My pet theory is that authors write the same book again and again, until they get it right (write). James Robertson writes about Scotland. No headline there. He always writes about Scotland. He can mix it up a bit with Saints, God and the Devil, but you know where you are with him.
Here we have an ensemble cast that takes us from Scotland in the 1950s to the mongrel breed of Scottish Devolution nobody much wanted, but we settled for. The book kicks off with Michael (Mike). He’s gay and a photographer, but not half the man his father, Angus, was. He was also a photographer, but better. It takes a lifetime to admit it, but Mike’s got there in the end. His dad seemed to have married his mum for spite. That, and she was beautiful. The conceit is Mike is arranging an exhibition of his father’s best memorial photographs.
His da’s lost love (one of many) Jean Barbour, keeps a room for Mike in her Edinburgh home. Everybody that is anybody goes to Jean Barbour’s, including Dufflecoat Dick. Jimmy Bond, who changed his name to Peter Bond, after another spy, Ian Fleming, brought a book about with its eponymous hero, James Bond.
Jimmy Bond is testing the waters for MI5. The London establishment can’t quite decide if Scotland is full of windbags or real revolutionaries. Oil in vast quantities, off the shores of Scotland, to a bankrupt Britain makes that a pressing question. Bond is good at snooping, lying low in the background, but Jean Barbour susses him out. He’s an alcoholic that has long and detailed conversations with himself. It’s in the same manner as some of Robertson’s other narrators had conversation with Saints or, in Gideon Mack’s case, the Devil. The demon drink, even if kept in check, answers back more than it should. Scotland might have flushed its heavy industries down the toilet, but there’s still something worth saving even in fictional towns like Drumkirk and Borlanslogie that are just over the hill, near Lothian. There’s a nod to The Great Disruption when members of the Kirk revolted about interference from their so-called betters about appointing ministers—which was surely—God’s work.
Don Lennie was thirty when he met Jack Gordon. In 1950, most able-bodied men had been in the armed services. Jack Gordon was a Japanese prisoner of war. That left a mark on him and he went walkabouts. Don stayed put, kept his job fixing lorries, and largely kept his mouth shut, about working conditions. He married his childhood sweetheart. They have two sons, but his youngest is nothing but trouble. His eldest boy is one he can be proud of. He hooks up with Jack Gordon’s daughter. The two of them school teachers and ban the bombers. Ticking in the background, the youngest son.
Then we have the aristocracy, washed up to be sure, but Michael Eddelstane has his father’s club in London and his father’s contacts, when Unionist meant not Union, but menial workers doing as you were told, while waving a flag for country and Queen. He’s got a sister, Lucy. She doesn’t understand how things work, and can easily be disinherited. And he’s got another brother, much like himself, but not as handsome and not as lucky. He doesn’t get to marry an heiress and inherit his father’s seat in the House of Commons. Michael has it all, but also that fatal flaw, and it’s not even booze or homosexuality (well, a bit of public school jiggery-pokery) or licking a woman’s toes as an Honourable MP for John Major’s government was found out by The Sun.
It’s not James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Nor is it Nicola Sturgeon’s The Public Memoirs of SNP, but somewhere in between that heaven and hell. Scotland, aye.
Around seventy years ago, Mahmood Mattan was hanged for the murder of Lily Volpert, a shopkeeper, who happened to be Jewish and under five-foot tall. His conviction was found to be unsafe by the three Appeal Court judges in 1998 and he was exonerated. In the Epilogue, Mahmood’s son Omar was found dead on a beach in Caithness, Scotland. He’d said in an interview:
‘Until I was eight, I was told my father had died at sea. Then one day the Salvation Army band was playing near our house and I went out to sing with them. One of the leaders said, “We don’t need the sons of hanged men”’.
Laura Mattan was white. She was guilty of a different kind of crime. She married a black man, and had three children to him. They were part of the Tiger Bay’s Somali community that lived and worked around the docks in Tiger Bay, Cardiff.
Nadifa Mohamed offers a factional account of Mahmood Mattan’s life and death. He was guilty of being a black man. Shirley Bassey is namechecked by Berlin, Mahmood’s friend, in Tiger Bay in February 1952, as a notable reference point.
‘The King is dead. Long live the Queen,’ The announcer’s voice crackles from the wireless and winds around the rapt patrons of Berlin’s Milk Bar.
Milk Bars were, as the name suggests, places that served milk. I laugh when I read about the kind of cafes my mum and dad went into that served portions of peas in vinegar. And I remember my mum screwing up her face and saying she would never eat that foreign muck—curry. The punchline for many jokes was I turned around and there was a big black man behind me. My cousin came away with that one, not so long ago, ironically, on the way to my mum’s sister’s funeral.
Nadifa Mohamed walks in Mahmood Mattan’s supposedly blood-specked shoes. At his trial, his appointed defence lawyer described his twenty-nine-year old client as ‘this half child of nature, a semi-civilised savage’. Mahmood could speak five languages. Nadifa Mohamed gives her factional character an addiction to gambling. He notes that white women are told to scream when they see a black man, but their eyes say differently.
Lily Volpert, the murder victim, is a spinster. She lives above the shop with her family in Tiger Bay. Her sister and her niece Grace were in another room when her throat was slashed and she was murdered. Neither of them testified that the man they’d briefly seen was Mahmood Mattan.
Nadifa Mohamed inhabits the Volpert family’s life. She gives Lily Volpert an unrequited love interest, her sister’s husband. Fills in the backstory of Jewish guilt about the Holocaust and how Lily had done her bit. How another sister had went off to war. These are the least convincing parts of her narrative—and I’m not really sure they’re necessary.
The offer of a £200 reward from the Volpert family for evidence leading to the conviction of the killer certainly was.
A witness at the trial, a neighbour of Laura Matta’s mum, for example, button-holed her and offered to go halvers on the reward money. Circumstantial evidence put the noose around Mahmood Mattan’s head. The police had their black man and they built their case around it. In the Epilogue, Harold Cover, a Jamaican who at the police’s bidding, had went a witness against Mattan, was jailed in 1969 for slashing his daughter’s throat with a razor. He only came forward as a witness when the reward was announced. Other suspects, from within the Somali community, such as Dawir Awalah, confessed to the police that he was the man they were looking for in the case, before fleeing to Brazil in 1952.
Nadifa Mohamed writing, and inhabiting the body of Mahmood Mattan, asks herself/himself a simple question. Would I have been convicted of this killing if I was a white man? You don’t need to read a book to tell you the answer to that one, but read on.
Celtic get the job done. That’s all we ask after a poor week. Rangers bullied us at Hampden. A must win to keep the six-point lead. The story of two strikers. Kyogo Furuhashi’s early goal looked to be enough, but it was a nervy second half. Giakoumakis on the bench, came on for Kyogo. He got in front of the defender to put a shot against the bar. Jota followed in to finish and knock it over the line. 87 minutes. We could finally breathe.
We started well with Kyogo having a shot at goal after a minute. Ross Callachan was booked for a late tackle on Ralston, but he could have been booked for two similar challenges in a frantic opening spell. A long range shot from Hatate sailed over the bar. Six corners in the first ten minutes, but after twelve minutes Kyogo opened the scoring.
