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14/09/99 - Harman tells court
of death threats ordeal
Daily Record
FORMER Cabinet minister Harriet Harman fought back tears
yesterday as she told a court how a violent ex-convict
made her life hell with 10 years of harassment and death
threats.
Her voice trembled as she said: "I was frightened,
very frightened. didn't have any hope it would stop."
Harman told how John Masterson, a Scot and friend of
the Kray twins, made repeated visits to her constituency
surgeries to abuse her and staged a hunger strike outside
Labour Party headquarters.
The former Social Security Secretary gave police two
carrier bags stuffed with Masterson's hate mail. She
said the letters claimed her husband was having an affair.
Masterson,who was in court yesterday, also wrote to
then Labour leader Neil Kinnock accusing Harman of corruption.
She said Masterson, who has spent 17 years in jail
for violence, first targeted her when she was a civil
liberties lawyer who helped him bring a case against
prison bosses.
She tried to put on a "brave face" for years,
but eventually went to police after a psychiatrist warned
her Masterson had threatened her life.
A distressed Harman said: "The psychiatrist said
she and colleagues thought it was a genuine risk."
She denied the call made her "hysterical".
Harman, a mother of three, was giving evidence in a
case brought by Masterson against the Metropolitan Police.
He claims they arrested him unlawfully in 1989 for harassing
her.
She told how she first met Masterson in prison in the
late 70s to discuss his lawsuit about jail conditions.
She said: "I knew from the first moment he was
obsessed with me. I should have handed his case to another
solicitor."
Masterson's lawsuit was thrown out in 1980, and he
accused Harman of losing it deliberately.
On his release, he began sending her hate mail, and
between then and 1989 the letters only stopped when
he went back behind bars.
Harman, 49, said: "He said I betrayed him. He
wanted to ruin me and any allegation would do.
"I knew he was violent, and was near me for whatever
reason even though he came from Scotland. He couldn't
leave me alone and was always coming to the surgery.
He was boiling and angry."
For years, the only non-family member Harman told about
the abuse was her boss, Robin Cook.
"I wasn't going to let it run my life," she
said. "I couldn't afford to be a jelly. I had three
children and a very responsible job."
But the phone call in 1989 from psychiatrist Jane Marshall,
who was treating Masterson for alcohol abuse, convinced
her to call police.
Harman said Masterson's arrest was "a great relief".
The case against him was later dropped.
Masterson now lives in Harman's constituency. His case
at Central London County Court continues. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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