Christine Keeler's conviction branded 'a national disgrace' by lawyer

19 November 2023 , 20:17

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Christine Keeler had a fling with war secretary John Profumo in 1961 (Image: Getty Images)

A top lawyer tonight branded Christine Keeler’s perjury conviction a national scandal and demanded a posthumous pardon.

Human rights KC Dr Felicity Gerry said it is “dreadful” that Christine was prosecuted for lying to court. The model, whose 1961 fling with war secretary John Profumo helped topple the Tory government, was jailed for nine months in 1963.

She had been attacked by stalker Aloysius “Lucky” Gordon but he appealed after it was found Christine, who died in 2017 aged 75, had told jurors two witnesses to the assault were not there. Her family say she was prosecuted to discredit her over the Profumo scandal, and they have launched a campaign to clear her name.

Christine in her Mini at her London flat in 1963 (Getty Images)

Mrs Gerry, who helped make an application to the Criminal Case Review Commission, said Christine had been “slut-shamed” in the wake of the fling which rocked politics. The lawyer said: “It is a national scandal that she was ever prosecuted at all and that she died without having her case being understood and her convictions overturned. Sending her to prison was dreadful and she rightly deserves a posthumous exoneration.

Barrister Felicity Gerry said the conviction was 'a national scandal'

“It would also go a long way to reframing a case that is the epitome of slut-shaming and has had lasting implications for all women framed as liars.” Ms Gerry said the lie was legally 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.

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Lucky Gordon at her trial in 1963 (Mirrorpix)

She said: “She pleaded guilty when she was not. There is a real risk she was wrongly convicted by her own plea, on an incorrect application of law.” Christine was 19 when she had an affair with married Profumo. After it emerged she had also been sleeping with Soviet attache Yevgeny Ivanov, she was branded a “prostitute” by the media and a “harlot” by PM Harold Wilson.

Her story was turned into the hit BBC drama, The Trial of Christine Keeler, in 2019. In the Mirror on Friday, her son, Seymour Platt, 51, vowed to clear her name, insisting: “It’s wrong she went to prison.”

Dan Warburton