O’Riley, in for Rogic, knocked the ball to Jota who cut inside. He picked out Kyogo, who leaped into the air and finished as if he’d never been away. But the Japanese forward missed a sitter close to half-time.
O’Riley finding some space outside the box had a shot at goal. Laidlaw should have dealt with it, but it came off the County keeper. Kyogo from six yards hit him with the ball.
A more speculative effort from Kyogo, in which he mishit a Jota cross, hit the bar. Celtic with their one-touch passing look too good for Ross County. The home team, reliant on long throws and crosses are most dangerous from free kicks. Joe Hart had one speculative shot to save, but played most of the first-half as sweeper-keeper.
County went long and won most of the first and second balls (like our Glasgow rivals) without getting a shot on goal. Postecoglou brought on Georgios Giakoumakis, Liel Abada and Tom Rogic (for Kyogo, Abada and O’Riley) to freshen the team up. And it did help.
Greg Taylor, after his goal at Hampden, tried a 40 yarder, but it sailed over the bar.
Rogic got a shot away, but it was blocked. Abada connected with the rebound, but it went well wide.
Another David Turnbull cameo. On for Hatate, for the fifth game running. The Japanese playmaker was terrible at Hampden, but pretty good today in the first half. Then he wilted. It was good to see Turnbull on, but after hooking a shot wide, looked strangely reluctant to shoot. When Turnbull was flying that was an important feature of his game.
The second goal killed the game (thank God). But there was enough time for James Forrest to replace Jota. The Portuguese winger was better today. Last week, he too was awful.
O’Riley was better than Rogic when he came on last week. Not sure who will start against Rangers. My guess is the team that started today will start next Sunday. Lightweight, but slick in spells. Ralston puts in an early ball, but he showed today he can get caught with his second touch likely to be a slide-tackle. Starfelt and Carter-Vickers didn’t win any aerial duals today, but they didn’t lose any goals either. The Swede, in particular, needs to be stronger. Old news. We know this. Just win at Parkhead and the league is done—otherwise we’ll need to take the long and scenic route to the title. None of us want that, but we’d have taken in with the clichéd both hands at the beginning of the season. Like today, just get the job done.
In sport, as in life, the difference between a disaster and catastrophe is the former can be marked down as a one-off, marked in the past-tense. We move on. Like most Celtic fans I was hoping Braga would take care of Rangers in Europe. They’d be leggy on Sunday. We’d defeat them and move onto the Treble. Sunday was a disaster because Rangers won duels all over the park. And then they won the game…
The rolling catastrophe, in waiting, is that they come to Parkhead and beat us in the same way. You’d get long odds on Celtic losing the league. But many of us remember Helicopter Sunday. I’m also old enough to have been at Love Street when Danny McGrain was still playing (and what a player) and our front two were Brian McClair and Mo Johnson. That day we had to score five and we did. We won the league. Now it’s ours to lose. And it’s not about the glory, but the money. £40 million Champion League cash puts us on easy street. It puts us well above Rangers. It allows us to invest in the squad. Anyone that’s been paying attention knows Rangers don’t even have enough cash and Ibrox stadium is falling down. It’s that simple.
Simple answers here. Did these players win their duals. Yes/No?
Joe Hart—Yes.
Josip Juranovic—No.
Cameron Carter-Vickers—Yes. Ironically, Cameron Carter-Vickers hit the bar from six-yards when we were 1—0 ahead. An easier chance than he scored at Ibrox.
Carl Starfelt—No. I often argue with friends that although Starfelt can’t defend, he’s not a bad player when we’ve got ninety-percent of the ball. Kemar Roofe beat him in the air almost every time. Roofe was booked and should have been sent off (add Joe Aribo, Ryan Jack and Calvin Bassey, who kicked more players than he did the ball, even after he’d been booked). Sakala claimed to have the last touch of the winning goal in the second half of after extra time. But it was Starfelt. Substitute Arfield got in front of Keemer Roofe to equalise. That just about sums up our Danish defender. I’d Starfelt on for first-goal scorer at 66/1. I’m a dreamer. Pisses me off big time when we take short corner after short corner and the ball ends up back in the half-way line.
Greg Taylor—No. Don’t often say Greg Taylor, goal scorer. After no doing very much, the former Kilmarnock defender in the 64th minute, with a deflected shot from the edge of the box, put us ahead.
Tom Rogic—No. Shackled by Calvin Bassey. Missing in action.
Matt-O’Riley—Yes. Replaced Rogic in the 58th minute and had a good case for being Celtic’s best player, as he was in a substitute performance against St Johnstone that seems so long ago as to be in the stone-age.
Callum McGregor—Yes. Picked up a booking and tried to drive the team forward. Didn’t get much help from those around him. Could have been sent off after he’d been booked for a silly pull back. Let me put that into context. Five Rangers players were booked. John Lundstrum wasn’t booked, but could equally have been sent off. Rangers were nastier than us, and it worked a treat for them. They easily won the midfield war. Physically bullied.
Reo Hatate—No. Curled a shot just wide in the fiftieth minute, after we’d broke the shackles of Rangers midfield dominance A slack pass in the opening two minutes and Ryan Kent was through on goal. He knocked it over the bar. We were riding our luck. Kemar Roofe flashed a shot wide. Joe Aribo came through two defenders to get his head on a ball into the box, but headed straight at Joe Hart. John Lundstram hit the post from just outside the Celtic box.
Liel Abada—No. With no Greek striker and no Kyogo, the young Israeli had a point to prove. Anonymous.
Daizen Maeda—No. Few can fault the work he does closing down the opposition. He was at it again here. Jon McLaughlin, the Rangers keeper was almost caught, by him a few times with pass backs. Connor Goldson was panicked into a few mistakes. But the Japanese forward had an improvised mishit as his best effort on goal, and that was well wide of the post. A header at the back post.
Joao Pedro Jota—No. He started his Celtic career with a bang. A goal-a-game against some of the second-best in Europe. Now he’s down to a slow whimper. James Tavernier had an easy afternoon. Rangers’ captain spent most of his time in the Celtic half, which tells you everything you need to know. In our first chance of a breakaway in the first-half, Jota got in behind the defence, but instead of cutting into the box and in on goal, went wide and came back inside again, to lose the ball. It happens, but it’s happened too often lately.
Kyogo Furuhashi—No. On after an hour, for Maeda, he’d an hour to influence the game. Great player, of that we’ve not doubt, but didn’t do it. Simple.
Anthony Ralston—No. Ralston’s Celtic through and through, but just not good enough. Showed well at the start of the season, but awkward of late. See Jota.
Stephen Welsh—No. The Scotland under-21 captain found himself played out of positon after both Taylor and Juranovic ran out of steam (so much for Rangers being tired after their extra-time exertions against Braga). Welsh looked as if he’d his boots on the wrong feet.
David Turnbull—No. Anonymous. Can’t remember him touching the ball, but wasn’t on the park long. McGregor is first pick. Rogic versus O’Riley for the next pick. Currently, Rogic is winning it, but O’Riley has shaded it for me, especially on yesterday’s performance. Hatate, running out of legs. Turnbull versus Hatate? It’s not that long ago Turnbull was a certain starter.
Only two of our ten outfield players got pass marks. Substitute, O’Riley, also contributed. Our next game is against Ross County. Must win. Rangers, must win. And that’s the league over. But if Celtic play like they did yesterday, Rangers will win at Parkhead, then it’s game on. Celtic disaster or catastrophe?
