She now works as a chartered accountant and her son is said to visit her and does shopping for her. But after reviewing hundreds of documents released by both Czech and British authorities years later, he said there is 'no question' Stonehouse was a foreign agent. He survived, but on April 14 he was admitted to Southampton General hospital. Barabara Stonehouse who now identifies herself as Barbara Flexney-Briscoe is the first wife of former UK MP John Stonehouse. My father's bathroom cabinet was full of bottles of Mandrax, a drug then widely prescribed for insomnia and anxiety but now banned for more than 30 years because of its negative impact on mental health. Shiela and John had been having an illicit affair for five years before his scuppered plans to fake his death. 20:48 EST 10 Jul 2021. Hayes is also one of the contributors featured in the ITV documentary The Real Stonehouse, alongside many others including Edwina Currie and Harold Wilsons Private Secretary Robin Butler. When Msr Stonehouse threatened to leave her husband if Ms Buckley stayed, he threatened to kill himself, then collapsed into Sheila's arms and his wife realised he had made his choice, according to Hayes. You can unsubscribe at any time. She ended up with [a suspended sentence of] two years in prison for being in love with someone. Most of the peripheral characters are made up, and very little is factually correct, he said. Stonehouse was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Buckley received a suspended sentence of two years. 17:01 EST 10 Jul 2021 Sheila Buckley, former secretary to British MP John Stonehouse, outside the Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, London, 1976. His lovercumsecretary, Sheila Buckley, was the only person with whom he maintained contact. Sign up to our What to Watch newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. On 20 November 1974, he rolled his clothes into a bundle, left them on a beach in Miami to go for a swim, and then vanished. She fell in love with a married boss who faked his death. She concluded: My father taught me something invaluable: that the world can be changed if people talk enough and work enough together. I fully understand and sympathise with why shes made that case. Two days after arriving in Denmark, Sheila flew back to London and my father set off for Australia again. Stonehouse died of a heart attack aged 62 on April 14, 1988, in Southampton. In a documentary titled The Real Stonehouse, Metropolitan Police detective inspector David Townley says of Ms Buckley: I thought she was polite a kind, gentle person whod been mesmerised by Stonehouse and dragged into something she shouldnt have got involved in. Unknown to him, eight police officers were taking it in turns to follow him, and intercepting his letters from Sheila. Assuming he'd drowned or been attacked by a shark, the great and the good paid tribute to him in fulsome obituaries published in London. Stonehouse was released from prison in 1979 and two years later married his mistress, Sheila Buckley, who gave birth to their son the following year. After satisfying themselves that he was, in fact, John Stonehouse MP, the hospital gave him about five names. His problems were compounded by worsening financial troubles and an affair with his secretary, Sheila Buckley. She is 80 years of age. The reports were to give him no peace of mind. Unfortunately, the lack of that scar brought Stonehouses way to a different kind of problem, which revealed his actual identity. Over the next two days he told Sheila that he planned to settle in Australia. A week or so later, my father visited a Mrs Mildoon, the widow of a man named Donald Clive Mildoon, at her newsagent's shop in Walsall Road, Wednesbury, introducing himself as John Stonehouse MP and saying he'd read of her husband's death in the newspapers. I read manga and watch anime but I still love my period dramas. 2021 Associated Newspapers Limited. Within a fortnight he was caught due to a suspicious Melbourne bank teller (and initially suspected of being the fugitive Lord Lucan, who had disappeared a fortnight earlier). He also visited a Mrs Markham, widow of Joseph Markham. On July 22, my father opened a deposit account at a branch of the Midland Bank near Parliament in the name of Markham, giving a false address. Sheila is now in her 80s and is said to leave a sedate life gardening and helping clients with their tax returns, The Daily Mail reported in 2021. Nearer to home, my father was sailing close to the wind with his own export businesses. He then incredibly asked his wife Barbara if both she and Sheila could come out to Australia. ITVs Stonehouse drama showcased the pair in the midst of a high-profile scandal. John married his mistress, Sheila Elizabeth Buckley, in Hampshire on January 31, 1981. 