With her dark glasses and mink coat, Shirley Bassey cut an incongruous figure at the chapel of rest in the Bristol suburb of Westbury-on-Trym. Supported by her friend Soraya Khashoggi, she placed a red rose on the coffin and bade her final farewell to her daughter Samantha Novak.
That was 25 years ago. Dame Shirley has never ceased being tormented by the death of her daughter, whose body was found in the River Avon near the Clifton Suspension Bridge after a night out. She was dressed in motorcycle clothing and had just 1.65 in her pockets. An open verdict was recorded at her inquest, but Dame Shirley always believed that the official version that the death was an accident rather than suicide never told the whole story. Instead, she suggested, it was murder.
Now, the investigation into 21-year-old Ms Novaks death has been reopened after claims that a convicted killer bragged about being involved. Avon and Somerset Police say they have been approached by the mother of a woman murdered in 2001. Penny Beale claims that her daughter, also called Penny, had been warned by her boyfriend before he beat her to death that she would suffer the same fate as Ms Novak.
Michael Moffat, 47, is serving life in a Scottish jail and is expected shortly to apply for transfer to an open prison in preparation for his release.
Related LinksMoffat disinterested after killing girlfriendDame Shirley Bassey: The PerformanceStyle deconstructed: Dame Shirley BasseyIn an interview last year, Dame Shirley who lives in Monte Carlo and has an older daughter, Sharon, and an adopted son, Mark said that she had always doubted that her daughters death was an accident or suicide.
Although Ms Novak was found in the river, the inquest heard that there was no water in her lungs. A pathologist suggested it was possible that she might have died from shock when she fell into the cold water because there were no signs of injury.
Dame Shirley said: I never believed [that she killed herself]. If shed jumped off the bridge, all her bones would have been broken. She didnt have any water in her lungs. Im suspicious about her death. If someones drowning, they gasp, dont they?
Ms Novak was born during the singers first marriage, to Kenneth Hume, a film producer. He was homosexual apparently she thought that she could change his sexual orientation and for most of their marriage they led separate lives. But their daughters arrival had a disastrous impact on the marriage. The couple broke up, and the singer moved with Ms Novak and her halfsister to Lugano, in Switzerland, with her second husband, Sergio Novak.
They were not good years for Ms Novak. Educated at a boarding school near Lake Geneva, there was talk of behaviour problems and reports that she was asked to leave. Always on tour, Dame Shirley has in the past been open about her failings as a mother.
My children dreaded seeing my suitcases in the hall, she once said. They could never understand why I wanted to go away.
It was Ms Novak who found it the hardest to bear. None of them liked it . . . me going away, but Samantha, she really took it to heart.
According to her half-sister, Ms Novak suffered depression and moved back to England where she eventually enrolled for a course in textiles and weaving. In Bristol she appeared to have few friends. Bob Symmons, landlord of the Mardyke, the pub at which she spent her last evening, said at the time: She was always short of money and scrounging drinks. She would be counting out pennies on the bar to pay for her next pint.
She never mentioned her mother was Shirley Bassey.
Ms Novak spent her final hours drinking with bikers at the pub, then tried to get a drink at a restaurant, but was turned away. Her body was recovered nine days later from Sea Mills Creek, about a mile from the suspension bridge and a quarter of a mile from where the Avon passes the pub.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Carter, who is leading the cold case review team, confirmed that officers were making fresh inquiries in the light of information from Mrs Beale.
He said: Well speak to [Moffats] doctors, psychiatrists and people close to him. The mother of Moffats victim wrote to us with some information.
Her daughter had said that Moffat told her he was involved in the murder of Samantha Novak. Within the next three or four weeks well decide whether we will travel to Scotland to speak to Moffat.
Officers last looked into Ms Novaks death six months ago after the comments made by Dame Shirley. Mr Carter added: There was nothing from the coroners report to suggest it was murder rather than suicide. This information is obviously additional so we are making fresh inquiries.
Ms Beale, from Hastings, suffered 123 injuries, including 18 broken ribs, when she was attacked by Moffat. Her mother said: He told her he was involved in a relationship with Samantha Novak at the time of her death in Bristol. My daughter was trying to leave him and the implication was that he was threatening her as if to say, Look what happened to my other girlfriend.
He was a sadistic, nasty man and my daughter thought that was a very creepy thing to say. I said to Penny, Do you think he was involved in her death in any way? She asked me, Am I sleeping with a murderer? I didnt know what to say.
Mrs Beale claims that she tried to persuade police to investigate but it was only after Dame Shirley spoke out that they showed any interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment