Who shot Freddie Mills?

Itโ€™s unfortunate that his final day always takes up the storyโ€ฆ one day of his life. SUZY MILLS, DAUGHTER OF FREDDIE MILLS

IT was July 1965 when former world light-heavyweight champion Freddie Mills was found dead in his car, rifle by his side and blood oozing from his eye. The coronerโ€™s verdict of suicide soon followed but the case was far from closed. His family vehemently rejected the notion that Mills had taken his own life. It was murder, they said.

Fifty-four years later, the mystery surrounding Millsโ€™ death, which occurred behind his popular Soho nightspot in London, continues to transcend the considerable achievements that came before. Conspiracy theories run amok, numerous underworld gangsters remain implicated, and several books have been published that claim to, but fail to, unveil the truth. Four years ago, burgeoning filmmaker and boxing fan Simon Dales was drawn into the seemingly never-ending story and moved to investigate. What he produced is quite simply exceptional.

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NATIONAL HERO: Freddie Mills in his days as real life celebrity

Murder in Soho: Who Killed Freddie Mills, a 90-minute documentary aired last month by BBC Four, tracks the life and career of Mills in detail before exploring the circumstances of his final day: The day that continues to cruelly define Freddie Mills.

The film draws on a cast of boxing historians, journalists, associates, doctors, gangsters, scientists and police officers of the time to create a real-life whodunnit, one that engrosses and educates while paying a glowing tribute to a fighter and father. Dales knew he would need to involve Millsโ€™ surviving family too. A family haunted by Freddieโ€™s death and tormented by the seemingly eternal innuendo it left behind.

โ€œI had to work hard to earn their trust, because they have had some bad experiences with the press in the past,โ€ Dales tells Boxing News about how he persuaded Millsโ€™ daughters Suzy Mills, Amanda Mills Burke and stepson Don McCorkindale, who discovered his dadโ€™s body, to join him on his journey.

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FILM-MAKER: Simon Dales in the midst of making his remarkable film

โ€œAfter sitting down and talking to Simon I realised he was genuine and his intentions were sincere. Iโ€™m a man of the world and I recognise bulls**t straight away,โ€ McCorkindale informs BN.

โ€œI put my total and utter trust in him. I mentioned any reservations that I had during the questions he put to me. It was the same with my two sisters, Suzy and Manda. Any concerns we had were aired and Simon acquiesced them all.โ€

Those concerns were natural given the wild speculation surrounding Freddieโ€™s life and death. Factually incorrect reports in newspapers, books written purely for the sake of sensationalism, and strangers claiming to know more than they possibly could had all soiled the family name.

โ€œI had no interest in breeding more conspiracy theories,โ€ Lane continues. โ€œOne of the things that drew me to it was all these crazy theories that came with no facts. Problem was, all these theories were overshadowing his accomplishments.โ€

Those accomplishments were vast. A career that began in 1936 as a 16-year-old with a one-round victory over Jim Riley in โ€œFearless Freddieโ€™sโ€ hometown of Bournemouth, gathered pace during the second world war. In 1942, at a packed White Hart Lane, Mills signalled his arrival with a savage two-round thrashing of the decorated Len Harvey, a hellacious left hook plummeting the favoured British champion into darkness.

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YOUNG FREDDIE: Mills in the early days of his professional boxing career

โ€œHe tucked his chin down and all hell broke loose,โ€ says London EBAโ€™s Bob Cheeseman to BN when reflecting on Millsโ€™ free-swinging style. A style so fearless and exciting, it soon seduced a country bogged down by the misery of war.

โ€œHe epitomised the bulldog spirit that Britain yearned for,โ€ said veteran fight writer Alan Hubbard during the film. โ€œHe was almost Churchillian in his attitude, he would have fought them on the beaches. Britain needed to be uplifted and the sort of spirit that Freddie showed put heart into the nation.โ€

After returning from service at the conclusion of the war, Freddie Mills โ€“ out of action for 15 months and with very little training โ€“ was served up to world champion, Gus Lesnevich, at the Harringay Arena by his manager, Ted Broadribb. Mills was given just one week to prepare for the shellacking that followed. He rose from four heavy knockdowns in round two โ€“ shown in shocking detail in the film โ€“ to take the fight to the American before being pummelled to defeat in the 10th.

