ITV drama Stonehouse wrapped up yesterday (January 4) with the finale of the three-parter hitting screens. He loves children.' If theyd said, John, wed like you to spy for us, hed have said no. The upcoming three-parter, written by John Preston, explores John. The courts agreed. Also Read: How To Watch Stonehouse Episodes? However, his plans to leave behind his wife Barbara Joan Stonehouse (Keeley Hawes) and children for his mistress Shiela Buckley (Emer Heatley) didnt quite pan out. After he was caught, Stonehouse phoned his wife to tell her that he was in fact, not dead. Stonehouse died of a heart attack aged 62 on April 14, 1988, in Southampton. He compared former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who had his own Sheila Buckley - his aide Gina Coladangelo - and was forced to resign for violating his own Covid protocols in an extramarital affair. My handsome, generous and brilliant father had seemed in good spirits that night, and my mother was relieved. DON'T MISSDavina McCall's appearance sparks concern on The Masked Singer[VIEWER REACTION]Camilla Tominey shuts down This Morning host in probe over Harry[VIDEO]Ruth Langsford shares Eamonn Holmes bedroom confession[INSIGHT]. Many times he'd respond to the call of his false name and go to various desks to collect the new paperwork. He was widely assumed to have died from suicide, with his wife saying: All the evidence that weve had points to the fact he was drowned.. Sheila Buckley. 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While in prison Stonehouse suffered from a series of heart attacks and Buckley . After her education could be finished, she started her serious job. 'He betrayed everybody - his family, his constituents, his party, the country.'. Again, the rumours were utterly unfounded. 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. The first episode of three-part series - simply titled . Express. John Stonehouse's (Matthew Macfadyen) head bobs above the water. But the net was closing in. You might or might not be aware of the famous Stonehouse controversy. For Ms Buckley, then a 22-year-old ingenue impressed by her dashing boss, Stonehouse was not just her mentor, but also a shoulder to cry on after she discovered her husband had cheated on her and began divorce proceedings. I didn't talk to Barbara, who is still alive, as is Sheila. ', Sheila told my mother she'd been his mistress for a long time, that he loved her and that he waited on her hand and foot. Facing Charges of alleging fraud, forgery and conspiracy involving 70,000. he was refused . 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. What Happened To Sheila Buckley? To pre-order a copy for 14.44, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193 before July 25. My father would later acquire copies of birth certificates for both Clive Mildoon and Joseph Markham, and falsely obtain one passport in the name of Markham. The allegation was levelled after the MP made a series of visits to the country, which was then part of the Soviet Eastern Bloc, but he defended himself and remained in office. Through his own careless behaviour he had managed to raise the alarm within only 48 hours of his arrival. Speaking about the show at a press event for the series, John revealed that the two women didn't want "any involvement" in the drama. After stealing the identities of two deceased men in his constituency to create fake passports, Stonehouse flew to Miami, checked into the Fontainebleau hotel and went for a swim, leaving a pile of clothes on the beach. Hayes, whose biography of his great-uncle, Stonehouse: Cabinet Minister, Fraudster, Spy, was published in 2021, said the TV drama misrepresented how the politician became embroiled with the Czech secret services. She concluded: My father taught me something invaluable: that the world can be changed if people talk enough and work enough together. Sheila Buckley, an inconspicuous woman who once scandalized British politics by dating John Stonehouse, a Communist traitor turned MP, is shown in the center of this image from a small market villa News Phobia @NewsPhobia1 Jan 3 Benim Adm Farah Episode 1: Release Date, Preview & Where To Watch. Stonehouse, who faked his own death before fleeing to Australia with Buckley, was imprisoned for fraud in 1976. Unfortunately, the lack of that scar brought Stonehouses way to a different kind of problem, which revealed his actual identity. [28] After release [ edit] At a party for After Dark in 1987 Stonehouse was a controlling person. The partner of imprisoned MP John Stonehouse, Sheila Buckley discusses Stonehouse's declining health after he was declined parole. Also Read: Maura Tierneys Affair: What Happened in the Show? We can only attribute it to madness, one symptom of