Not surprisingly, Celtic start with the same team that beat Rangers. Ange Postecoglou, and captain Callum McGregor both snarl at ideas of complacency, say there’ll be not letting up. They proved to be right. Kyogo on the bench, comes on for the last twenty minutes, replacing Jota.
The only downside of a seven-nil hammering was the injury of goal scorer Giorgos Giakoumakis. His thirteenth of the season, with two hat-tricks back-to-back before the Rangers game. He’d slotted home the second, from an acute angle after anticipating a pass back. Effectively, game over after twenty-five minutes and just a matter of how many, even as early as the seventh minute.
Substitute Liel Abada missed a good chance in 89 minutes to make it eight, but the little winger had already scored the seventh. Kyogo playing a ball over the top. Man of the match, Daizen Maeda chesting down the ball and running in on goal. The young Israeli stepping in and putting it in the top corner. I wasn’t convinced by Maeda when he first came. I am now.
Left wing, right wing, through the middle, his work rate is phenomenal. He scored the third, picked out from a Jota cross. And putting it away with his bald head. C’mon the baldies. His perpetual motion led to the Greek striker’s goal, the defender passing it back to the keeper blind.
Jota missed out on the goal scoring spree, but he had two or three cracks at goal, and contributed throughout. But he’s no longer a goal a game as he was earlier in the season. Others are picking up the slack.
Reo Hatate had already put Celtic ahead after seven minutes. He’d had a shot saved before that and only a great save from Zander Clark stopped his snap shot making it two for him.
But St Johnstone had the first shot on goal, breaking upfield, but Melker Hallberg didn’t trouble Joe Hart. It was a stroll in the sunshine for Hart.
Just before a quarter hour, coasting at one up, Rogic beat the whole St Johnstone defence single-handedly on the edge of the box. His toe-poke was saved from close range was almost goal of the game.
O’Riley his replacement at half-time showed that anything the Aussie can do he can do better (well, maybe not, but who cares?). He hit a double and helped create another.
A ball through to Hatate, he’s brought down in the box. Penalty-taker Josip Juranovic scored from the spot, into the right-hand corner, despite the keeper going the right way.
Mat O’Riley first was an outstanding finish, but a team goal. His second, minutes later, to make it six, smashing it into the top corner, had him hunting for his first Celtic hat-trick. He was unlucky not to add to his double.
David Turnbull, on early in the second-half for Reo Hatate, looked sharp and back to his best, but he took two heavy knocks and limped off before the end.
We’re in a good place, with 27 players completing for 11 jerseys. Only one injury doubt before the game, James Forrest. Glakoumakis can be added to that list. And perhaps, David Turnbull. Next up, Rangers.
Five games to go in the league. Scottish Cup semi-final. We’re on a high. No slacking. Rangers at Love Street. Let’s hope they don’t find any. Or mid-week, or next week, or ever.
All life is a choice. And if you want to succeed, you’ve got to commit yourself. Be single-minded. Duty is more important than love. That’s what I was trying to teach my children. The achievement at the end of it is, I feel, my life which I’m continuing to live to the full. And will so, until the day I die. I would have left the world a slightly better place. By having lived in it, and influenced my children in the right direction.
If you are part of the 1% that own pretty much everything and everybody then there’s nothing new happening here. Robert Maxwell, media mogul, father of nine, double agent, triple agent, traitor or spy? Like Richard Nixon he bugged his house and workplace, trusted nobody. Stole around £400 million from the Mirror Pension fund. Committed suicide or murdered?
After Robert Maxwell’s death his assets were sold to pay off his debts. His sons, Kevin and Ian, were involved in the trial of the century (until the youngest member of the Maxwell family Ghislaine was involved in another trail of the century). Both brothers and their sister pleaded innocence. Kevin and Ian were acquitted. The jury accepted that, even with their father dead, money continued to be siphoned from pension funds. This was not illegal. The prosecution Queen’s Counsel explained it was too complex for little people to understand.
Jeffrey Epstein understood that rich people don’t pay tax. That was his business. Robert Maxwell had dealings with Epstein. Ghislaine was described as his partner. But his preference was for much younger girls. Ghislaine helped procure young girls for sex and servitude. She helped destroy lives, but denied it and played the victim card.
Epstein was jailed for minor sexual offences against young girls. The justice system allowed him time off for being a billionaire. It facilitated more offences and showed the gulf between rich and poor. Laggard, the FBI followed behind civil cases brought against Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in custody. In a Congressional hearing, the question was asked, was he on suicide watch. ‘Yes.’ Like Robert Maxwell, murder or suicide?
Ghislaine went into hiding. Her brothers argued the state had a duty of care towards her. She was no threat and should not be remanded. Her victims demanded their day in court. She was convicted on all counts. Her defence counsel cost around $7 million. Of course, they are appealing on her behalf. With time off for good behaviour, she should get out in time to die. The bankrupt Maxwell family will have to find the funds they claim they never had.
Prince Andrew cut a deal with his accuser Virginia Roberts. Ghislaine had tutored her like the other girls not to speak unless spoken to, and to have sex with the Prince. She complied. He denied. He cited a phantom hand that may or may not have been his in a photograph that was certainly him and certainly her, but he didn’t remember when or where. Currently frozen out of Royal duties he awaits public amnesia to match his private amnesia. His friend Jeffrey Epstein didn’t want billionaire paedophile to be written on his tombstone. Paedophile Prince isn’t something the British press is speaking about. Money talks.
Notes:
Content of Maxwell’s home in Oxford sold off. Knocked down for the public. [episode 2]
600 lots from barbecue forks to antique paintings.
Sotheby’s. Place absolutely packed. People wanted a piece of memorabilia.
Malcolm Gordon (Antique dealer). I came across this lamp. When I lifted this (shade), I saw that, microphones. He was recording everything that was being said about him. This was in his own home. So he wanted to know what his son’s knew. Tells you the true story of the man.
5th November 1991.
3 hours since Maxwell found dead.
Ian Maxwell. It’s a particularly sad moment because this paper his lost its publisher, its owner and its saviour.
Kevin Maxwell: Love him or hate him. He touched the lives of many, many millions of people. And we’re determined to continue in his tradition.
Body recovered off Tenerife. His family gather on the island.
Ken Lennox, Mirror photographer. I was in the island to help the family. A couple of journalists had appeared. Ghislaine Maxwell spoke to them.
Buried Mount of Olives. ‘Dear Dad speech, (Ian) soldier, publisher, patriot, warrior, globe trotter. Father of nine children. Grandfather of eight.
Maxwell’s mysterious death. The king is dead. Long live the king.
Did he jump or was he pushed?
Mike Tully, Maxwell’s special assistant. The thing he was most scared of was being bored. The notion of him going aboard alone…I think he did go with the intention of killing himself.
Maxwell family rule out suicide.
Autopsy said it was probably a heart attack.
Was death foul play?
Were intelligence services involved?
Carol Bragoli, Mirror Group Secretary.
It was flying around it could be Mossad. But, you know, it could have been anyone he had dealings with. Defaulted on payment or to bring pressure on. It could have been anyone.