Murder in Soho reveals it was after that bout that Mills suspected something was wrong. The battering had been so severe that the fighter started to suffer from headaches. Headaches that accompanied bouts of depression. Headaches and depression that would, 19 years later, be attributed to Freddie taking his own life. The film tells us that Mills privately admitted that he was never the same fighter again after that brutal reverse.

That he gained revenge over Lesnevich to become champion two years later says more about Freddie Mills than any coronerโ€™s verdict or conspiracy theory ever could. In an era where world titles were scarce, and British rulers even more so, Mills captured the publicโ€™s affection with a heroic display to take the โ€˜Yankโ€™sโ€™ championship via 15-round decision at the White City Stadium. He had achieved his lifelong dream. He truly ruled the world.

โ€œTo beat an American for the world title, at one of the heavier weights, was unusual,โ€ remarked BNโ€™s own Miles Templeton. โ€œNot many British fighters had done that. It transcended the sport of boxing.โ€

By 1950, after a failed bid for the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight titles against Bruce Woodcock and surrendering his world 175lbs championship to Joey Maxim, Mills had retired with a record of 77-18-6 (55).

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ON THE ATTACK: Mills en route to taking the world title from Lesnevich

โ€œBoxing is a very funny game,โ€ Mills can be heard saying after his career was over. โ€œItโ€™s a game where two strangers shake hands, belt the life out of each other and then shake hands again and they become pals for the rest of their lives. Nothing has thrilled me quite so much before I took up boxing or since.โ€

And so Mills boarded the post-boxing rollercoaster that would come to a tragic halt on a summerโ€™s night in 1965. Through the fifties and early sixties, the ride was largely triumphant. He transitioned from sporting hero to national hero and became an early embodiment of the word โ€˜celebrityโ€™ we know today.

Freddie was adored everywhere he went. Traffic would stop. Crowds would swarm. Audiences would swoon. As he became a regular staple on television and film his popularity was so great it would have been unthinkable back then to imagine the lack of appreciation he has received since his departure.

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CELEBRITY: Mills plays for the cameras at the height of his fame

โ€œHe beat everyone in the world, he was loved by the whole country and the subsequent knighthoods given to lesser people,โ€ says McCorkindale as his voice cracks, โ€œwell, you know what I think about that.โ€

The most tragic thing in all of it, perhaps, is that Mills was not around to defend the myriad accusations that were aimed at him. The first was that ruling of suicide.

โ€œI think thereโ€™s a lack of evidence to point to suicide,โ€ Dales says. โ€œFrom all the police files Iโ€™ve read and interviews I conducted I always felt it was more likely to be murder. I tried to remain detached from it while making it and keep an open mind, which is why the film spends so much time addressing suicide. But during filming I realised it pointed more towards murder.โ€

So why was suicide ruled? Aside from the depression, the headaches and a suggestion that Mills may have been suffering from the early stages of brain damage, his television career had dwindled. In turn, his finances took a hit. He struggled to keep afloat as the bills piled up. It all became too much, it was ruled, and he put the rifle he had borrowed to his eye and pulled the trigger.

His nightclub, anchored in the centre of gangland crime, almost certainly became a target for high-flying racketeers. Protection money would have been ordered. That too could have been a factor in suicide, true, but itโ€™s also why murder becomes just as likely. Mills, perhaps inadvertently, had got himself deeply embroiled in a world he did not belong. Furthermore, a stray bullet hole was also in the car, itโ€™s believed his eyes were open when the final shot was fired, and the act of neatly placing the gun beside him was surely impossible for a man who had just sent a bullet through his face.

โ€œIt is hard to make head or tail of what happened in terms of suicide,โ€ observed Professor Brian J Ford, a scientific and forensic investigator who was invited to look at the case one week after Millsโ€™ death.

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THEORIES: Professor Brian Ford closely examines the Mills case

โ€œIt is much easier to work it out in terms of murder. Freddie Mills, as we know, was close to the underworld, he knew a lot of criminals, he associated with a lot of them. We donโ€™t know if he was being blackmailed, we know that he was heavily in debt over his club. It has been suggested that he owed an awful lot of money. The police statements suggest that he had borrowed the gun to commit suicide but might he not have borrowed it to protect himself?

