The "trial of the century "ends in his acquittal ill the foreman please stand," said an official of the court. A gray-haired woman, dressed in a blue suit, rose to her feet. "What say you?" inquired the official, reading the first charge, conspiracy to murder. "Not guilty," she replied. There was a stir in Courtroom No. 1 of London's Old Bailey that was immediately hushed by cries of "Silence!" The official continued by asking the verdict for all four defendants. Each time the reply was "Not guilty." Then the official asked for a second verdict, to the charge that one of the defendants had specifically incited another to murder a third person. Again the answer was "Not guilty." The proceedings lasted for scarcely a minute. When the presiding judge, Sir Joseph Cantley, adjourned the court, former Liberal Party Leader Jeremy Thorpe, 50, picked up the three pillows he had brought along to pad his hard wooden chair throughout the 31-day trial and exuberantly tossed them over the dock to his wife Marion.
Thus ended what the British press had dubbed "the trial of the century." The acquittal last week of Thorpe and three co-defendants ended a three-year ordeal that had cost the politician his party leadership, his seat in Parliament and one of the most promising careers in British politics. In the most bizarre sexual-political scandal since War Minister John Profumo's dalliance with Girl-About-Town Christine Keeler in 1963, Thorpe had been accused of plotting to murder Norman Scott, a former male model, because Scott's allegations of a homosexual affair between them threatened Thorpe's career.
In 1975 Scott was taken by Andrew Newton, an erstwhile airline pilot, to a lonely moor at night; Scott was not harmed, but Newton shot his Great Dane, Rinka. Newton was sentenced to two years for possession of a firearm and intent to endanger life. There the matter might have ended, except that after his release from prison Newton began talking of a "contract" to murder Scott. An investigation was launched, which led to a trial.
Also tried were David Holmes, 49, formerly deputy treasurer of the Liberal Party, whom Thorpe was charged with inciting to murder Scott; John Le Mesurier, 49, director of a carpet discount firm, charged with recruiting Newton to kill Scott and paying him off; and George Deakin, 39, a nightclub owner, who allegedly introduced Newton to Le Mesurier and Holmes. Deakin was the only one of the four defendants to take the stand. He testified that Le Mesurier and Holmes only wanted Newton to frighten, rather than kill, someone who Deakin believed was blackmailing Holmes' wife.
In his summation to the jury of "the rather bizarre and surprising case," the presiding judge described the evidence against Thorpe as "almost entirely circumstantial." He made the point that the prosecution's case relied on the testimony of witnesses whose characters were less than trustworthy. Scott, who now trains horses in Devon, gave a highly emotional performance.