In the Arena

The Crown vs. Jeremy Thorpe

Well-tailored and wan, Jeremy Thorpe, 49, former leader of Britain's genteel Liberal Party, sat quietly in the red-brick Somerset courthouse, taking occasional notes with a gold ballpoint pen. Despite his pallor, Thorpe looked more like the practicing barrister he once was than the principal defendant in what London's hard-breathing Daily Mail is calling "the case of the century."

The charges outlined against Thorpe were certainly bizarre. According to the prosecution, Thorpe had conspired to murder a former homosexual lover, a down-and-out male model named Norman Scott, 37; Thorpe was said to have argued that killing Scott would be no worse than "shooting a sick dog."

The arena in which the charges were disclosed last week was a magistrate's hearing for Thorpe and for three others, also charged with conspiracy to murder: David Holmes, 48, a Manchester financial consultant and former deputy treasurer of the Liberals, and George Deakin, 35, and John Le Mesurier, 46, both friends of Holmes'. But the real focus of attention was Thorpe, who had spurred his moribund party into a powerbroker's position in the House of Commons after Britain's 1974 general elections--and then resigned as leader two years later, after Scott made a courtroom claim of his sexual liaison. Thorpe repeatedly denied the accusation, but the storm finally broke last August, when formal charges were laid against the quartet.

As the Crown outlined its case, Thorpe (then, as now, the Liberal M.P. for North Devon) befriended Scott in 1961, took him to Thorpe's mother's house, and initiated an affair. It lasted "at least until 1963." But by 1965, a restive Scott was threatening to make the relationship public.

There the Crown's case was taken up by the prosecution's first star witness: Peter Bessell, 57, a former Liberal M.P. and Thorpe confidant. According to Bessell, Thorpe became increasingly obsessed by the prospect of the damage that Scott's revelations could do to his political career; he even threatened to commit suicide if the story came out. First Thorpe suggested that Bessell obtain a visa for Scott, enabling him to move to the U.S. Bessell felt that this would be impossible. With that, Bessell testified, "Mr. Thorpe said, 'Then we have to get rid of him.' " According to Bessell, Thorpe discussed various means of disposing of Scott's body, such as dumping it in a Cornish tin mine or burying it in cement.

Bessell testified that further discussions of murder were carried on in 1969. Then, as Scott seemed less eager to reveal his relationship with Thorpe, the urgency of dealing with the problem diminished. But in 1973, said the prosecution, Scott moved to Thorpe's North Devon constituency and began to talk in the neighborhood about the liaison. In 1975, the Crown's prosecutor said, Thorpe's fellow defendant, Deakin, arranged a $20,000 murder contract with a former airline pilot, Andrew Newton, 31. The prosecution claims that Thorpe himself solicited money for the hit from an unwitting Liberal Party backer, then funneled the funds into the scheme. Bessell further said that he and Thorpe had attempted to swindle $500,000 out of that same backer.

Newton botched the contract. In October 1975 he threatened Scott with a pistol, and in the process shot Scott's dog. Newton was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, but he claimed that he had had no intention of shooting Scott. In any case, Newton maintained that Scott had a nude photograph of him and was blackmailing him. Newton was found guilty as charged and sentenced to two years in prison. After his release in April 1977, however, Newton began to talk of a murder contract, and a full-scale police investigation was launched.

Thorpe has flatly denied the criminal as well as sexual charges. But for the next week or so, the Crown will parade more witnesses against him and his codefendants. Then, if the trio of presiding magistrates so decides, Thorpe will be hearing it all again, at a trial that will probably begin in the spring.

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