โ€œFreddie sits in his car, somebody approaches, taps on the window, thereโ€™s a struggle. The guy grabs Freddieโ€™s gun, the gun goes off and makes a hole in the door of the car. The guy then points the gun at his eye. Bang, he shoots. The eye is blown out and the guy puts the gun down strategically to give the impression of suicide. That makes sense.โ€

It’s at this point of the story where Dalesโ€™ film excels. We are privy to reports that highlight lazy policing, evidence to strongly counter suicide that was bodged out of shape, and โ€“ most pertinently of all โ€“ we discover that testimony from family and friends of Mills was swatted away like flies.

On the night of his death, his daughters recall a happy man. A man who allowed them to stay up late to watch The Beatles on the Morecambe and Wise Show, a man who danced with them, who kissed them goodnight before he went to his club. A man, a loving father, who told his girls he would see them in the morning. A man who by almost all accounts had no intention whatsoever of ending his life.

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RECONSTRUCTION: The BBC recreate the scene of Mills’ death

And it was the police forceโ€™s failure to exhaust all accounts and all avenues, seemingly making their mind up that it was suicide from the moment they saw his body, that opened the gates for a crowd of imposters to lift their feet and stamp all over Millsโ€™ memory.

Perhaps the most troubling was writer Michael Litchfield, whose book The Secret Life of Freddie Mills pins the crimes of โ€˜Jack The Stripperโ€™ on Mills. The murders of several prostitutes, from 1959-1965 remains unsolved and Mills was never a suspect for good reason. Even so, Litchfieldโ€™s book garnered plenty of attention when it was published. Dales felt such notoriety was important to reference and in turn dismiss. Indeed, Litchfield is given just enough rope as he struggles to justify his outrageous claim.

โ€œIt was important to talk to Michael Litchfield at least, but I wasnโ€™t sure if I was going to use it at all,โ€ Dales explains. โ€œMeeting him and talking to him you could tell he didnโ€™t have any facts to back it up. So it was worth letting him try and explain it for himself because he couldnโ€™t explain anything at all.โ€

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MYSTERY: The cause of Mills death remains unsolved

But there were other theories that carried significantly greater weight. One came from Roger Huntman, the son of shady boxing agent Lenny Huntman, who claimed his father colluded with US Mafia boss, Mayer Lansky, and ordered the death of Mills after the former fighter โ€“ needing ยฃ2,500 to pay off his debts โ€“ threatened to go to โ€œFleet Streetโ€ with incriminating information if they didnโ€™t get him the money.

The film concludes with Roger meeting Don McCorkindale and confessing the sins of his father.

โ€œRoger Huntmanโ€™s theory at the end is not proven,โ€ explains Dales. โ€œBut a lot of it makes sense and there was no reason for him to come forward if it wasnโ€™t true. Rogerโ€™s story is quite convincing and โ€“ from all the many stories and theories I came across โ€“ his is the only one that made sense. [But] itโ€™s yet another story relating to Freddie Mills, it fit the film and sums up the whole mystery around Freddie.โ€

McCorkindale, now heโ€™s had time to digest the tale, does not believe that Huntman was responsible for his dadโ€™s death.

โ€œTo quote Andy Warhol,โ€ says Don, โ€œRoger was looking for his 15 minutes of fame. I believe he was sincere, I believe he believed what his father told him. But he was nervous, and it was a difficult meeting for Roger. His body language and facial expressions told it all.โ€

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MEETING: Huntman [right] tells McCorkindale what he believes happened to Mills

McCorkindale has his own theory on his stepfatherโ€™s death after he was told who killed Mills during a meeting with underworld enforcer Johnny Bradbury in a South African prison. Bradbury is now dead and the truth unlikely to ever emerge. As Dales and McCorkindale accept, 54 years is long enough for memories to warp, and too long for a case to be made against anyone.

โ€œThe terrible thing is that weโ€™ll never know for sure,โ€ says Bob Cheeseman, who now runs the Freddie Mills Club for disadvantaged children. Cheeseman idolised Freddie. He was 18 at the time of his death and fondly recalls his last meeting with him in Hove.

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FAMILY MAN: Mills and his daughters pose in a Wendy house at their home

โ€œHe was always so alive! He was always laughing and joking and he was a very likeable guy. Iโ€™m over the moon that Simon Dales looked into as much as he did. Freddieโ€™s death was handled like a car crash, but Simon does a brilliant job of highlighting that chaos. At the end of the day youโ€™re left to form your own opinion.โ€

Indeed. And therein lies the beauty of Simon Dalesโ€™ film. You form your own opinion on the great career of Freddie Mills. On the great man he was. And the great father he remains.

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