A scandal that still captivates us all...

POLITICAL scandal, the juicier the better, never fails to captivate the great British public. And few were more sensational than the Jeremy Thorpe affair, as the BBC’s recent dramatisation starring Hugh Grant deftly proved.

One of the most extraordinary political tales of the 20th Century, it was rendered all the more intriguing by the stench of an Establishment cover-up, which grew ever more odorous as years passed.

Following a Mail on Sunday report in 2013, Gwent police launched Operation Velum to examine claims of corruption in connection with the original investigation into the plot to murder Norman Scott, the former Liberal leader’s lover.

Dennis Meighan told us he was hired to kill Mr Scott on the instructions of a Thorpe associate. His confession was ripped up by police at the time and apparently replaced with one that exonerated both Thorpe and Meighan.

But instead of shining a light on who was behind this claim of frankly outrageous evidence tampering, Operation Velum instead went all out to prosecute Meighan.

Little wonder he kept his mouth shut when detectives tried to interview him again.

Crucially, during Meighan’s summit with Norman Scott last week, he made clear the murder plot was real. In particular, he is convinced that Andrew Newton, who replaced him as the hitman, would have killed Mr Scott but for a faulty gun.

Before Thorpe’s 1979 trial, Newton gave evidence for the prosecution and cut himself a deal that made him immune from prosecution. He now says he can’t help Gwent police, who are now closing the corruption inquiry. Once again the trail had gone cold.

Mr Scott, meanwhile, who welcomed the renewed interest engendered by the BBC’s A Very English Scandal, is looking for a new lawyer.

‘I’ll never give up fighting for justice,’ he said yesterday.