Bronmen Maddox, Financial Times Journalist. Breaks the story of the Maxwell empire collapse. [Management: we’re fucked.]
I was 28, the year Maxwell died, 1991. I had grounding in the numbers. And often the numbers are public. He was mortgaging his assets.
How much debt? And how it was represented. I’d say like Russian dolls, But that was too neat. These were all over the place.
I was ready to go public. Around £1 billion in assets. Owed £3 billion.
5 hours after Maxwell’s death.
Kevin and Ian Maxwell, seen as the brave sons, trying to cope with the loss.
Tip off leads to Mirror raids.
Police swoop on Maxwell’s offices.
Carol Bragoli. I remember the serious fraud squad coming in. I walked in there one morning and they were thugs. The whole thing turned nasty after that.
New York.
Ghislaine. I don’t feel diminished. I’m extremely sad my father is no longer here. But I don’t feel in any way smaller, or less than I was before. I’m me. I’m healthy. Very lucky. And survival means many different things to different people. Survival in my case means getting up in the morning and figuring out a new life. Smiling and being happy. The positive side of things. Life is sad. Very sad. It’s always sad when you lose a parent. But you have to go on. I like to think I’d do something positive. I can’t say what it is right now, because I’m working on it. Until I’ve done it. Then everything it just words.
Q Don’t you feel insecure? About the future.
A: No, I’m lucky. I get to start again.
Vassi Chamberlain, former friend of Ghislaine:
During the 90s, a friend invited me to a party he was having in his house, in Soho. Downtown. And there were lots of people there when I arrived. And I went to sit at this long table. And there was Ghislaine. We looked at each other. And, oh, yeh, we’ve met before?
I’d met her a year previously in London. The thing that marked her out was how extraordinarily friendly she was. How instantly she said her name. She made you feel included. She was very popular because she was charming. And she was opinionated. And she was funny. This was a different version of the girl I’d met a year previously. A shrunken version. Like she couldn’t quite believe what had happened to her.
Christopher Mason, former friend of Ghislaine.
She invited me over to her apartment. She was talking about her father and was convinced he’d been murdered. She was extraordinarily well-connected, but there was no money. Everything had been plunged into chaos. I told Henry (Kissinger) just watch this space. Come back in a year and watch this space. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be interesting.
4th December 1991 Serious Fraud Office has begun to investigate management of pension funds at Mirror Group newspapers. About £300 million of pensioners’ money could be missing.
Fraud office discovers bombshell.
Ken Lennox, Mirror photographer. Within 3 or 4 days the headline was Maxwell had stolen all the pension money. The whole thing was surreal.
Brownwen Maddox, Financial Times. What became clear very quickly was it was a fraud. And it has happened very fast. Within the last 10 months of Maxwell’s life.
Network of his management holdings very complex. The fraud very simple. Maxwell just took the money. Cash in his companies. Shares in pension funds. He did have the power to legally take those shares and sell them off. On the assurance the money would come back. That never happened.
Beverly Guest, wife of Lawrence. Finance director who tried to act as whistleblower, but silenced.
Suspected something when the Mirror group was floated. Noticed £38 million missing from accounts.
John Pole, Head of Security. (Speaking in 1996) Maxwell was already one step ahead of Lawrence. (bugged phones). Maxwell had an expression, ‘Trust was like virginity. You only lost it once’.
Certainly if a person was loyal, he would repay that loyalty. And he could be quite ruthless with people that weren’t giving his all, or where disloyal.
Finance Manager, Lawrence Guest was one of his targets (for phone tapping).
Was told it wasn’t his problem. Told auditors but was ignored. But as finance director of a public limited company he felt they had a right to know.
What he suspected was Maxwell was taking money out of the Mirror to pay off private debt for other companies.
Tip of the iceberg. Maxwell plundered more than £400 million. And nobody had the power to stop him.
Carol Bragoli. (secretary)
Told the directors were not to meet each other. Unless there was a Maxwell present. Himself, Ian or Kevin. And my bosses had these clandestine meetings. In which they were passing notes around and not talking. Because I found a few. ‘He knows that we know’.
By that time we knew something was going on. He looked a bit dishevelled. A button off his shirt. And his eating habits, were really, not very nice. He just seemed to think he could do what he liked (and he could). He was becoming very suspicious. He wasn’t trusting anyone. Just reflects on how paranoid he was becoming.
At the Labour Party Conference, Lawrence was advised not to travel by public transport and to travel by different routes every day. (Neil Kinnock).
Then suddenly it was clear one of them had to go. It was Lawrence or Maxwell. Now fireworks takes me right back to the relief.
Ghislaine: My father believed you’ve got to make your own way in life.
Christopher Mason. These were early days in New York. The only people I saw her with at the time were bright Brits, but the next time I saw her, she said she’d met someone staggeringly important. Jeffery Epstein and they were dating. And not only was she dating him. She was working for him. And her job included running all of his properties. The first thing she told you about Jeffrey was that he managed other people’s money and he wouldn’t take anyone worth less than a billion dollars. That was the kind of shorthand to let you know that he was fantastically brilliant.
Jeffrey represented access to private planes and yachts and wealth (like her father had). She would do anything in her power to please him. A bizarre echo of the dynamic between her and her father.
She never told me how she met Jeffrey. And we’re dying to know, now.
Vassi Chamberland. There is a photo. In the Plaza Ballroom. And sitting next to Ghislaine is Jeffery Epstein. That picture was taken 3 weeks after her father died. I think they were already friends. And Ghislaine went to New York to see JE. I’ve always thought to myself there was a reason the relationship was kept so secret. And I think it was in their interest this would never get out. I was working in the City and I had friends who worked in Wall Street at that time. And they heard that an agreement had been reached with Epstein and Robert Maxwell that certain funds had been siphoned off. Because that’s what he was doing at the time. Helping very rich people, park their money offshore to avoid tax.
When Ghislaine was on the boat (Lady Ghislaine) she found some papers were the name Jeffrey Epstein came up. She gave an instruction to the crew to shred all papers with her father’s connection to him.
January 1992.
2 months since Maxwell’s death.
New evidence in Maxwell fraud investigation. Movement of funds out of pension funds – after Robert Maxwell’s death.
Suspicion now falls on Ian and Kevin Maxwell.
Browen Maddox. There was a sense of drama. Kevin and Ian appear before House Select Committee and missing pension funds.
We will not answer any question regarding the pension funds. No matter how many questions this Committee asks this afternoon.
Silence of the sons.
Ken Lennox, Mirror photographer
Kevin and Ian were the two left standing. I got a phone call in Chelsea saying the cops were going to arrest Kevin. You know where he lives. So two plain-clothes cops arrive. Kevin opens the upstairs window and tells them to piss off. Kevin’s led out. Arrested.
Kevin: after a trial by innuendo, I’m looking forward to defending myself in a court of law.
In the run up to the trial he turns to the media. Invtites cameras to tell his side of the story.
Trial of Maxwell Brothers begins at Old Bailey.
Richard Lissack QC Presecution barrister.
The sheer size of the case was enormous. Portrayed in the media as the case of the century. I felt prepared and the allegations we made were sustainable.
Kevin spent 21 days in the witness box.
70 witnesses over 8 months.
