TIMELINE OF A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL
EARLY 1975: West London ‘tough guy’ Dennis Meighan says he was contacted by former schoolfriend, pilot Andrew Newton, asking if he could supply a gun.
Pair meet in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, along with a ‘representative’ of Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe. Meighan says he was offered £13,500 to kill Norman Scott.
Meighan goes to Barnstaple, Devon, with a gun, but loses nerve and returns to London.
OCTOBER 23, 1975: Newton lures Scott to Exmoor, and shoots dead his Great Dane, Rinka. He allegedly tries to shoot Scott, but the gun jams. Newton arrested.
OCTOBER, 1975: Meighan visited by three policemen and he tells them about the involvement of Thorpe’s representative. Meighan is later summoned to Brentford police station and asked to sign a statement, which has no mention of Thorpe.
NOVEMBER 1975: Newton charged with possessing firearm with intent to endanger life.
MARCH 1976: Newton goes on trial in Exeter. Scott alleges Thorpe was behind the plot, but is steered off the subject by prosecution counsel. Newton found guilty, jailed for two years.
AUGUST 1978: Thorpe and three other men charged with conspiracy to murder.
1979: Old Bailey ‘Trial of the Century’. All four men acquitted.
1994: Newton, under his alias Hann Redwin, features in the inquest of his girlfriend Caroline Mayorcas, who died in a climbing accident with him in the Alps. Foul play ruled out.
2014: Thorpe dies. The Mail on Sunday publishes Meighan’s account of the conspiracy and cover-up for the first time.
2016: We reveal Gwent Police have launched Operation Velum to investigate Meighan’s claims.
2017: Police and CPS say they believe Newton had died and the investigation into Meighan’s claims is closed.
YESTERDAY: The Mail on Sunday tracks down Newton living under his alias in Surrey.