Police are re-investigating the death of Dame Shirley Bassey’s daughter over claims that a convicted murderer admitted he was ”involved” in her mysterious death.
Tragic Samantha Novak, 21, was found lying face-down in the River Avon near Bristol in 1985 and an inquest ruled that her death was a tragic accident.
Officers are now investigating claims connecting convicted murderer Michael Moffat, 47, to the mysterious death of Dame Shirley’s youngest daughter.
Moffat was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 11 years after he killed his lover Penny Beale, 31, in Hastings, East Sussex in 2001.
But Penny’s mother, also named Penny, 60, has contacted police to reveal that her daughter claimed Moffat was ”involved” in Samantha’s death before she was murdered.
Last year Dame Shirley, who lives in Monte Carlo and has an elder daughter Sharon and adopted son Mark, revealed she was suspicious of Samantha’s death.
She said: ”I never believed (that she killed herself). If she’d jumped off the bridge, all her bones would have been broken. She didn’t have any water in her lungs.”
Penny Beale also revealed to her mother that Moffat was in a relationship with Samantha Novak at the time she died.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Carter, leader of the cold-case review team for Avon and Somerset Police, said officers are now making ”fresh inquiries”.
He said: ”We’ll speak to his doctors, psychiatrists and people close to him. We are making fresh inquiries.
”The mother of Moffat’s victim wrote to us with some information in the last couple of weeks.
”Her daughter had said that Moffat told her he was involved in the murder of Samantha Novak.
”Within the next three or four weeks we’ll decide whether we will travel to Scotland to speak to Moffat.
”We looked at the circumstances surrounding the death six months ago after comments made by Dame Shirley Bassey.
”There was nothing from the coroner’s report to suggest it was murder rather than suicide. This information is obviously additional so we are making fresh inquiries.”
Moffat, who is originally from Edinburgh, was jailed for life after he battered his lover Penny, 31, to death in Hastings, East Sussex, in November 2001.
The brutal attack left Penny with 123 injuries including 18 broken ribs, while her liver, spleen and lungs were also ruptured.
However, shortly before Moffat murdered Penny, she told her mother that he had boasted of being in a relationship with Samantha when she died.
It is also claimed that he warned Penny and another ex-girlfriend that they would suffer a similar fate to Samantha.
Penny’s mother, who still lives in Hastings, revealed the fresh information earlier this month in a letter to police who have now re-opened the case.
Moffat is currently being held in a Scottish prison and is believed to have a parole hearing arranged for next month.
An Avon and Somerset Police spokeswoman added: ”The mother of Moffat’s victim wrote to us with some information in the last couple of weeks.
”Her daughter had said that Moffat told her he was involved in the murder of Samantha Novak.
”We looked at the circumstances surrounding the death six months ago after comments made by Dame Shirley Bassey.
”There was nothing from the coroner’s report to suggest it was murder rather than suicide. This information is obviously additional so we are making fresh inquiries.”
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