Also read: 100 Best Action TV Shows To Watch on Netflix All About The Plot Of Stonehouse This wasn't the behaviour of an arch criminal. She puts his behaviour down to depression, breakdown and use of prescription drugs, said Hayes. Stonehouse and Buckley stayed together following his arrest and sentencing, and Buckley would regularly visit him in prison. Towards the end of episode 1, there's some tension between Barbara Stonehouse (his wife) and Sheila Buckley (his secretary). After a heap of his garments was abandoned on Miami Beach, the government and press assumed the 49-year-old congressman who was committed to his family had perished at sea. He survived, but on April 14 he was admitted to Southampton General hospital. After satisfying themselves that he was, in fact, John Stonehouse MP, the hospital gave him about five names. Barabara Stonehouse who now identifies herself as Barbara Flexney-Briscoe is the first wife of former UK MP John Stonehouse. In court, Stonehouse had tried to mount a defence that he'd been in the throes of a mental breakdown and had taken on the alter ego of his dead constituent, even convincing psychiatrists of his split personality. Sheila, the former Labour cabinet member who faked his own death, and was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud, stayed by him till the end. The former Labour cabinet minister faked his own death and was jailed for seven years for fraud, but his loyal secretary-turned-wife Sheila Buckley stood by him to the end. I indulge in all things creative. She went on to say the entire family found the series emotionally damaging and didnt collaborate on it. The struggle between the two was tearing me to pieces.'. By Patrick Hollis. While in prison Stonehouse suffered from a series of heart attacks and Buckley . For him, a new uncluttered life seemed within reach. According to popular belief, Buckley was not simply in it for the moneyshe was actually in love with her boss. On 6 September 1978 Stonehouse suffered a coronary ischemia attack which required him to spend three days in hospital. At Melbourne Airport he showed the documentation proving he didn't have tuberculosis. According to the Daily Mail, James visits his elderly mother Sheila who is living a quiet life away from the spotlight and working as a chartered accountant. 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. Hayes, a lawyer, saw a preview of the first episode of the three-part drama and read the scripts as part of a consultation. Then you'll find out how painful it is to live with an unfaithful man. But when his duplicity was unveiled, then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided not to pursue charges of treason. Moreover, he'd already made basic, stupid mistakes in Australia. He also had a son with his mistress and second. Julia Stonehouse For The Mail On Sunday Oblivious to all this, Mr Markham bought a ticket to Copenhagen. Stonehouse is streaming ITVX now and The Real Stonehouse will be airing on ITV1 tonight at 9pm. Sheila Buckley. He'd also concealed from her the fact that for five years he'd been having an affair with his secretary, Sheila Buckley, who at 28 was more than two decades younger than him. Most of Johns family is not in the spotlight, however, his daughter Julia has spoken and written prolifically about her father. But she told Sheila: 'If John does turn up and you've got rid of it, it will make him very upset. His mistress and. To support herself after having lost Stonehouse, who has been over two decades older than her, it is said that she is an avid gardener and was employed as an auditor and bookkeeper. The new ITV drama, Stonehouse, is telling the story of one of the UKs most intriguing political scandals. According to the series, Stonehouse, a high-ranking official in Harold Wilsons administration, faked his death by swimming into the sea after disappearing from the beach of a lavish resort in Florida circa November 1974. ( 2023-01-04) Stonehouse is a British television series dramatising the life and times of disgraced British government minister John Stonehouse, first broadcast from 2 to 4 January 2023. Once tipped as a future prime minister, he rose to become minister of aviation, the final postmaster general and a privy counsellor advising the Queen. The three policemen stood over him, holding back his arms. My mother hoped Jim's presence would help her husband maintain his emotional equilibrium. Its side effects include depression, anxiety, paranoia, mental confusion, poor decision-making and an increased risk of suicide. But the net was closing in. She only found out John had been having an affair after he went missing and she was contacted by a newspaper reporter asking about a rented flat in Westminster. ' he wrote. Sheila, who was 21 years his junior, and John welcomed their son James William John in 1982. 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. Sign up for Bustle UK's twice-weekly newsletter, featuring the latest must-watch TV, moving personal stories, and expert advice on the hottest viral buys. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. She ended up with [a suspended sentence of] two years in prison for being in love with someone. The talented artist has worked on stage dramas and treaters for a long while and is now stepping her foot into on-screen acting projects. 