'Deep Throat' who blew whistle on Watergate scandal dies aged 95

Published on Friday 19 December 2008 08:05

THE former FBI chief who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president has died. Mark Felt was 95.

John O'Connor, a family friend who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Mr Felt's secret, said he died yesterday of heart failure.

The shadowy central figure in the one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Mr Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information about President Richard Nixon and his aides to The Washington Post.

Some – including Nixon and his aides – speculated that Mr Felt was the source who connected the White House to the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

The FBI second-in-command steadfastly denied the accusations until finally coming forward in May 2005.