's newsletter, you acknowledge that you have read and accepted hellomagazine.com's privacy policy, the cookies policy, and the website terms of use, and that you consent to hellomagazine.com using your data according to the established laws. In fact, he was going to start to a new life in Australia with his secretary and mistress Sheila Buckley. Stonehouse and Buckley stayed together following his arrest and sentencing, and Buckley would regularly visit him in prison. Despite the age gap and Stonehouse's frequent philandering, she fell in love with him and married him in 1981 after he divorced his wife Barbara. More than 40 years on, Ms Buckley, now 80, cuts a very different figure in the secluded cul-de-sac where she now lives a sedate life, pruning her roses and helping clients with their tax returns. Only later would she find out that 'it' meant his whole life. To pre-order a copy for 14.44, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193 before July 25. Barbara went Down Under on the understanding Sheila wasnt there, however, she was left dismayed when she found the other woman with him. Who Does Tanjiro End Up With In Demon Slayer. 2 de January de 2023 by Jesus Torres. It didnt take long for the pair to begin an illicit relationship, which was made public after John was apprehended in Australia following the foresaidfailed effort to fake his death. But it doesnt stand up to scrutiny and it certainly wasnt believed by the jury in his trial.. "What happened to John Stonehouse is the stuff of legend," said Macfadyen, who takes on the lead role. Although never proved, the accusations threw a dark cloak of suspicion round him. Stonehouses actions were the result of meticulous planning of the most premeditated nature fake identities, false bank accounts and credit cards, taking money out of his businesses, said Hayes. I wanted to be as sympathetic as possible to everyone involved and so I hope that no one is treated particularly harshly in it, actually. In 2010, classified Government papers were released showing that in 1980 Margaret Thatchers attorney general, Sir Michael Havers repeated the allegation. But why is everyone so enthusiastic about this series, and who was Sheila Buckley? ", MORE:Stonehouse viewers saying same thing about Matthew Macfadyen drama, MORE:Everything you need to know about Keeley Hawes and Matthew Macfadyen's relationship. Sheila, who was 21 years his junior, and John welcomed their son James William John in 1982. Great-nephew of MP who faked death in 1974 says there was psychological grooming by Czech spies but no honeytrap. The new ITV drama, Stonehouse, is telling the story of one of the UKs most intriguing political scandals. the former politician was released in 1980, talk briefly about his declining health in 1978, former parliamentary secretary is now in her eighties, having visited Stonehouse on multiple occasions. Stonehouse collapsed in Birmingham while appearing on Central Live to talk about missing people on March 25, 1988. He asked for a single room, but they didn't have one so accommodated him for the same price in their best suite, the largest my father had ever seen. After he failed to return, he was presumed drowned, leaving a wife and three children. Ingested with alcohol, it can be fatal. . 'From the newspaper accounts it was evident that some people and certain sections of the press themselves were not only dancing on the grave of the missing man, they were trying to dig up the corpse to tear it limb from limb,' he would later write. But the net was closing in. John Stonehouse, the Labour MP and cabinet minister who famously faked his own death in the 1970s, is the subject of a new ITV drama series. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. . She was wrong. Stonehouses daughter Julia maintains that right-wing elements within MI5 made sure the rumour was spread to the press and politicians. WATCH:Keeley Hawes reveals what it was like to work with husband Matthew Macfadyen on Stonehouse. Plainly, I respected that. Barbara and Sheila met with the younger woman confessing shed been seeing John and admitting she was pregnant with his child. Inspired by Frederick Forsyths thriller The Day of the Jackal, he had stolen the identity of a dead constituent, Joseph Markham, to get a passport in his name and intended to begin a new life in Melbourne. There was no sex involved. Sheila asked whether she should let the family know he was alive, and he'd said 'no'. A brainstorm, as he described it, brought on by the demands of his profession, was what inspired him to his weird escapade. ITV drama Stonehouse wrapped up yesterday (January 4) with the finale of the three-parter hitting screens. he lamented. His life was spiralling out of control, and to help cope he was using prescription drugs. Stonehouse used a new alias after faking his own death, but his ruse only lasted a. ' he wrote. She was young, attractive, and she clearly loved him very much., Tom Hiddleston Is Officially Returning For 'The Night Manager' Season 2, Michelle Keegan Takes The Lead In Netflix's New Harlan Coben Adaptation, Nicola Coughlan Just Leaked The Funniest BTS Snap From 'Bridgerton' S3, ITVXs 'You & Me' Is A Romantic Drama With A Major Twist. She puts his behaviour down to depression, breakdown and use of prescription drugs, said Hayes. 