Browen Maddox. The trial was complicated. And there was a worry that the jury might not understand the complexity of white-collar crime. So they broke it into pieces. Different bits of fraud. Lots of this was to do with the big picture. Movement of money out of shares, for example, weren’t illegal. Where only illegal if the person conducting the sale knew the money couldn’t come back.
Jury out in Maxwell trial.
Fifth day. No verdict.
Jury deliberation enters 10th day.
Jury out, 11 days. Reached a verdict. Not guilty. (could have spent a decade behind bars).
Christopher Mason (New York) I was at an art opening and I ran into Ghislaine. She seemed in a froth of excitement. I’m going to introduce you to Jeffery. What I noticed was a permanent smirk. As if he had access to information and funds you couldn’t possibly fathom.
And the next time I met him was a deeply weird situation. Ghislaine hired me to write a song for Jeffrey Epstein’s 40th birthday. But she was deeply insistent I could tell nobody about this. I could only talk to her. She would provide me with the information. It had to have these lines. Ghislaine claims he had 24-hour erections. When he was a school teacher at Dalton School, he was the subject of many school-girl crushes. She seemed to know that would resonate with him. And with his friends who would be at this party.
So I arrived at this house. Six guys, his closest associates. It was after dinner, and they were smoking cigars and drinking brandy and I had to do this song for Epstein.
At the time there was a rumour he liked younger women and Ghislaine was introducing them to him. At the time it seemed naïve. Later, sinister.
Palm Beach, Florida.
Kevin Reynolds. JE’s masseur.
I’m sure you’ve got a lot of people that won’t talk to you. But I can’t change the past. This is humanity. This is the way people look the other way. I worked for the New York City police department for 10 years. And you’d think I’d been more savvy as a retired cop. Shouldn’t I have known better? I don’t have an answer.
They’d send a boat to send me out to his island to do massage. It was a nice gig. It was quite a place. Dreamy. To die for. Just a beautiful, beautiful place.
Jeffery was a nice fellow. There was no reason to be suspicious in any way. There was a woman there running around taking care of all sorts of details. Only to find out later that was Ghislaine.
There was a young girl there. I showed her a few moves how to do massage. Based on what I know now, she could have been under 16. That young lady might have suffered for many years under the control of Ghislaine and Jeffrey. I’d like to say, I’m so sorry, I didn’t do anything about it. I didn’t know, or I chose not to know.
29th November 2021. Trial of the Century (again).
New York City v Ghislaine Maxwell. (she allegedly spent $7 million on her defence)
Recruiting young girls to be sexually abused by her now dead partner, JE.
David Boies, Victims’ Lawyer. A case of sex trafficking that destroyed the lives of countless numbers of young women.
People are fascinated by how they got away with it for so long.
Sigrid McCawley, Victms’ lawyer. One thing you don’t to do it allow the suspect back into the street.
Robert Maxwell, Happiness can only be found in hard work. Service to your fellow man. And to your country.
20 years earlier. 2001.
Society Queen charms New York City.
Couri Hay, gossip columnist. My job is to go to parties. I meet people. See what they are doing. See what people don’t want me to see. Because there’s always something going on. I was discovered by Andy Warhol at the tender age of 16 or 17. He gave me my first job. And I started interviewing celebrities. I’ve met everybody. And done a lot of snooping. And I found if you just listen. And people knew you were a storyteller, they found you.
Back in the 90s I was working for …magazines. And that’s when I first me Jeffery and Ghislaine at parties. When she was in a room, she wanted you to know she was in a room, so she performed. She was on. She was effervescent and I felt she knew she was being watched.
JE was another case. He was a bit shy. He didn’t really stand out. So she fulfilled the role of his social director. Almost like his social secretary.
Her little black book was everything to her. And she dealt in the commerce of introduction. She really was a connector. She had this invisible butterfly net. And she’d go out in the social scene in London and New York and she’d capture the beautiful people. The rich, the famous. The powerful. And she had this posh accent. She used her royal rolodex to do that.
Her big card was Prince Andrew. That was her main calling card. Royalty is somewhat unusual, so they all came. There’s no doubt Prince Andrew elevated JE and Ghislaine. It gave them a veneer. She’s in the royal court.
But we just didn’t know. People weren’t paying attention.
30th November 2021.
Day 2 of trial.
Prosecution call four women who were all under 18 and (claim) they were groomed by Maxwell.
Vassi Chamberland. When I think back to the girl I met in 1990 and you tell me this is where her story will end up, I wouldn’t believe you. Why would someone do this?
Why would she hurt other women? But I think you need to go back to the very beginning of this story.
Robert Maxwell was somebody who understood the weakness of people and played on them and used them. Life to him was war.
And from the moment he died. Life became to her, war.
Something twisted in her. She’d lost her father. Ostensibly, lost all her money(?) The shame on the family was huge. And I think she really felt that. I think she left England because she felt that shame. And she was trying to rebuild her life in America.
It’s almost as if she shed her old skin and put on a new one. It was all about being seen in the right house, with the right amount of staff. Flying on private planes. Going to private islands. She had to be seen as powerful. As somebody at the top of the tree. She had to win.
2005.
Palm Beach, Florida.
Spencer Kuvin. Victims’ lawyer. I remember it vividly. A young woman came in with her stepmother and told me what was an incredible story. About an operation in which other young women were being recruited as well as her. To be brought over to this mansion on Palm Beach, Island. She told me there was a wealthy gentleman on the island that was willing to pay these girls $200 -$300 to go and give explicit sexual massages. She was 14 when the incident occurred to her.
Palm Beach Police Department found literally tens of other girls that had been brought to the mansion and sexually abused. Young, very young girls.
Palm Beach Interview 2005.
Police officer. You’re not the only one he’s done this too. I talked to 30-odd girls.
Palm Beach is a very wealthy island. These are the top 100, sometimes in the world. To have winter homes. And I mean by that huge mansions. On a very exclusive and wealthy island.
And there’s West Palm Beach. Which is the main part of Palm Beach County. As you go from the water, out west, you have so much less wealthy individuals. You have people living in trailer homes. What we found was a lot of the girls came from this area. A lot of them had troubled youths. $100 or $200 meant a lot to them.
If a 50 year old man come up in Rolls Royce and ask for a massage, their defences are up. Even at 14, they know to run away. But when a very sophisticated attractive older woman with a British accent approaches and says, ‘hey, you’re beautiful, come back to the house. I know a man that if friendly with the owner of Victoria’s Secret and you would make a beautiful model and we’d love for you to come and pose for us.’
That 14-year-old girl’s defences that ordinarily are up are now down. This is a woman who knew what JE was going to do. She was bringing them into the mouth of the lion. She knew the abuse the girls were going to suffer.
Cape Town, South Africa.
Juliette Bryant
I wanted to be quiet and live my life and forget about it. But I can’t forget about it. I’m tired of feeling ashamed, when I didn’t actually do anything wrong. And I know I’m one of the lucky ones. And I want to speak for the people that can’t talk anymore, you know.
I was just a young girl with hopes and dreams. And I thought, modelling, you know. One day this beautiful model came up to me and asked if I modelled. I said I’d just started. She said her friend owned Victoria’s Secret and did I want to meet him? Because he could help with my modelling career. And I said, oh, my god. All my dreams are coming true.
