Norman Josiffe
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Norman Lianche-Josiffe
The Hon Norman Lianche-Josiffe
Norman Josiffe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Norman Josiffe 12 February 1940 |
| Other names | Norman Scott Norman Lianche-Josiffe The Hon Norman Lianche-Josiffe |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1961– |
| Spouse | Angela Mary Susan Myers (m. 1965; div. 1970) |
| Children | 2 |
Norman Josiffe (born 12 February 1940), also known in the media as Norman Scott, is an English former dressage trainer[1] and model who was a key figure in the Thorpe affair, a major British political scandal of the 1970s. The scandal revolved around the alleged plot by his ex-boyfriend, Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe, to murder Scott after Scott threatened to reveal their sexual relationship to the media.
Josiffe was born in Sidcup, Kent,[2] to Ena Dorothy Josiffe (née Lynch,[3] formerly Merritt,[4] 1907–1985), and Albert Norman Josiffe (1908–1983),[3][5] her second husband, who abandoned his wife and child soon after Norman's birth.[6] Educated at Bexleyheath, he later changed his surname to "Lianche-Josiffe" by amending his mother's maiden name, Lynch, and for a time called himself "the Hon Norman Lianche-Josiffe".[7][8]
Relationship with Thorpe
In 1961, Josiffe was working as a groom for Brecht Van de Vater (born Norman Vivian Vater),[9] at Kingham Stables in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, when he met Jeremy Thorpe MP, a friend of Vater. After Josiffe left his job at Vater's stables, he suffered from mental illness and spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. On 8 November 1961, a week after discharging himself from the Ashurst clinic in Oxford, he went to the House of Commons in London to see Thorpe. He was penniless, homeless and, worse, had left Vater's employment without his National Insurance card which, he believed he needed to obtain regular work and access to social and unemployment benefits. Thorpe promised he would help.[10] This was when the relationship between the two men was alleged to have started. Thorpe gave him the nickname "Bunnies"[11] but always denied any physical element in the relationship. When Thorpe took him to stay with his mother, Ursula Thorpe, Josiffe introduced himself as "Peter Johnson".[7] Josiffe's claims of mistreatment by Thorpe led to Josiffe's being reported to the police, in the course of which the relationship was revealed.[12]
The relationship allegedly led indirectly to the 1975 attempted murder of Josiffe, who was by then calling himself Norman Scott.[13] His attacker, Andrew Newton, was arrested[14] after shooting dead Josiffe's dog, Rinka, but it was not until later that Josiffe's accusations against Thorpe became public.
Although the Sexual Offences Act 1967 had decriminalised homosexual acts in England and Wales (but not Scotland, Northern Ireland or for members of the armed forces), the resulting scandal lost Thorpe his popular support and he was forced to stand down as leader of the Liberal Party. In 1979, Scott testified at Thorpe's trial, whereat Thorpe and three others were acquitted of conspiracy to murder.