News of the World: 4 November 1990, p36-37

News of the World probe into model's links with arms deals, intrigue and ransom

Pan Koupparis

Pan Koupparis
Photograph from police exhibit 10 page 115
Image scanned by BrainStorm

Kay Kent

Kay Kent
Photograph from YOU Magazine (The Mail On Sunday) 5 May, 1991

Spy Murder Riddle of Monroe Double

EXCLUSIVE by BILL DAVEY

'Kay fell victim to hitman's revenge'

Tragic Marilyn Monroe look-alike Kay Kent was entangled in a sinister international web of spies and arms deals, the News of the World can reveal.
        Startling new evidence uncovered by us suggests the 25-year-old blond found dead a year ago could have been MURDERED.
        The beauty with the hour-glass figure was Britain's best-known Monroe impersonator.
        She died in the wake of a bizarre £9 million plot to blackmail a foreign government.
        And now police are re-investigating Kay's death, which had looked like a drink-and-drugs repeat of Monroe's end 27 years earlier.
        Kay's naked body was found sprawled across her bed at her home in Chatham, Kent.
        The Key to the Riddle surrounding the tragedy is shady Greek Cypriot businessman Pan Koupparis [a].

Poison

He became infatuated with Kay, who portrayed Monroe hundreds of times and starred in the hit Holsten Pils TV ad with Griff Rhys Jones.
        Koupparis, 39, admits peddling arms and spy equipment to Israelis and Arabs [b].
        "I made a lot of enemies." he explains at his home in Peckham, south London. "And there had been many threats [c].
        "Anyone who mixed with me was in danger."
        "And I'm convinced that's why Kay was murdered.
        "I believe she was given a massive dose of morphine by someone who wanted it to look like suicide."
        In 1989 Koupparis was jailed for five years at the Old Bailey for trying to blackmail the Cyprus government.
        He had threatened to release clouds of poison gas unless they paid up £9 million.
        Because he had served so long in custody, Koupparis has now been released from prison.
        And speaking for the first time about Kay, who he met at Stringfellows night-club in London in 1987, he revealed:
        'Kay had a superb figure and I was bowled over by her. All the blokes at Stringfellows wanted to chat her up.
        But I managed to get her phone number because I persuaded her I had business propositions to discuss with her.
        At the time I had lots of money to play around with.
        I was officially resident in Cyprus, but staying in some of the best places in London.
        I often travelled by Rolls and stayed at £200- a-night hotels.
        Soon after our meeting I picked Kay up at a model agency in Chelsea and took her in a chauffeur-driven car to an expensive Italian restaurant in St. John's Wood, London.
        I offered to put her on a £25,000-a-year retainer and help launch a range of fashions and cosmetics based on her. At the same time I got her to agree to fly to Cyprus with me and try to meet the island's president.
        When I was arrested on the blackmail charge I planned to call Kay as a main defence witness at my trial.
        She would have told the court we'd been engaged in bona fide business dealings in Cyprus [d], including meeting the president.
        But there were a lot of people - individuals and foreign governments - who wanted to see me locked away.

Ruthless

Then, just after the trial started, Kay died.
        She'd become unwittingly involved in my dealings.
        And I feel sure she was being followed by someone.
        The sort of people who were out to get me and my associates were completely ruthless and would have stopped at nothing, including murder'
        Scotland Yard had been secretly watching Koupparis as part of an investigation codenamed Operation Drifter.
        And the News of the World can now reveal how Kay innocently figured in their surveillance. A police report describes the blackmailer leaving London on a train from Charing Cross for one of his many meetings with Kay in Kent.
        The entry states: "8.25pm. Target meets with blond female approximate age 25 years wearing pink jumper, blue jeans.
        "Together they go into Wimpy bar near Gillingham station."
        But Chatham police who later investigated the look-alike's death were never told of her connection with Koupparis and his life of danger and intrigue.
        Instead she was said to be depressed over the death of her mother and her split from boyfriend, rock singer Dean Hammond.
        Kay's agent Julie Joseph said: "I always thought there might be something funny about her death.
        "Kay had a big new contract at the time and seemed fine."
        And now a Chatham detective has confirmed: "certain information relating to the death of Kay Kent has been presented to us and we're investigating."
Fig.1: News of the World headline:

MONROE
DOUBLE
IN NUDE
SUICIDE

Caption: Kay's death in June 1989

Fig 2: Photograph:
Caption: PAN: 'I have made many enemies'

Fig. 3: Photograph:
Caption: KAY: 'It's as if I inherited Marilyn's troubles by taking on her appearance'

Wreath of Hate!

By TIM SPANTON
Kay spent hours every day making herself look EXACTLY like screen goddess Marilyn.
        She bleached her hair and had her breasts enlarged to precisely the same size as the legend's.
        But some twisted fans obsessed with the dead star hated her for it.
        They made chilling late-night phone calls to her and one even sent a funeral wreath with the message: "There was only one Marilyn. Let her rest in peace."
        Shortly before Kay died she admitted: "I'm really scared by the behaviour of some of these people.
        "They're making my life a nightmare.
        "By taking on Marilyn's appearance. it's almost as though I've inherited her troubles.
        "One guy in particular really scared me.
        "He started off by writing to me very nicely. He told me he was a 20-year-old motor mechanic and keen on body building.
        "But his letters became increasingly bizarre, and finally downright threatening.
        "When I refused to meet him, he wrote the most awful letter saying I was desecrating Marilyn's memory and didn't deserve to live."
        Kay recalled how another fan discovered where she lived and started leaving red roses on her doorstep in the early morning.
        "First I found two lying by the milk bottles," she said.
        "I thought it was a lovely gesture-but then I began to get scared.
        "My secret admirer continued to leave me a pair of red roses every week.
        "Then one day I opened the door and was confronted by a dozen-with the heads cut off! I was really upset.

Notes:

  1. Pan Koupparis was born in Britain of British parents.
  2. Mr Koupparis denies ever dealing in arms and disputes most of what Mr Davey has attributed to him. He began libel proceedings against the News of the World and Mr Davey, but his solicitor, Mrs Frear of J Keith Park & Co., caused the action to become time-barred. Mr Koupparis is currently suing the firm for negligence.
  3. The 'enemies' Mr Koupparis claims are the British and Cypriot Government officials who conspired to secure his wrongful conviction. They are also the source of 'threats' against his safety. Mr Zenon Stavrinides, a journalist who has interviewed Mr Koupparis and various witnesses in this case is also the subject of Greek-Cypriot death threats.
  4. Mr Davey was shown Dr Ashton's medical report establishing the defence of involuntary, drug-induced psychosis but chose to ignore it, thus mis-stating the defence case.
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