We went to show JE my portfolio. I walked into the room and sat opposite him. They said we definitely want to bring you over from South Africa to New York. They pay for my visa. I thought it was going to be the most amazing opportunity of my life. Then they said, pack your bag. We’re going to the Caribbean. I assumed it was for a photo shoot. So I said, immediately, yes.
It was the most beautiful place ever. The turquoise sea. When I first arrived there is was just me. I stayed in a chalet by the pool. I found all these disposable cameras. I took a few photos while I was there. Unusual artwork on the wall. This naked girl and this big walrus and it looked as if this walrus was trying to rape her. Very disturbing. He’d a lot of weird stuff. Pictures of naked girls everywhere. And lots of pictures of Ghislaine naked too.
When I first met Ghislaine I was told she was JE’s girlfriend. But I never seen them hold hands or kiss. Or give each other a hug, to be honest. It definitely wasn’t a romantic relationship.
JE really like watching movies. And while they were there another girl was brought onto the island. And while we were watching she performed a sex act on him. I was absolutely petrified. I was so young and hadn’t seen anything like that. I ran out of the room. And was just crying. I just didn’t know what to do.
There was no getting away. I was in a foreign country. With no cell phone and no money or means of communication. I just realised I was completely trapped. And there was nothing I could do.
Ghislaine was running the girls. And she’d also tell us when we had to go to his bedroom. We couldn’t say no. There was just no option. We didn’t want to make them angry. Nobody even tried to stand up against them. His bedroom was pitch dark and ice cold.
I just checked out of my body and let him do what he wanted, because I didn’t know what else to do. Tried to escape in my mind. That it wasn’t happening. Things happened there that scarred me so deeply, I can’t even talk about them. He fed off the terror. There was something about that he liked.
He was taking me back and forth over a year and a half. I was so broken; I just went along with it. I went along with anything I suppose. I was being ordered to his bedroom at least three times a day. By that time there was even more girls. I saw at least 60 girls. At least.
I was 20 when I was taken there. I was lucky, because I wasn’t as young as the other girls. It was just like a factory. He was running a machine and Ghislaine Maxwell was operating it.
People ask why I went back. No one disobeyed JE. Before he sent me home, he took me to his office and told me a woman had accused him of rape. He’d had drugs planted in her apartment and had her sent to prison. And then he said he’d my family’s name on a list. I just did as I was told, because I was petrified of him. Because of who he was. I knew crossing him would be a very bad idea.
I never felt OK after that. Everything fell to pieces. It’s very hard to understand. I’m still trying to piece it together.
16th Decemeber 2021.
Trial, Day 11.
After 2 weeks of evidence for the prosecution, it’s time for Maxwell’s defence. They will try and cast doubt on the victims. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you believe the victims or Ghislaine Maxwell, who has denied all the charges.
They are expected to try and paint Maxwell as a victim, herself.
Kevin Maxwell, press conference and goes on the offensive. Our sister has been in pre-trial detention for 522 days. She is in the care of the Department of Justice. You really have got to ask yourself in 2021 what are they doing shackling a 59-year-old woman in this way, every day. When she represents absolutely no threat to the community. And so what we are asking for is for them to live up to the duty of care they owe to an innocent person, who is presumed innocent, until a verdict comes in. Ultimately, the only one that can help is you guys, for it’s simply unacceptable. You wouldn’t want it to happen to your mother, your sister, your girlfriend. Enough is enough. This has got to stop.
15 years earlier.
2006
Palm Beach, Florida.
Spencer Kuvin. Victims’ lawyer.
When you have a hunter, he’s going to go after the weakest in the pack. And that’s what JE and Maxwell thrived on. Hunting the weakest. In an effort to discourage them from talking, they thoroughly dug into the lives of these young girls. Some of my clients would tell me they had cars that were following them down the street. To and from school. They had vehicles that would show up late at night and shine lights into their bedroom window. They had random phone calls that were called at their homes. It was really unbelievable. So we reached out to the Palm Beach Police Department. And that’s when things began to really take off.
Police raid $18 million, Palm Beach mansion.
They went in, but found it highly like JE had been tipped off to the investigation. When they arrived at the home there were numerous things that were missing. Like security cameras and hard-drives for computers.
But there were certain things they were able to find and seize. Phone books and message pads. Numerous messages to young girls that were under age. Messages about how and when JE was going to be in town. What his schedule was. When they could come over to the house. Hard evidence of what was going on at home. And it was at that time that they put together what they felt was a very solid case to prosecute JE and to turn that over to the State Attorney in Palm Beach.
JE arrested.
FBI investigates billionaire’s sex crimes.
There was a certain expectation that the feds would be able to spread out the investigation beyond Palm Beach, to New York and even his private island.
So there was a very great hope this would lead to JE behind bars for a very long time. If not forever.
FBI identify 36 potential victims.
Then all of a sudden I get a call, JE is at the courthouse and he’s giving a plea. No one had told me or my clients about this. No one had told the victims there was a potential deal in the works. It was shocking that JE’s lawyers went up to the judge and had a private conversation that nobody could hear what they were talking about.
I mean, there’s that sinking feeling as a lawyer that something is going on. And now it’s been hidden from everybody else.
I’ve been practicing law for 25-26 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an arraignment like that before.
JE pleads guilty to only 2 charges.
Under this deal he was supposed to spend at least a year in the County lock-ups in Palm Beach. But his lawyers applied for release during the day, so he could go to an office building. He would stay the day there and get catered lunches. People would come and visit him. Young girls. And at the end of the day he’d drive back to jail. And stay the night.
This is a man that is supposed to be behind bars for molesting and abusing over 40 young girls. He was essentially spending nights in jail. And that was about it.
It was incredibly disheartening at the time.
To have to explain to my clients, the extent to which the system let them down.
JE’s reputation hits rock bottom. But he’s released.
I knew exactly what people wanted. They wanted to be in the papers. They wanted to be in the glossy magazines. And I knew how to do it. And I could do that for them. The problem is sometimes these people get in trouble.
After the conviction, JE calls me. My office freaked out. It was embarrassing. I put my tie on and trotted over to the house. Because I wanted to see the house. This very grand house, supposedly worth $77 million. And there’s this very grand foyer, with this big curving staircase. I did notice about the house there was a lot of very heavy velvet drapes. Better to keep out the sunlight.
We sat down. He asked me what we should do. And I’d no intention of representing him and I never did. He never paid me.
He said to me what I don’t really want is to have ‘paedophile billionaire’ inscribed on my tombstone. Every story starts out with ‘paedophile billionaire’.
In some cases you just can’t do it. It starts with really showing contrition. Confessing. You know with the highest power on earth (The Pope).
Why don’t I get you an audience with the Pope?
But, of course, he’s already thought of that years ago (and had the meeting).
So why don’t you give money? There’s an art’s foundation and people have given lots and lots of money to, you know, white-wash their image.
So Ghislaine, of course, started her own charity. Potentially, or possibly, but she was really only helping herself.
‘Love the oceans. Love your planet. For generations to come—Make a difference’.
Charm offensive. But two lawyers unconvinced.
They were digging behind the public facades. Staggered by what they discovered.
Sigrid McCawley. Victims’ lawyer. The scale of the sex trafficking operation was unbelievable. They were bringing in up to three different girls a day at times. They did it everywhere they went. New York. Florida. Travelling overseas they would do it. It was constant. It never stopped.
