Police
Interview Transcript
17/11/65
Contd.
Page 45
DENNIS:
If you would just answer the question, Mr Harrison?
HARRISON:
I would if I knew what the fuck you were talking about.
DENNIS:
ThereÕs no call for that sort of language, sir.
HARRISON:
Sorry. IÕmÉ I feel ill. IÕm tired; my headÕs killing me, and my shoulder. DÕyou
think I could get an aspirin or something?
MYLES:
When weÕre done here, sir, yes.
DENNIS:
IÕll give you my idea of what happened then, shall I? I believe when Miss
Burgess told you all this, you were angry. No, not angry, livid Ð livid that
she could have tricked you for so long.
HARRISON:
WeÕve been over this. We argued in the club, I left and she followed me
outside.
MYLES:
What happened outside?
HARRISON:
She tried to stop me leaving Ð I think.
DENNIS:
And that was when you hurt your shoulder?
HARRISON:
Yes, it must have been.
DENNIS:
How? What did you do?
HARRISON:
IÉ I donÕt remember. I fell over, I think. The car wasÉ
DENNIS:
Your car?
HARRISON:
Yes. I got into the car, and Grace didÉ I think she did.
DENNIS:
Would you say you were drunk?
HARRISON:
Yes, of course I was. IÕve told you this. ThatÕs why I canÕt remember whatÉ
DENNIS:
So you were driving while intoxicated.
HARRISON:
Yes. I must have been.
DENNIS:
And whereÕs your car now?
HARRISON:
Now? At home I guess.
DENNIS:
In Esher?
HARRISON:
Yes.
DENNIS:
Your home on the Claremont estate, Esher, known as Kinfauns?
HARRISON:
Yes. IÕve said that, havenÕt I?
DENNIS:
So why would it have been found in Chelsea earlier today?
HARRISON:
Chelsea?
DENNIS:
About ten yards from Miss BurgessÕ flat.
HARRISON:
IÉ I donÕtÉ I thought I drove homeÉ I got in to the carÉ but I donÕt remember
driving. I could have left it in town.
MYLES:
That still doesnÕt account for how it got to be in Chelsea, sir.
DENNIS:
How did you hurt your shoulder, Mr Harrison?
HARRISON:
IÉ ItÉ I fell overÉ
DENNIS:
Would you say you were a violent man?
HARRISON:
No!
MYLES:
How about if you were provoked, sir?
HARRISON:
Well, I donÕt know. No, IÕm not violent.
DENNIS:
But youÕve been in fights before?
HARRISON:
HasnÕt everyone?
DENNIS:
Maxwell Carver? Remember him?
HARRISON:
Maxwell CarverÉ I donÕtÉ heÉ heÕs the fella from the Help party, isnÕt he? The
one who died.
DENNIS:
Yes. Maxwell Carver was an American entrepreneur. Made his money from hotels.
He and you were involved in a fight in the street that led to his death that
night onÉ. July 19th.
HARRISON:
I wouldnÕt have called it a fight, and he was hit by a car. A taxi. ThatÕs what
led to his death.
DENNIS:
ThatÕs not what Miss Burgess said in her statement that same night.
HARRISON:
What? What did she say?
DENNIS:
If I could read to youÉ ÒGeorge was jealous of my previous relationship with
Maxwell. It escalated in to a fight in the street. I was shouting for them to
stop, then George hit Maxwell and he fell back in to the road and was hit by
the taxi.Ó
HARRISON:
GraceÉ she didnÕt know him. He ran up to her calling her somethingÉ Bridget I
think, and Grace was scared. I told him to leave her alone.
DENNIS:
Did you hit him? Before he fell into the road?
HARRISON:
YesÉ But not hard. He was drunk; he just fell over like a rag doll.
DENNIS:
How did you hurt your shoulder Mr Harrison? Could it have been in a fight as well?
HARRISON:
No.
MYLES:
There was also a domestic incident reported where Miss Burgess was hurt. Quite
badly.
HARRISON:
She did that to herself! For fuckÕs sakeÉ
MYLES:
Yes, it says here in the report by the attending constable.
DENNIS:
Do you drink a lot, sir?
HARRISON:
A bit.
DENNIS:
YouÕve been seen drunk quite a lot recently. In one newspaper you were reported
to be publicly arguing with Miss Boyd in a club in Soho. ThatÕs Miss Boyd, who
youÕre no longer seeing, yes?
HARRISON:
[Nods] PattieÉ
DENNIS:
I would put to you Mr Harrison, that last night, the sixteenth of November you
went to the Commodore Club with Miss Burgess, where you consumed a lot of
alcohol. Then when she told you how she had tricked you Ð the medical bills,
and so on, you became angry and were arguing loudly with her. When the proprietor
asked you to leave you drove Miss Burgess back to her flat in Chelsea, where
the argument escalated into a fight and you killed Miss Burgess in the early
hours of this morning by striking her from behind with a heavy object. Then you
returned to your home in Esher.
HARRISON:
No! GraceÉ I didnÕt hurt her! I certainly did not kill her!
MYLES:
George Harrison, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Grace Alice
Burgess. You do not have to say anything. Anything you do say will be taken
down and may be used in evidence against you.
END OF INTERVIEW