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. READ MORE:The true story behind ITV's Stonehouse and MP who faked his own death. Through his own careless behaviour he had managed to raise the alarm within only 48 hours of his arrival. We saw the utter amazement on her face and heard her say: Daddy, Daddy, is it really you?. Stonehouse died of a heart attack aged 62 on April 14, 1988, in Southampton. Heres a look at his family and what happened to his four children following his scuppered plans to fake his death and start a new life in Australia. Great-nephew of MP who faked death in 1974 says there was psychological grooming by Czech spies but no honeytrap. My father said nothing. '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. 2nd Jan 2023, 3:40pm. In one of the most astonishing scandals in British history, former Postmaster General Stonehouse went on the run when a string of crooked business deals finally caught up with him. 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. He was travelling with Jim Charlton, the deputy chairman of his trade and export company, Global Imex. The author has previously offered insight into how her sister felt about their fathers affair with Sheila after they found out the truth. It was no secret that my then 49-year-old father had been under intense emotional pressure in the years before his dramatic disappearance. Nobody had any idea of the degree of my father's mental collapse. According to the book Stonehouse: Cabinet Minister, Fraudster and Spy by Johns great nephew Julian Hayes, neither Sheila nor Barbara wanted to let go of the MP despite his misdeeds. So poor Sheila Buckley is thrust into the spotlight without her consent. He then incredibly asked his wife Barbara if both she and Sheila could come out to Australia. He asked her to come to Melbourne, and to bring Sheila with her. But what happened to Stonehouses second wife, and where is she now? John Stonehouse's (Matthew Macfadyen) head bobs above the water. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) , updated After he was caught, he phoned his wife to inform her that he was still alive. By He told the then prime minister that he was sure that Mr Stonehouse had been a spy for the Czechoslovakians but he had no evidence which he could put before the jury. Words fall short of expressing our grief for your loss, as we mourn with family and friends for this great loss. It was an incredible act for a former government. John Stonehouse, My Father: The True Story Of The Runaway MP, by Julia Stonehouse, is published by Icon on July 19 at 16.99. It says its based on a true story, and thats really as far as it goes. But one of the most scandalous episodes in British political history is about to be excavated as two of Stonehouse's family members have written books about the events leading to his capture and imprisonment. Morgan Phillips And Tahira Yaqoob For Mailonline On Christmas Eve that year, Mrs Mildoon read on the front page of her local paper that John Stonehouse had been found in Australia using the name Clive Mildoon. You can unsubscribe at any time. He has never been found. More info. He seemed very confused as to who he was, she said. The series starred Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes and was directed by Jon S. Baird from a script by John Preston . MORE:Stonehouse star Matthew Macfadyen reveals concerns ahead of working with wife Keeley Hawes. 'It's little wonder nobody has any respect or indeed any trust in the political establishment. He imagined himself escaping the world of John Stonehouse and becoming someone else someone without all these difficulties. 'I could see it all clearly,' he later wrote. A British politician fakes his own death. He also visited a Mrs Markham, widow of Joseph Markham. He was found guilty of various counts of theft, fraud and deception in August 1976, and was sentenced to seven years in prison, serving three. READ MORE:The true story behind ITV's Stonehouse and MP who faked his own death. She is seen as a lovely, compassionate person who was swayed by Stonehouse, she got herself drawn into doing something she should never have done. Ms Buckley. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. He was first elected as Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament (MP) for Wednesbury in Staffordshire in a 1957 . Stonehouse's daughter Julia, author of the forthcoming Stonehouse: My Father, adamantly disputes that her father ever spied for an adversary, as does much of the family, according to Hayes. Stonehouse used a new alias after faking his own death, but his ruse only lasted a month before the Australian authorities arrested him, though believing he was a different fugitive. My mother told Sheila he'd had several affairs but always came back to her, adding: 'If he reappears, you're welcome to him. Shiela and John had been having an illicit affair for five years before his scuppered plans to fake his death. She fell in love with a married boss who faked his death. The MP was extradited to the UK six months later, and was held at Brixton Prison until being released, whereupon he resumed duties as the member for Walsall North. Sheila Buckley, the secretary and mistress, later wife of John Stonehouse, circa 1980 Credit: Keystone His reappearance was to prove a mixed blessing for Harold Wilson. 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