CJ de Mooi: Eggheads star arrested on suspicion of murder

CJ de Mooi, the former star of the BBC TV quiz show Eggheads, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The 46-year-old was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, under a European arrest warrant issued by Dutch Police.

Arrested under his birth name Joseph Connagh, he is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

De Mooi joined Eggheads when it started in 2003 as one of the panel of quiz experts who pitted their wits against contestants drawn from members of the public.

The former model left the show earlier this year, announcing that he was going to South Africa to pursue a career in acting.

In a brief statement, Scotland Yard gave his address as Monmouthshire, in Wales, where de Mooi is believed to have spent time living with his male civil partner.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A man was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, 21 September on a European Arrest Warrant issued in the Netherlands in relation to an allegation of murder.

"Joseph Connagh, 46, self employed, of Monmouthshire appears in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday."

In his autobiography, published last year, de Mooi claimed that in 1988, when he was a teenager living on the streets of Amsterdam and resorting to prostitution to survive, he might have killed a would-be mugger in self-defence.

He wrote: “This is the one incident of my life I do regret.

“I was in a phone box and this old guy, obviously a massive drug user, came up behind me with a knife in his hand … he told me to turn around, open my bag and give him whatever was inside … I punched him so hard in the face, knocked the knife out of his hand and threw him in the canal. I fully suspect I killed him. I’ve no idea what happened to him.”

It was reported by the Daily Mirror, the newspaper serialising the autobiography, that Dutch police were looking into what de Mooi had written.

At the time, however, there appeared to be no evidence – beyond Mr de Mooi’s own unsubstantiated claim - that any crime had been committed.

In January of this year de Mooi was suspended from Eggheads after being the subject of police inquiries into allegations – later dismissed - that he had sexually assaulted a 23-year-old man during a night out with friends in Glasgow.

De Mooi was questioned by police, but officers later dropped the inquiry, effectively clearing the quiz star of any suggestion of wrongdoing.

In May, however, de Mooi claimed that on the same day that the police dropped their inquiry, the independent production firm that makes Eggheads axed him from the show by sending him an email saying: “It feels like the right time to refresh the Eggheads line-up.”

A friend of de Mooi was quoted by the Mirror as saying: “CJ feels like he’s been persecuted, gone through hell, his life and finances have completely collapsed. He feels he’s got nothing left and will never appear on British TV again. It’s an awful situation.”

De Mooi himself used his ‘Connagh de Mooi’ twitter account to tell his fans: “I’m leaving England for my acting future in Cape Town. I’m so grateful for all the show has given me but must try this now.”

In last year’s autobiography, de Mooi had claimed he grew up in a violent, racist and homophobic household in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, before running away in 1987.

He ended up, aged 17, homeless, living on the streets of London, and surviving working as a rent boy in a brothel.

He wrote: “My body was the only commodity I had and if I wanted to eat, I had to sell it... I wish I hadn’t had to do it but I don’t regret doing it.”

He stowed away on a boat to Amsterdam, but had to resort to prostitution again after arriving in the Dutch capital.

In 1989, aged 19, he moved on to Cologne, where he said he was spotted by a model scout while begging outside a nightclub.

He was able to build a successful career in modelling and turned his life around.

He said he changed his name by deed poll, taking the comon Dutch surname de Mooi, which translates as "the beautiful", because: "I no longer want to be associated with my family".

He appeared as a contestant on a succession of TV quiz shows before Eggheads. His tirade after being voted off The Weakest Link was so memorable it was added to the show’s website. He was later invited to compete in a ‘bad losers’ edition of The Weakest Link, which he won.