Helter Skelter

Susan Atkins (see pic) was once a leading member of the Charles Manson Family - an infamous cult responsible for the slaying of actress Sharon Tate.

Whilst on trial in 1969 she confided to a cell-mate that The Family had drawn up a celebrity death list. On that list were Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Liz Taylor, Richard Burton and Tom Jones.

Atkins went on to explain that she intended using a heated knife to carve the words Helter Skelter into Liz Taylor's forehead before gouging out her eyeballs. She would also castrate Richard Burton placing his penis, along with Taylor's eyes, into a bottle which she would then mail to Eddie Fisher (Taylor's former husband).

Tom Jones' fate was to be just as grotesque. At knifepoint she would force him to have sex with her until, at the moment of his climax, she would slit his throat.

Atkins was eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to death. A change in Californian penal law however meant the death penalty was quashed and Atkins given a life sentence instead. She remains in prison to this day.

She does though have her own website run by her lawyer husband. There's even a contact address. I wanted to ask her what she had against two of Wales' most esteemed showbiz personalities. But alas, now that she has become a born-again-Christian, she refuses to answer any questions pertaining to her past crimes. Pity.

How reassuring Atkins' conversion to Christianity (that's another cult isn't it?) is to Tom Jones I'm not quite sure. If I were him I'd have half an eye on her next parole hearing and be careful who I slept with in future.

Then again, God might just be on his side anyway...