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.
