The Queen of 1960s London’s ‘permissive society’, Novotny mixed with statesmen, strippers and spies – then vanished
1 May 2021 • 5:00am I can rattle skeletons in many important cupboards : Mariella Novotny in 1971
Credit: Dove/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty
In the dying days of the 20th century I was researching the life of my grandfather, Charlie, a con man implicated in the corruption of Flying Squad officers. During his trial at the Old Bailey in 1978, Charlie alleged he had been set up by a mysterious blonde called Mariella Novotny, codenamed Henry. In court, he claimed: “She is the woman who arranged for the war minister Mr Profumo to be dropped from the cabinet. She gave evidence to the Lord Denning inquiry but that evidence never appeared.”