Keeler’s son in legal bid to win pardon for ‘slut-shamed’ mum
CHRISTINE KEELER should be posthumously pardoned because she was cruelly ‘slut-shamed’ by the British legal establishment, according to her son.
Seymour Platt, who lives in Longford, will tomorrow formally launch a bid for his mother’s conviction for perjury to be set aside. Mr Platt, 49, told The Mail on Sunday that his mother felt ‘victimised, downtrodden and beaten’ by her treatment in the wake of the Profumo affair and the episode was an example of ‘historic discrimination against women’.
Showgirl Keeler scandalised Britain in 1963 when it emerged she had slept with John Profumo, the married war minister, while
‘She felt victimised, downtrodden, beaten’
also seeing the Russian naval attaché Eugene Ivanov.
Months later she admitted lying during the trial of Aloysius ‘Lucky’ Gordon, a Jamaican-born jazz singer who had stalked and brutally assaulted her.
As a result, Gordon was released from prison but Ms Keeler, then aged just 21, was sentenced to nine months in jail.
Profumo, who died in 2006, resigned after admitting lying to the British House of Commons about his relationship with Keeler but rebuilt his good name by throwing himself into charity work. But Ms Keeler’s reputation never recovered.
‘Viewed through a contemporary lens, the treatment of Christine can be readily identified as “slutshaming”, the practice of denigrating a woman for behaviour disapprovingly framed as provocative or promiscuous, while ignoring or excusing the behaviour of associated men,’ Mr Platt’s submission for a pardon will say.
‘In fact, a headline in The People, dated August 4, 1963 read: “Christine Keeler is a shameless slut.” A posthumous pardon is also an opportunity to acknowledge historic discrimination against women and to reduce that continuing legacy for women today.’
Keeler, who died in 2017, aged 75, made a request in her will for Mr Platt, her son by her marriage to businessman Anthony Platt in the 1970s, to tell the truth about her life, in particular the depiction of Gordon as an ex-boyfriend ‘when
he was in truth her stalker and her attacker’. Gordon, who also died in 2017, had a string of convictions, including the attempted murder of a woman in Denmark.
Two years later, he followed Ms Keeler to her friend’s London home and beat her up – an attack witnessed by Rudolph ‘Truello’ Fenton and Clarence Camacchio.
But Ms Keeler said the two men were not there, a decision that solicitor James Harbridge from Mr Platt’s legal team will argue was to spare their embarrassment of being called to give evidence at trial. Mr Platt’s petition, supported by police statements, says: ‘Whilst Christine’s lie was non-material to Gordon’s attack, it is notable that, despite actually lying explicitly and materially to parliament, the late Mr Profumo’s character was restored. It seems only fair and just that Christine’s is, too.’
Mr Harbridge said: ‘The case is extremely strong.’