which is that the person does mad things. My mother hoped Jim's presence would help her husband maintain his emotional equilibrium. The story of John Stonehouse may be little known stateside, but you almost wouldn't believe the tale told in BritBox's three-part drama Stonehouse spins if it wasn't based on true events. He was also a regular user of Mogadon, a benzodiazepine whose recognised side effects include depression, impairment of judgment, delusions and schizophrenia. A lot of sinister mysteries are hidden under her invisible reputation. He left a pile of clothes on a hotel beach in Miami to fake his own death in 1974. He knew what he was doing., Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning, Hayes said he pored over detailed files in Czech archives while researching his biography. The phone call from my father on his earlier US trip saying he 'couldn't take it any more' led my mother to wonder if he'd had a breakdown or killed himself or both. 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. Stonehouse and Buckley stayed together following his arrest and sentencing, and Buckley would regularly visit him in prison. On telling a story about the lives of real people, he said: "I never wanted to judge Stonehouse or hold him up to ridicule or anything like that. Life forced Stonehouseinto harsh situations and required him to do unnecessary things. On 6 September 1978 Stonehouse suffered a coronary ischemia attack which required him to spend three days in hospital. Upon his release, he married Buckley, and the couple were together until he died in 1988. When the former politician was released in 1980, the couple married a year later and had a son, James William John. On behalf of my father, I apologise to the Markham and Mildoon families and hope they can accept that this bizarre behaviour was only brought about by terrible stress and the effects of mind-twisting prescribed drugs. They stayed together until Stonehouses death from a major heart attack. Later that afternoon my father was allowed to make a call to my mother. The immigration officer stamped his passport with a big round print saying 'Permitted to Enter', and said: 'You are one of us, now.'. But he provided the Czechs with information and got a lot of money from them. Sheila asked whether she should let the family know he was alive, and he'd said 'no'. My father said nothing. 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. Streaming Guide. Stonehouse was later sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years in prison for fraud, theft and deception. He seemed very confused as to who he was, she said. He was travelling with Jim Charlton, the deputy chairman of his trade and export company, Global Imex. the former politician was released in 1980, talk briefly about his declining health in 1978, former parliamentary secretary is now in her eighties, having visited Stonehouse on multiple occasions. Your email address will not be published. She puts his behaviour down to depression, breakdown and use of prescription drugs, said Hayes. 2021 Associated Newspapers Limited. "What happened to John Stonehouse is the stuff of legend," said Macfadyen, who takes on the lead role. Well soon learn how the young woman was involved in all of this, but in the meanwhile, if youd like to see it as a drama, dont miss Stonehouse, about which additional details will be posted on our website. The Labour MP for Walsall North had been a high-flyer in Harold Wilson's government of 1964 but just years later found himself in financial ruin, in the midst of an extramarital affair and had been questioned by MI5 about spying for the Czech secret service. John Stonehouse was in the political cold. John Stonehouse, My Father: The True Story Of The Runaway MP, by Julia Stonehouse, is published by Icon on July 19 at 16.99. He left behind a tidy mound of garments. A look at what happened to the real John Stonehouse after his life was explored in new ITV smash-hit show. John tragically died in 1988 at 62 after having a heart attack after suffering multiple heart attacks throughout his life. 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 former parliamentary secretary is now in her eighties and currently lives in Romsey, Hampshire. Ingested with alcohol, it can be fatal. In December 1982, their son James William John was born. In a trick borrowed from Frederick Forsyth's Day of the Jackal, he obtained fake passports using birth certificates of two dead constituents and wired himself money in their names in Australia as he embarked on a new life. In the center of this photograph from a nearby Hampshire market town stands Sheila Buckley, an obscure woman who once scandalized British politics by dating John Stonehouse, a Communist traitor turned MP.