A fresh investigation is set to shed new light on the mysterious disappearance of a millionaire from a Donegal island.
Arthur Kingsley Porter, aged 50, was last seen alive by his wife Lucy on the tiny Gaeltacht Island Inis Bó Finne or Inishbofin off the northwest coast of Donegal on 8th July 1933.
The Harvard teacher disappeared while out walking, but no body was ever recovered.
READ MORE: Irish hotel CCTV shows final moments of mystery man found dead on Sligo beach
An inquest – the first held in the Irish State without a body – accepted his wife’s opinion that the internationally-renowned academic slipped, fell into the ocean, and was washed out to sea.
His mysterious disappearance is re-examined by veteran investigative journalist and filmmaker Kevin Magee for TG4 in an hour-long documentary to be screened next week.
It reveals that many of the islanders and a surviving relative of Porter’s believe he may have staged his death to create a new, secret life for himself abroad.
“What I believe happened, to put it simply as possible, is that he faked his own death,” Porter’s grand-nephew Scott Arneill told the programme.
The TG4 documentary includes the first broadcast of a tape recording of a late friend of Lucy Porter’s speculating on what happened to her husband Arthur. The programme also reveals that the millionaire had changed his will not long before he disappeared.
Around the time of his disappearance Arthur was being treated for depression by the eminent London-based sexologist Havelock Ellis, who recommended that he take a young male lover which he did with his wife’s knowledge.
Not long before he went missing, Arthur confided to Ellis that he was concerned details of his clandestine relationship would be made public. Homosexuality was illegal at the time.
On July 8, 1933, Porter was staying in a small two-roomed cabin he owned on Inishbofin, some 15 miles from Glenveagh Castle - which he and his wife had bought in 1929 for £5,000.
Within hours of him going missing, Porter’s wife Lucy told a friend: “Kingsley will not return tonight. Kingsley will never return.”
Speaking about the upcoming programme, Magee said: “I came across this story of Arthur Kinglsey Porter when I first started visiting Inis Bó Finne about twenty years ago. Talking to people there, I heard lots of folklore and many different stories and theories as to what had happened to him.
“When the rich American disappeared, the rumour mill went into overdrive. In this documentary I have tried to set-aside the fiction and bring together all the facts both new and old, and tie them together.
“Hopefully the viewers will be able to draw their own conclusions as to what happened to the American millionaire Arthur Kingsley Porter on the day he disappeared without trace.”
Ar Iarraidh – Scéal Arthur Kingsley Porter will air on TG4 on Wednesday, September 7 at 9.30 pm.
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