It's Schrödinger's Suspect!

He's either dead or alive, depending on whether you open Gwent Police files or not!

A police force which wrongly assumed the prime suspect in one of Britain’s greatest political scandals was dead has made the same blunder again.

Gwent Police first declared two years ago that Andrew Newton was ‘deceased’ following an investigation into the plot to kill Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe’s ex-lover, Norman Scott.

But they faced embarrassment when The Mail on Sunday discovered Newton, 72, living under an alias in Surrey. Detectives were forced to admit their error and rushed to the house, only to find he had vanished.

Gwent Police hot on the trail... 

OOps! Still, they are keen to 'learn lessons' in these instances, aren't they?

Now, in response to a formal complaint from a former Cabinet Minister about their ‘inept’ handling of the case, police have repeated their astonishing mistake.

After a six-month probe, Gwent’s Professional Standards Department rejected the complaint, saying in a letter: ‘Many key individuals are now deceased, including Andrew Newton.’

But laughing off the claim, Newton’s former girlfriend Patsy Frankham insisted yesterday: ‘He is alive and well.’

And last night, Mr Scott, 79, said: ‘How can I have any confidence that this investigation has been taken seriously? It’s as though justice is some kind of game.’

If it is a game, Gwent Police are playing without any dice or a board...