17 November 2023 , 12:01
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Christine Keeler's heartbroken son has revealed to the Mirror how the infamous Profumo scandal cast a shadow over her life and left her penniless.
Seymour Platt revealed how he had battled with the stigma of the former model's affair with war minister John Profumo and allegations she was a "harlot". But he declared: "I don't resent my mum - she showed me so much love."
It comes after The Mirror told how Seymour had launched a campaign for the Criminal Case Review Commission to refer her conviction to the Court of Appeal.
The 51-year-old said a 200-page dossier could overturn her perjury rap and she will be posthumously cleared.
Christine, who died in 2017 aged 75, was 19 when she had an affair with war minister John Profumo and helped topple the Tory Government in the most infamous political sex scandal ever.
Christine Keeler leaving Marylebone Magistrates Court in 1963 (PA)
Seymour said that the Profumo affair left his mum pennilessChristine was jailed for nine months in December 1963 in an unrelated court case, but her family claim the conviction was designed to discredit her over the Profumo scandal. And today Seymour revealed the affair made her a pariah and left her desperately unable to find work.
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When she died she bequeathed just £77,000 in her will - but made a plea for Seymour to "tell the truth about her life". He told how the taxman had stripped her of everything when they were on holiday in Brazil when he was just a child.
And said they were left "proper poor", living on the run-down World's End estate in Chelsea, London, with Christine unable to find work. Seymour said: "It was such a drop for my mum, she lost everything. We were in Brazil when we found out the taxman had taken everything. Everything was gone, we were in squats."
Christine Keeler in a bikini top circa 1963 (Popperfoto via Getty Images)
John Profumo, Secretary of State for War (PA)Christine, who sold her story at the height of the scandal for £450,000 in today's money, was married twice briefly. Her son Jimmy, from her first marriage, was brought up mainly by her mum, Julie. Her second husband, businessman Anthony Platt, walked out after a year to leave Christine to bring up their son, Seymour.
Seymour says his mum struggled financially and would have to give up jobs as soon as people found out who she was. She worked in telephone sales in Fulham and for a dry cleaning business in Battersea. Changing her name, she was also a school dinner lady for a while, but was dismissed when her identity became known.
Seymour said: "She was going for jobs and getting fired because they found out she was Christine Keeler. Mum was very rich when I was very young but she lost everything. Suddenly the taxman came along and she lost everything. She went through a really bad divorce from my dad and she lived in absolute poverty. That was forced on her as well because she couldn't go work in a shop because of who she was and her conviction."
John Profumo with his wife, actress Valerie Hobson (Getty Images)
Christine Keeler in an Austin Mini as she leaves her flat in London on August 7, 1963 (Getty Images)Seymour only fully learnt who his mum was when he went with her in 1989 to the premiere of the movie Scandal, in which Joanne Whalley played Christine. Seymour, who now lives in Longford, Ireland, with wife Lorraine, 49, and their daughter, Daisy, 15, revealed that he has also been impacted by the scandal - missing out on promotions and struggling with work opportunities.
But he said: "I've never resented that. I didn't know her as Christine Keeler, she was my mum. I knew my mum and I had innate confidence because I know she loved me so much. It meant that anytime anyone said anything it just bounced off me.
"I wouldn't tell anyone who my mum was, it's not that I was ashamed, it was just that it was irrelevant.
"I know I've lost jobs, I know that I haven't got promotions because of who my mum was." Born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, Christine's father abandoned the family when she was three years old.
Seymour Platt pictured in 2020 (S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
A photo of Christine Keeler aged 12 (Copyright © Seymour Platt.)The family then moved to the Berkshire village of Wraysbury, where she lived in a converted railway carriage. Her school teachers noted she suffered from malnutrition. As a teenager, Christine was sexually abused by her stepfather and by his friends when she babysat for them.
But despite her desperate childhood, Seymour refuses to blame her upbringing for the life of scandal she led. He said: "People always start the story about Christine Keeler with her upbringing, as though it was an excuse. It's not, it's neither a reason or an excuse. I'm not sure I, with my upbringing, would have done anything different."
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On the 60th anniversary of her guilty plea, Christine's family - led by world-renowned barrister Felicity Gerry - is trying to overturn her conviction for perjury. In April 1963 she had been attacked by stalker Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon in April that year.
But he successfully appealed after it was found she had told jurors two witnesses to the assault were not there. Seymour insists the lie was irrelevant as Gordon's trial had been told "there was no doubt the assault took place" and Christine lived her life in fear of him.
She had also allegedly been put under pressure by the two witnesses, who later admitted they had seen the attack. The CCRC is currently assessing a 200-page dossier of evidence. Seymour's campaign website is christine-keeler.co.uk.