The 1970s sex scandal that led to a dramatic trial

The story unfolded further in October 1977, when the London Evening News reported the sensational headline: “I’ve been hired to kill Scott.” Newton, who has just been released from prison, had withdrawn his defense of blackmail and claimed he had been paid £5,000 as part of what the paper described as a “sinister conspiracy involving powerful Liberal supporters”. Following a further nine-month police investigation, Thorpe and three of his associates were charged with conspiracy to murder Scott. The press called it the “trial of the century.” At Thorpe’s request, the election was postponed for eight days to allow the parliamentary seats to be contested in the May 1979 general election. He lost badly.

At the end of the trial, the judge gave what BBC Panorama’s Tom Mangold described as “one of the most astonishing partial summing up speeches ever given to a jury”. Judge Cantley said the testimony of three key prosecution witnesses was tainted because they had entered into lucrative deals to sell their stories to the press after they were convicted. The judge said Mr Bessel was a “fraud” and Mr Newton was a “clown, perjurer and almost certainly a fraud”. As for Scott, he was labeled a “cheater, swindler, sponger, whiner, and parasite.”

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Thorpe, by contrast, was “a national figure with a very good public record.” In the judge’s summary, One memorable moment was when he was skewered by comedian Peter Cook. He instructed the jury that if there was a reasonable suspicion that Thorpe was planning to kill Scott: they must be acquitted. The verdict was not guilty. Later, with his down-to-earth wife Marion by his side, Thorpe said: “I have always maintained that I am innocent of the charges brought against me and the jury’s verdict, which came after a long and careful investigation, which I consider to be completely fair and completely justified.”

After the trial, Scott withdrew from public life. When I turn 82 years old in 2022, he published an autobiographytitled “Accidental Icon.” As for Thorpe, he retired from public life, maintaining his innocence until the end. He passed away in 2014. in the guardian newspaper 2008 interviewLooking back on the incident, Thorpe said, “If it had happened now…the public would have been kinder. They were so worried about it at the time. It hurt their values.”