David Boies, Victims’ lawyer.
They had people recruiting young girls from Eastern Europe. England and France. All over the world. We have two young women we represent, who were abused by the JE sex trafficking. They were both recruited within the same month.
One was recruited in South Africa. One was recruited in Los Angeles, California.
Teresa Helm
I was a young adult. Stars in my eyes. Ready to take on the world. High hopes. Big dreams. Once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m being flown out to New York. I would be met at the airport. A driver with my name on a sign. That was thrilling. You know…I’m to meet Ms Maxwell at her home. The outside is beautiful. And I knock on the door. I walk into this big, beautiful room. I notice a framed picture on the wall of her and ex-President Bill Clinton. And I thought, you know, wow.
A few moments later, out she comes. She said I was going to meet her partner, JE. She looked right at me and said, ‘Make sure you give Jeffrey what he wants. Because Jeffrey always gets what he wants.’
Ghislaine knew what was going to happen to me. She set me up to walk into a predator’s house. Where he assaulted me. She knew what was going to happen. You don’t facilitate and organise one of the largest sex-trafficking organisations in the world without intentionally knowing what you are doing. And without intentionally playing your role. And not only intentionally, but very masterfully. She did it very well.
Ghislaine Maxwell changed the entire trajectory of my life. And years later I decided I needed to do something . I began communicating with the FBI and my wonderful lawyer, Sigrid McCawley.
Lawyers file Civil Cases for multiple victims.
FBI re-investigate JE.
Thursday morning, I’d plugged my phone in to charge. And when I did, I accidentally swiped to the news headlines that popped up. And there was his face. It was Jeffrey.
Sex-trafficking and molesting underage girls.
Sigrid McCawley
To have him actually arrested was monumental. For me and the women I represent. That moment it felt really powerful. They’re starting to see the light of justice.
10th August 2019.
JE death ruled suicide. Hanged himself with a bedsheet in his Manhattan jail cell.
Senate Judiciary Jury hearing session.
Was Mr Epstein on suicide watch?
Yes, he was.
Clearly, it didn’t work here. We await the report. All the victims of Mr Epstein have their heart ripped out. Never see justice.
Sigrid McCawley
When JE died that was traumatic news for the women I represented. They had hoped to see him in court. To be charged with all the crimes he had committed. I was very angry that had been taken away from them.
Even before JE passed away. I was very hopeful prosecutors would continue to prosecute people. Including, of course, Ghislaine Maxwell.
20th December 2021.
Day 13 trial.
After nearly 3 weeks the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell is drawing to a close. The defence and prosecution make their closing arguments. One of Maxwell’s friends it there to witness the final chapter.
Christopher Mason, former friend.
One hears about despicable crimes and terrible criminals. There’s an added lair when it’s somebody you know, or thought you knew, but never really knew. So it’s strangely compelling. If she’s been horribly misjudged and, you know, there’s some plausible explanation that she be found not guilty. Fascinating to see if that’s possible. Seems so improbable. Perhaps the truth will eventually emerge.
Fascinating day in court. And so, completely, what I was not expecting. When I arrived this morning, from everything I’d read I supposed Ghislaine Maxwell was going away for a very long time. But when the defence spoke, they did a very good job. I have to say I’m really shocked. It’s the last thing I’m expecting. To come away thinking that Ghislaine had some chance of evading…
Jurys have to decide what version of events to believe. We may get one by Chistmas. Which is Ghislaine Maxwell’s sixtieth birthday.
2 years earlier.
With Epstein confirmed dead. And the US authorities turning their attention to Maxwell, in the UK, the spotlight fell on one of her old friends, Prince Andrew.
Buckingham Palace.
Nigel Rosser, Journalist.
Ghislaine had always known Andrew. But in 2001-2002, she suddenly became Andrew’s best friend. I think they went on holiday together about eight times. It had been noted the Prince Andrew was partying quite a lot. I was a journalist on the Evening Standard, and was told there seemed to be something odd going on here, can you look into it. The more I looked into it the more I saw Ghislaine Maxwell was inextricably linked to these parties and holidays, Prince Andrew had gone on. They formed this very strong symbiotic relationship. My headline was ‘Andrew’s fixer’: ‘She’s the daughter of Robert Maxwell’. ‘And she’s manipulating his jet-set life-style’.
The more I got into it, the more I realised, JE was always in the background.
BBC Newnight.
Q At 2000, JE was a guest at Windsor Castle. And at Sandringham he was brought right into the Royal (circle) family at your invitation.
Prince Andrew (cuts in) Yes, but, at my invitation. Not at the Royal family’s invitation. But remember it was his girlfriend that was the key element in this.
Nigel Rosser, Journalist
Prince Andrew for some reason allowed himself to be persuaded to succumb to a fifty minute interview. I remember thinking who has advised him to do this?
Q One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts has made allegations against you. She says, she met you in 2001. She dined with you. She danced with you at Tramp nightclub in London. She went on to have sex with you, in a house in Belgravia belonging to Ghislaine Maxwell, your friend. Your response?
Prince Andrew: I have no recollection of every meeting this lady. None whatsoever.
Q You’ve seen the photograph(s)? How do you explain that?
Prince Andrew: I’ve seen the photographs. I can’t. I have absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken.
Nigel Rosser, Journalist
The photograph is taken in Ghislaine’s Mews House. Ghislaine is to the one side, sort of grinning. You can see the flash reflected in the window. It’s almost certain the photo was taken by Epstein.
Prince Andrew (interview) I’m not entirely convinced…That is me in the picture…We can’t be certain that’s my hand on her…whatever it is, left side.
Two weeks later, Panorama. Virginia Roberts gave her account of that evening.
Virginia Roberts. He knows what happened. I know what happened. And there’s only one of us telling the truth. And I know that’s me.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s house, London.
That day we were having tea. Andrew is talking about Fergie, who is his ex-wife at that point. And Ghislaine is bad-mouthing Fergie, as well. Epstein is socially awkward so he’s just laughing about everything. I’m just sitting there. As I was told to do. Sit there and don’t talk. Unless you’re talked to. Ghislaine tells me I have to do for Andrew what I have to do for Jeffrey. And that made me sick.
There is a bath. And it led to the bedroom. But it didn’t last long. The whole entire procedure. It was disgusting. He got up and said ‘Thanks’ and walked out.
I sat there in bed and felt horrified and dirty and ashamed. I had to get up and have a shower. And next day Ghislaine tells me I did a real good job. Patted me on the back and said you made him very happy…[cries] It was a wicked time in my life. It was a really scary time in my life.
2nd July 2020.
Ghislaine Maxwell arrested by the FBI in New Hampshire. Six counts of serial sexual abuse and trafficking of minors.
Maxwell jailed. Awaits trial.
Judgement Day.
29th December 2021.
The jury in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial has been out for five days. And there’s still no verdict.
Juliette Bryant
If the verdict is not guilty, people will be very angry, but not surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised if she walks free.
Teresa Helm
It’s hugely important she gets found guilty, because the world is not a safe place with her in it.
Verdict: Guilty.
Maxwell’s lawyer. We firmly believe in Ghislaine’s innocence. We’ve already started working on the appeal. And we are confident she will be vindicated.