'I don't buy it. He now had seven accounts at four banks. This is the sorry tale of Sheila Buckley, but the story has been revisited several times, and this time it will be no less of a hassle to the widows existence. Emer Heatley (Showtrial) - Plays Sheila Buckley. Stonehouse was captured by Australian police a little over a month following his disappearance after they originally confused him with Lord Lucan, a nobleman who had vanished 12 days before Stonehouse arrived in Australia after killing a nanny. They arrived at the vast and magnificent Fairmont, high on a hill overlooking the city. The next day he flew to Honolulu, from where he phoned Sheila in London. Towards the end of episode 1, there's some tension between Barbara Stonehouse (his wife) and Sheila Buckley (his secretary). Sheila has remained private and rarely speaks out about her late husband. A lot of sinister mysteries are hidden under her invisible reputation. He'd been a Minister of Aviation, worked on the development of Concorde and even negotiated the sales of the engines powering the very planes he was flying around in. He arrived there on November 29 and wandered the streets for several days looking for British newspapers to find out what was going on back home. When asked if the real-life figures had seen the series or had a say in the making of it, John revealed that he had spoken to John's daughter Julia: "I had one brief meeting with Julia Stonehouse quite a long time ago. Hayes, a criminal defence lawyer, said he'd approached the spying accusations with the mindset that his great uncle was innocent of spying until proven guilty. As the Czech defector had also not provided any evidence to back up his claim, he said, they should let the matter rest. According to the Daily Mail, she lives alone in an isolated 700,000 property in the English county Romsey on the chalk stream, River Test. What he did was very carefully planned, it required a clear head', Hayes said. 'But who was screaming was it Stonehouse or was it Markham? None of the options was good, but as a huge police and coastguard search went on in Florida, we still clung on to hope. The disgraced politician was foiled after the police caught him in 1974, believing he was missing aristocrat Lord Lucan. According to the Daily Mail, Buckley lives in a 700,000 detached home in the small town and is known to be a keen gardener and is understood to have worked as an accountant or book-keeper to support herself and her son following Stonehouses death. Mr.John Stonehoouse and his secretary Mrs. Sheila Buckley, appeared before the magistrate at Bow Street Police station today after he and Mrs. Buckley had spent the night in the cells. I didn't talk to them. ITVs scintillating three-part drama Stonehouse has gripped viewers this week. In The Real Stonehouse, an ITV documentary released in tandem with the series, retired Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector David Townley described her as a kind, gentle person whod been mesmerised by Stonehouse and dragged into something she shouldnt have gotten involved in., He mentions that Buckley received a suspended sentence of two years for her involvement in the disappearance, having visited Stonehouse on multiple occasions when he was presumed dead. Two days later, while my mother was trying to contact her, Sheila arrived at Copenhagen airport to find my father sitting in the arrivals lounge looking pale, thin and nervous. It wasn't 'all over'. 'Stonehouse must definitely die.'. He seemed very confused as to who he was, she said. Their son James was born a year later and still visits her regularly at her 1980s red-brick home, running errands and bringing her shopping. What she hadn't told my mother was that she knew my father was alive, and that he knew she thought she was pregnant because she'd just spent the weekend with him in Copenhagen. Upon his release, he married Buckley, and the couple were together until he died in 1988. He could have been recognised as John Stonehouse MP at any time. 'I could see it all clearly,' he later wrote. NOT both! My father would later acquire copies of birth certificates for both Clive Mildoon and Joseph Markham, and falsely obtain one passport in the name of Markham. 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