Film to claim rock star was murdered

A new film is to claim that Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones was murdered.

Jones’s body was found floating in his swimming pool of his Sussex mansion in 1969.

Drink and drugs were found in his bloodstream and an inquest recorded a verdict of misadventure.

But a British film, The Wild and Wycked World of Brian Jones will put forward the theory that the 27-year-old was murdered by Frank Thorogood, an East End builder working on the star’s home.

Thorogood reportedly confessed to the murder on his deathbed in 1993, saying: “It was me that did Brian. I just finally snapped.”

Film maker, Stephen Woolley, who has explored real life events before in Scandal (about the Profumo affair) and Backbeat (about the early days of the Beatles) has spent 10 years researching the project.

The murder theory has been advanced before in several books but this is the first film to make the claim.

Jones’s Swedish girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, has always maintained that Thorogood was cheating the star out of money over renovation work on his home and that an argument led to the murder.

Woolley, who produced The Crying Game, will direct the film.

He said: “The project has taken 10 years to get off the ground partly because the script took a long time. I wanted the film to be a piece of entertainment which reflects the fact.

“I don’t want to do a documentary and at the same time I don’t want to do a rock biopic. I’m doing a murder mystery.”

Thorogood’s family have not been consulted about the film.

Woolley said: “This is my version of events, just like Scandal. Audiences can see it and make up their minds.”

The film is set in the final few weeks of Jones’s life and will focus on his relationship with Thorogood, flashing back to his childhood and the early days of the Stones.

Jones was sacked from the band a few weeks before his death.

The $10m (€8.3m) project starts shooting in September and British actor Tom Hardy is in talks to star the debauched rock icon.

Meanwhile another biopic of a British music star is on the way.

Moby is to produce a film about the late Joy Division singer, Ian Curtis, who committed suicide in 1980.

Members of Joy Division – whose biggest hit was Love Will Tear Us Apart went on to form New Order.

They are understood to have given their seal of approval to the as yet untitled film, which begins shooting next year.

Chart star Moby will be the executive producer and will be responsible for the soundtrack.