Watergate plotter Howard Hunt dies, aged 88

HOWARD HUNT, who helped organise the Watergate break-in that led to the greatest scandal in American political history and the downfall of Richard Nixon’s presidency, has died.

Hunt, 88, died on Tuesday after a lengthy bout of pneumonia, according to his son Austin.

The elder Hunt was many things: Second World War soldier, CIA officer, organiser of both a Guatemalan coup and the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, and author of more than 80 books, many from the spy-tale genre.