Revealed, after 58 years... What Mick Jagger told police about Marianne Faithfull on night that sparked 'Mars bar' myth

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

It is one of the most famous rock scandals of all time.
In February 1967, police stormed the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards ' country house in West Sussex and arrested Richards and Mick Jagger for drug possession, leading to the pair spending several hours in jail.
Now a newly unearthed statement made by the Stones' lead singer while he was on bail reveals extraordinary details about the circumstances of the Redlands raid – including that Jagger believed he was under state surveillance at the time, and that the phone line to his flat in London 'was being tapped'.
The 14 pages of typed statement – described by Rolling Stones biographer Philip Norman as 'highly significant' – reveal Jagger believed his calls were 'not being monitored but being taped' and that the authority for this had been given 'from quite high up'.
He also believed his flat was being watched. In the statement, taken shortly after the raid, he says: 'I am sure I was being watched at my flat.
The method of observation was either from a florists' van or a removal van.
'Apart from my own observation, I was being told by two sources that I was being watched [including] Keith Richards' chauffeur.'
Jagger, then 24, also said his phone was 'always going wrong and people were getting through with wrong numbers'.
The 14 pages of typed statement (pictured) – described by Rolling Stones biographer Philip Norman as 'highly significant' – reveal Jagger believed his calls were 'not being monitored but being taped' and that the authority for this had been given 'from quite high up'
He added: 'I was told that the telephone was being tapped by a contact at the GPO [General Post Office]... He told me I should be careful what I said. He said he thought it was being done with authority from quite high up.'
The statement was discovered during a London house clearance in the 1980s and was passed to a collector. It has never before been made public.
Mr Norman called the statement 'a fascinating addition to one of the great rock scandals of all time'.
He said the details of the alleged surveillance support claims that the FBI had plotted to persuade the British establishment to secure drugs charges against the Stones.
Such charges would prevent their entry to the US, where authorities feared they could add fuel to the cultural revolution.
The incident saw Jagger take responsibility for amphetamines found at Redlands which were said to have belonged to his then-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, who was not charged.
Richards was charged with allowing cannabis to be smoked on the property, and another guest, Robert Fraser, was charged with possessing heroin.
Jagger was jailed for three months in October 1967 and Richards for one year, but the pair spent only one night in prison. Jagger was taken to Brixton Prison and Richards to Wormwood Scrubs, but Jagger's punishment was quickly overturned and Richards' conviction quashed.
The case caused an outcry and Times editor William Rees-Mogg criticised their harsh treatment in an essay entitled 'Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?'
The trial, in Chichester, heard lurid details that Ms Faithfull had been naked but for a fur rug, which she was said to have partially dropped in front of police.
It also led to unfounded rumours that Jagger had been performing a sex act on her with a Mars bar when the 18 officers burst into the mansion.
Convent-educated Ms Faithfull, who died this January, was reportedly traumatised by the allegations.
In the statement Jagger – who was knighted in 2003 – says 'there is no truth in the allegation Marianne allowed the rug to drop' and that it covered more of her than the clothes she normally wore.
Mr Norman said the remark from Jagger about the rug was important because 'he's never commented about that at all'.
The fascinating pages were discovered in a brown envelope rescued during the house clearance by an alarm fitter, who passed them to a Rolling Stones fan.
The fan, who declined to comment, is selling the statement alongside other memorabilia.
Mr Norman described its contents as significant because Jagger has still, to this day, never publicly commented about being under surveillance or even the raid.
'He's said he can't even remember which prison he was in, which is ridiculous,' Mr Norman said.
The author said Jagger's statement 'adds substance' to the idea that the FBI were 'in cahoots' with UK spies to stop the Stones going back to America: 'Police alone wouldn't have watched [Jagger] like that or tapped his phone.'
Mr Norman also highlighted the 'clear details' Jagger set out.
The statement reveals how he recalled Ms Faithfull wearing 'black velvet trousers, white bra, white blouse and black coat' and 'mauve boots' before she went to bed for a brief nap.
She then reappeared in the lounge not long before police turned up at 8pm 'wearing only a large fur rug'.
Mr Norman said: 'He has always just said he can't remember anything about anything. Yet there's this spot-on memory of what Marianne took off before [wearing] the rug.'
He added that Jagger's statement 'adds fresh detail to the scandal which [Redlands] was'.
Mr Norman branded the authorities 'disgraceful' for targeting 'musicians doing nothing terrible other than making rather louche singles'.
The statement details what everyone did on the day and the drugs taken – but potentially incriminating comments are crossed out. The party was said to be the first time Jagger took hallucinogen LSD.
Surrey auctioneers Ewbank's, who are selling the statement on August 21 with other Stones memorabilia from the same fan, described it as a 'significant historic document'.
The company's specialist John Silke said: '[Jagger's] testimony is the most extraordinary document.'