Former Aide to Fergie Held in Murder Case

L O N D O N, Sept. 20, 2000 -- Police today arrested the Duchess of York’sformer personal assistant on suspicion of murder after the ex-aide’smillionaire boyfriend was found stabbed to death at their Londonhome.

After a two-day search, police found 33-year-old Jane Andrewssitting in her car which was parked, at dawn, by a motorway inCornwall, southwest England. Officers said she was in a distressedstate.

The body of her boyfriend, Tom Cressman, was found by a workassociate. Police said he died from a single stab wound to thechest.

Duchess ‘Shocked’

Cressman, 39, ran a business supplying covers for classic carsand was a business partner of former racing driver Sir StirlingMoss. Andrews and Cressman had been together for two years.

Andrews was the duchess’s dresser and accounts manager, and alsoa close companion who traveled with her on foreign trips. She hadsince worked in London’s fashion industry and for a leading jewelrystore.

Today’s Mirror newspaper quoted the duchess, the formeras Sarah Ferguson, as saying she was “overwhelmed and shocked” atCressman’s slaying and the ensuing police hunt for Andrews, whoworked for her from 1988 to 1997.

The duchess, or Fergie as she is popularly known, married thequeen’s second son, Andrew, in 1986. The couple divorced in 1992.