British quiz show champion arrested on suspicion of murder
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A quiz-show champion who appeared on the long-running BBC show "Eggheads" has been arrested over an alleged murder, after writing in a memoir that he might have killed a man in Amsterdam almost 30 years ago.
Joseph Connagh, whose professional name is C.J. de Mooi, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday on a Dutch-issued European Arrest Warrant, London's Metropolitan Police said.
He appeared Thursday at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where a prosecutor said he was wanted over allegations of murder, manslaughter and assault.
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"It relates to an incident said to have taken place in 1988 in Amsterdam," prosecutor Brian Gibbons said.
De Mooi, 46, appeared for a decade on "Eggheads," which pits a team of quiz show champions against a different group of challengers each time.
In a 2015 autobiography, he wrote about his troubled youth, and said he might have killed a man while he was homeless in Amsterdam in 1988. He said he punched a knife-wielding mugger and threw him into a canal.
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"I fully suspect I killed him. I've no idea what happened to him," de Mooi wrote.
Defense lawyer Chris Stevens said there was a "lot of missing information" from the arrest warrant.
"There doesn't appear to be a named victim in the warrant, date of birth or even an address where this matter took place," he said.
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De Mooi was released on bail until an extradition hearing on Nov. 28.