List of defendants involved in Operation Tiger trial
Charles Brown, originally from Lanarkshire, was an economist for British Rail and later a senior civil servant; he maintained a warm, friendly sense of humour throughout; he lived then and still lives with his partner Gerard Walsh.
Jonathan Cutbill had been involved with Gay’s the Word from its early days, was an information systems expert at Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum, and was an authority on the poet Wilfred Owen. He amassed an unrivalled collection of rare and interesting books on LGBT+ subjects which, upon his death aged 82 in August 2019, numbered about 30,000. These went to the University of London’s Senate House Library.
Peter Dorey funded Gay’s the Word when it was a portable bookseller visiting gay venues and conferences before it found permanent premises. He was a sound technician for the BBC and was perhaps the quietest in a group of strong characters. Peter provided invaluable advice and information for the preparation of this account but before it was published he died in his sleep on the night of 11/12 February 2021 after being ill for several years.
John Duncan was manager of the shop when it recovered from some early commercial stumbles and later went on to be circulation manager of the New Statesman. He had a great sense of humour and fun. He would have been a central figure in the trial because he wrote letters to Ed Hermance of Giovanni’s Room asking for help in avoiding detection by Customs using the ploy of sending ‘ordinary books’ to Glenn’s flat but ‘For all “obscene books” (e.g. JGS, Meat, most Gay Sunshine material, or anything else that could possibly be labelled pornographic) please send to J. Runcie, [delivery address, Duncan’s home in London N1].’ Runcie was the name of the then archbishop of Canterbury. John died aged 32 of Aids-related complications on 18 January 1993.
Paud Hegarty was also a manager of the shop, who after the case was compounded trained as a lawyer but died from Aids-related complications in 2000 aged 45. He was a tall, gentle man originally from the Republic of Ireland with a dry wit and a fine understanding of Marxist theory.
Lesley Jones was the subscriptions manager at Gay News when I met her in 1980. She and Amanda Russell were lovers and it was through Russell that Jones volunteered at Gay’s the Word, where she later became a director. She always had a smile and a kind word. Some years later she emigrated with a new partner to Canada but now lives and works in Leeds.
Glenn McKee was originally from Downpatrick in Northern Ireland and when he came to London he approached Gay Icebreakers. This led to him getting involved in the bookshop where he started the Gay Men’s Disabled Group, which was the first of its kind.
Amanda Russell was one of the funniest, friendliest, toughest lesbians one could hope to meet who, after managing the shop, went to work for Lesbian Line and then moved to Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. She and Jones started the Lesbian Discussion Group that still meets at the shop on Wednesday evenings, which makes it the oldest such group in existence. Amanda died of leukaemia on 4 September 2023 aged 69.
Gerard Walsh, a native Londoner, was an economist and writer for the Economist Intelligence Unit, who lives now as he did then with his partner Charles Brown.