Ian Maxwell (talking on Sky News)I’ve know my sister for sixty years. I choose to believe my sister’s view of events. I don’t think she’s capable of those charges she’s been convicted for. She’s been scapegoated from a system that was flawed from the start. She has not had justice.
Victims’ lawyer, David Boies
It’s been a long road. Longer than it should have been. There are many people who knew about this and kept silent. And could not have existed, in the scale it existed, in the time it existed, without the participation of very rich and powerful people. It was about money. It was about power. It was about [corruption]
Ghislaine Maxwell awaits sentencing. She faces a prison term of up to 65 years.
Juliette Bryant
I never thought it would happen. These people have a way of getting away with [it] for so many years. We’ve got to keep them away so they can’t harm other people. And the people are waking up to the truth.
Teresa Helm
Why didn’t you take your positon of power and do something good with it? Why didn’t you do something positive in the world? What a waste.
Ghislaine Maxwell.
My father believed you’ve got to make your own way in life. It would be marvellous to emulate some of the marvellous things he did with his life. That’d be great.
Robert Maxwell.
All life is a choice. And if you want to succeed, you’ve got to commit yourself. Be single-minded. Duty is more important than love. That’s what I was trying to teach my children. The achievement at the end of it is, I feel, my life which I’m continuing to live to the full. And will so, until the day I die. I would have left the world a slightly better place. By having lived in it, and influenced my children in the right direction.
My partner asked me why I insisted on kissing everybody in the pub, but not her. I told her because they were Celtic supporters. I could have added I also danced like a thirteen-year-old whose drink had been spiked with speed. Yeh, this game mattered more than most. Win, and we’d one hand on the league, and the £40 million Champion League pay-out that guarantees. All Rangers dodgy loan dealings come back to bite them on the arse. But, really, I don’t give a toss. Win because beating Rangers is enough—and we just can’t get enough.
Celtic won this game quite comfortably, without playing particularly well. A goal down within three minutes. Aaron Ramsey scored it, but Josip Juranovic was caught like a schoolboy on the wrong side of Kent. It’s not often I praise Carl Starfelt. I felt sorry for him early on, Joe Hart kept giving him the ball, but he didn’t hide.
We equalised with our first attack. Calum McGregor created it with a slaloming run from outside the box. Alan McGregor saved from Tom Rogic, and palmed the rebounded shot up into the air. The Australian kept his cool, as he did the whole game (well seventy minutes of his game) and put it away.
Rangers huffed and puffed, as they did throughout the game, but Celtic kept it tight and tidy. We created more and better chances, and our weakness in defence, in particular cross balls was our strength. Cameron Carter-Vickers got the all-important goal just before half- time.
A foul by John Lundstrum swung into the box. Lundstrum failed to clear. The ball fell to the American internationalist and it was party time as he put it away—and I pulled on my dancing shoes.
Rangers started the second-half much as they did they first. A decent save from Joe Hart from substitute Fashion Sakala was probably the highlight for the blue end. Carter Vickers was involved in two penalty shouts. One brushed against his arm and would have been harsh. The other had him pictured holding Goldson’s jersey. I was just pleased to see him marking their central defender at set-pieces. In not so recent games that job had been left to Scott Brown, which is football roulette. Big on big works for me.
But for every penalty claim we had one to counter with. Maeda going around goalkeeper McGregor and being brought down.
We also had the two Liel Abada misses. Abada had just come on for Jota in 76 minutes. O’Riley and Bitton had come on for Rogic and Hatte in sixty minutes. O’Riley could think himself unlucky to be substituted at the same time as Jota, but he was limping and, while there may be little sentimentality in football, it was great to see David Turnbull back.
Just before Rangers demanded their usual penalty for wrestling in the Celtic box, Glakoumakis played in Abada. The young Israeli, normally so deadly, first touch wasn’t good taking him wide, and his second touch worse, driving the ball wide of the post.
His second chance with nine minutes of normal time to go—and five minutes added for clearing up broken glass thrown at Joe Hart—could be marked down as an instinctive save from McGregor.
There was still time for Roofe to wander offside a few times and miss a header. Still time for Rangers to get another penalty. Still time for Tony Ralston to clear out Ryan Kent, without smashing a bottle. Giakoumakis got booked earlier for taking out Jack. But it wasn’t in the penalty area and Jack clearly hit out at the Greek striker.
Carter-Vickers won man of the match, but I’d have given it to Maeda. His finishing isn’t top notch and his touch can be poor, but he worked like two men closing down from the first to the last minute. Rangers couldn’t cope with his pace.
Ange Postecoglou surprised us by not having Kyogo on the bench. He got most of his calls right and proved correct again. He said we didn’t need him. Six league game to go. A Scottish Cup semi-final to look forward to. One game at a time, St Johnstone at home on Saturday. That’s the big one. We’ve got lots in reserve.
Ange Postecoglou wins Manager of the Month award again. If he picks up the same award at the end of April then it’s kerching and £40 million Champions League money guaranteed. The question arises, would you take a draw at Ibrox? Obviously, after say 89 minutes and two goals down and I’d say, aye Ange, go for it, take the draw. But life and fitba doesn’t work out like that.
Last time we were in Govan, Edouard started up front. As we know, he’d scored some great goals against Rangers, but missed some complete sitters. He’s another of those matches. Great to see him, Christie and Ajer leave Paradise. We’d developed a habit of outplaying Rangers and losing—usually to a headed goal from a free kick or corner. Lots have changed, we’ve 5000 defensive coaches, but that remains our major vulnerability, home or away.
Our defence picks itself. Hart, Taylor, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt and Juranovic.
We’re reminded nine out of ten Glasgow derbies are decided by who scores first. Defend corners and defend free kicks and I think we’ll win. But I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that.
We’ll start on the front foot, Ange’s Plan A is also Plan B. Rangers, despite their European success, don’t defend well. A major boost is that Kyogo is fit. He’ll be on the bench, I’m guessing. Georgios Giakoumakis should start after hitting two hat-tricks in two league games. He’s a poacher in the box.
But it wouldn’t surprise me too much if Ange favours Daizen Maeda. I’m still not convinced with him, but he does the doggies, closing down the opposition and getting in behind, in a Kyogo-lite way. And the Japanese forward scores regularly.
Postecoglou tends to play him, but not always through the middle. He’s featured mostly on the left wing. Jota switching to the right. Abada would therefore drop to the bench. He’s not started the last two games. So my best guess is that’s where he’ll start, but come on for the last thirty minutes.
The midfield carousel is harder to pick. McGregor, our captain, playing in front of the defence. Rogic has been pronounced fit. My guess is he’ll start. Certainly, win, lose or draw, if he doesn’t start, he’ll replace O’Riley.
Reo Hatate had the kind of introduction to the Glasgow derby that harked back to the little known Slovenian, Ľubomír “Lubo” Moravčík. The Japanese midfielder’s form has shaded but he’s a definite maybe (as in the Oasis hit). He works best with Maeda. My guess is Taylor, Hatate, Maeda down the left.
Juranovic, Rogic and the Portuguese wonder boy, Jota on the right. We might see the return of David Turnbull at some point, probably late in the game.
Georgios Giakoumakis to start and score first. Win, win, win.
odonnellgrunting 