BiteBack Publishing

The murder of Grigori Rasputin, mystic, healer and advisor to the Tsar and Tsaritsa, Nicholas and Alexandra, remains one of the most intriguing crimes of the last century. Rasputin was lured to the St Petersburg palace of Prince Felix Yusupov, son of the richest man in Russia, where he was allegedly poisoned by a group of leading Russian nobles, including Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. Legend has it that Rasputin survived the poisoning, and was therefore shot a number of times before being thrown alive into the freezing Neva River.

The official truth behind the killing is that Rasputin was murdered to remove his influence over the Tsaritsa. However, in 2004 former Metropolitan Police Commander Richard Cullen helped reveal to the world that British secret services were involved in the plot to kill Rasputin, with a young British secret service officer called Oswald Rayner even firing the fatal shot. Cullen was not satisfied and determined to delve further into the plot. He has uncovered a genuine story of sexual tensions, torture and murder in which MI6 was up to its neck.

With the help of forensic scientists, he looks at witness testimonies, contemporary police and official reports, clothing and photographs, and forensically examines the crime scene itself. Along the way, he uncovered a probable homosexual affair between Yusupov and Pavlovich, and reported suggestions of one between Yusopov and Rasputin, adding a sexual element to the crime. He also discovered that with MI6 at least looking on, if not actively taking part. Rasputin was tortured so brutally that his testicles were completely crushed, almost certainly to make him disclose links with Germany that never existed.

 

In this extraordinary book, an experienced former Scotland Yard detective rips apart the myths surrounding one of the most fascinating murder cases in history and proves the involvement of British spooks in the protracted torture and murder of one of the major figures of the twentieth century.