Racy British tabloids lap up

lurid details in 'case of the century'

Thorpe courtroom drama 'just a love story'

LONDON (AP) It's a courtroom drama with a bit of everythe charges involve sex, thing politics, a murder plot and blackmail.

The principal defendant, Jeremy Thorpe, could hardly be more unlikely. The former leader of the Liberal party is the embodiment of England's patrician class, a man educated at Eton and Oxford, a barrister, a privy councillor to the queen

Yet Thorpe, 49, faces a charge of conspiring to murder a discarded homosexual partner, ex-male model Norman Scott.

The result, in the language of Britain's racy tabloids, is "the case of the century."

There hasn't been a scandal like it since War Minister John Profumo resigned in 1963 after disclosures that he shared a mistress Christine Keeler with the naval attache at the Soviet embassy.

Its lurid sexual allegations rival the infamous Oscar Wilde court action of 1895 which resulted in the Irish writer serving two years

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in jail for homosexual offenses. Proceedings against Thorpe and three other defendants also charged with conspiring to kill Scott

are in their third week in the small, red-brick magistrates' court at Minehead, Somerset, an unassuming resort town of 8,000 people in the west of England, where the offenses allegedly happened.

For the past two weeks, the case has dominated front pages of British newspapers with such headlines as "How Thorpe Seduced Me" and "Jeremy's Naked Secret."

Reporters from Europe and America are recording the daily revelations, which one local woman in the public gallery described as "just a love story really.”

Three local magistrates, headed by retired architect Edward Donati, are presiding over the preliminary hearing. They will decide whether the four defendants stand trial. Proceedings are expected to last another two weeks, after which Minehead magistrates can get back to dealing with weekend drunks and shoplifters.

Associated Press

Jeremy Thorpe

Thorpe and the other three accused his banker friend David Holmes, 48, gaming machine salesman George Deakin, 35, and carpet dealer John Le Mesurier, 46 are in court daily but haven't testified or entered pleas.

Thorpe busily takes notes, rarely looking at the other defendants. Deakin sometimes thumbs through the day's papers as if not involved. Thorpe's wife former concert pianist Marion Stein, whose first husband was the Earl of Harewood, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II is there, but only rarely displays any emotion. She did last week, however, when Norman Scott took the stand and boasted of definite proof he had once "slept with" Thorpe. He went on to reveal that Thorpe had "nodules" under an arm and his spine was curved. Defendants, their lawyers and Mrs. Thorpe laughed derisively.

In earlier testimony, Scott told of meeting Thorpe in 1961 and of being seduced by the member of parliament at Thorpe's mother's house. He gave detailed descriptions of sex acts.

The prosecution alleges that the homosexual affair lasted until about 1963 when Thorpe became worried that its disclosure would ruin his career. By 1968 the affair

was "like a black cloud always over him" and he began plotting Scott's death, the prosecution said.

Murdering Scott would be "no worse than killing a sick dog," prosecution witness Peter Bessell, a former Liberal MP now living in Oceanside, Calif., quoted Thorpe as saying. He said Thorpe had talked of disposing of Scott's body in a Cornish tin mine or river or of luring him to America and dumping the body under a new freeway.

In 1975, it was alleged, Deakin hired former airline pilot Andrew Newton to murder Scott for $20,000. Newton, called as a witness, told how he purposely bungled the job.. He described the dark night he drove Scott into Lorna Doone country in the North Devon moors and instead of shooting him, killed Scott's pet Great Dane, Rinka.

Newton later was convicted for this offense, faking his defense by saying Scott was blackmailing him over a nude photograph. Bessell also told the court of a phony blackmail coverup plot at this stage.

Newton said he was being paid thousands of dollars for his story by the German magazine Der Spiegel, the American Broadcasting Corp., and the London Evening News. Bessell said he has sold the rights to a book for $100,000.

Newton, Scott and Bessell all admitted under cross-examination they had told many lies about the case in the past.

A lawyer and member of Parliament for North Devon since 1959, Thorpe became Liberal party leader in 1967, a charismatic figure in pin stripe suit, waistcoat, watch and chain, and trilby hat.

His ambitions were toppled in 1976 when Scott said in an open court he was being hounded because of his "sexual relationship with Jeremy Thorpe." Thorpe resigned as party leader and a lengthy police investigation led to his arrest.

The man who once celebrated his wedding by inviting 1,000 people to a music evening at Covent Garden, now stands accused of offenses punishable by a maximum 20 years in jail.