Giles told his lover of five years: “There is a lot I haven’t told you, and while I have wanted to on several occasions I have always stopped myself. I should have been more open with you I know, but that’s just the way I am. “There is one last t h i ng… You know that I have
Olivier believes his lover couldn’t cope with going to prison – or with what he had done. “After he died I found audio books on his computer about dealing with guilt,” says Olivier.
“He was tortured and feeling under pressure. Now it began to torture me that Eddie had done something bad, but was still walking free spending the money.” Olivier bravely testified in court against Putman. Giles had left behind evidence of Putman’s involvement in the fraud.
Now Olivier hopes the jail sentence will give him closure.
He says: “I’m glad Eddie has got what he deserves. For me it has closed a chapter. I’ve got justice now and I feel like the weight is finally off.
“I don’t want to hear from Eddie ever again. I’m going to burn all the photos I have of him.” Prosecutors are launching a Proceeds of Crime case against Putman to try to recover the money.
“The important thing now is they take his assets.
“He will come out of prison with nothing,” says Olivier.
“His downfall came because he thought he was smarter than everyone else, but what he didn’t realise was Giles was smarter than him. Giles was always a very caring person and took care of others more than himself.
“I want him to be remembered as a very outgoing and giving person, who made a stupid mistake. I’ll always love him.
“I hope me telling Giles’s story will help other people spot the signs to avoid their loved ones from committing suicide.”