The woman who changed my life

A high-rolling bargirl, a mysterious fortune, a missing wife and a Hong Kong prison. These are just some of the ingredients of Clive Holgate's life.

'I'm waiting for Hollywood to call,' smiled the beaky former civil servant. 'Pierce Brosnan would play me, but he'd need a lot of nose work.' It was Thursday evening. The building surveyor was at the Hebe Haven Yacht Club savouring old Scotch and new freedom, resulting from the Court of Appeal's decision that his corruption trial could not be repeated after his conviction had been overturned.

Lighting a cigarette, he breathed deep smoke and relived his journey from a Peak flat, to a Wan Chai hostess bar, and into Stanley Prison.

The early years were unremarkable. He studied in England, married, moved to Hong Kong, took a job with the government. In his spare time he rode horses or sailed. Then he met Pauline Sham Po-ling. 'I was in love,' Mr Holgate said. 'The sun rose and set on that girl.' His marriage was falling apart when he first entered the Crazy Horse Bar and met the hostess who was to become his second wife.

'She had joie de vivre,' he said. 'That's what first attracted me to her.' Within two years, the hostess had moved into Mr Holgate's flat on the Peak.

Pauline Sham was young and sharp and full of fun. But she was also full of secrets. Even before she took her vows, the new Mrs Holgate had already taken a lover. Elderly radio mogul Nick Demuth lavished his girlfriend with cash, oblivious of the other man in her life.