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It was a tragedy which stunned the world.

In 1935 Lawrence of Arabia, the World War I legend who cheated death numerous times on the battlefields of the Middle East, was killed in a motorbike accident on a quiet Dorset country lane.

The war hero, real name Thomas Eduard Lawrence, had been riding his Brough Superior DD100 when he swerved to avoid two boys on their bikes, lost control and was thrown over the handlebars.

An inquest heard that it has been raining heavily on the day of the accident on May 19, and that a dip in the road obscured the view on the two boys until it was too late.

He died six days later from head injuries, aged 46.

Amid an outpouring of grief the New York Times called his passing a “tragic waste”, while Winston Churchill declared “In Lawrence we have lost one of the greatest beings of our time”.

The front page of British tabloid the Daily Sketch read: “Lawrence the Soldier Dies to Live Forever”.

(Image: Getty Images)

His passing only served to increase Lawrence of Arabia’s legendary status, and he was eventually immortalised in the 1962 Hollywood blockbuster starring Peter O’Toole.

The movie won seven Oscars and is considered one of the greatest epic movies of all time.

His untimely death has been recorded as just an unfortunate, tragic accident - until now.

Filmmaker Mark Griffin had grown up visiting his grandmother near the spot in Wareham, Dorset, where Lawrence had met his death.

He was in his early 20s when he started trying to get to the bottom of stories about the motorbike accident he had heard from locals.

Now aged 60, he claims he has found new bombshell evidence which throws into question the official line about Lawrence’s death - saying it now looks more like an assassination than an accident.

And he described as “credible” one theory that the war hero was killed on the orders of the British intelligence community after powerful figures opposed Sir Winton Churchill’s plans to install him as the new head of the organisation.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mirror, Mark said: “Over the years I became more and more intrigued by the story, and from a young man I started to dig out and read a lot of material about it. It became my lifelong obsession.

(Image: Getty Images)

“There seem to be so many discrepancies, and other things that made me wonder if there was more to his death than what we had been told and what everyone believed to be true.

“I watched the British Pathe news reels reporting his death, and they almost look as if they had been staged managed.

"The inquest into his death was held the day after he died, and funeral was held on the same day.

"So two hours after the inquest had ended Lawrence had already been buried.

“If you ask me if Lawrence’s death was an accident or an assassination, I wouldn’t be able to say for certain.

"But I’m very conscious that there is so much evidence that points to a potential assassination, or some kind of cover up.”

Director and producer Mark is now filming a biopic film about Lawrence entitled Lawrence After Arabia, focusing on the last two years go his life, due for release in May 2020.

He describes the movie as a “celebration of Lawrence’s life, but with a revisionist approach, looking at his death/assassination, and asking the public to decide what they think.”

TE Lawrence first arrived in the Middle East before World War I, where he worked as an archaeologist and photographer.

After becoming very familiar with the region and the Arab people, after the war broke out he persuaded the British Army to commission him as an officer in the region, despite having no military training or experience.

He became the defacto leader of the Arab Revolt, which was pivotal in breaking the statement in Europe by eliminating the Ottoman Turks from the war.

His daring missions into enemy territory, leading to the fall of Damascus in 1918, became the stuff of legend even before he had returned to England a year later.

(Image: UIG via Getty Images)

Back home he turned to writing his war memoirs The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which immediately captured the public’s imagination.

An abridged version called Revolt in the Desert, published in 1927, became an international bestseller.

But Lawrence appeared to shy away from public recognition, once turning his back on King George V and walking out of Buckingham Palace after the monarch had summoned him there to offer him a knighthood.

He also attempted to enlist back into the military using pseudonyms in an attempt to avoid the glare of celebrity.

First in the Royal Air Force using the name John Hume Ross, but he was unmasked by the press months later, and then in the Royal Tank Corp under the name Thomas Edward Shaw.

After retiring from service for good, Lawrence moved to Dorset where he lived in Clouds Hill, an isolated cottage near Wareham, and would spend much of his time roaring around the country lanes on his beloved Brough motorbikes.

Mark said his interest in finding the truth about the war hero’s death began after hearing many accounts of a black car which was seen speeding from the scene of the accident, close to Clouds Hill, shortly after the fatal crash.

He said: “Black paint was found on the handlebars and petrol tank of Lawrence’s Brough.

"Of course that could only happen if he had collided with a black vehicle.

"And you can see from pictures of the bike at the time that the damage on the right side of the bike is consistent with a collision with a car.

“Following the accident Lawrence’s bike was examined by George Brough, the person who made the bike.

“In 1985 he testified that he had wanted to give evidence at the inquest, but that they had told him he shouldn’t mention that the bike had been structurally damaged.

"So he didn’t give evidence because if he had he would have had to say that it had been hit by something.

“So that got my thinking, why would they want to cover that up?”

(Image: Getty Images)

Mark also claims that immediately after the incident a so-called D-notice was applied by the secret service, meaning that no media organisation could report the accident.

Mark said: “Lawrence by that time was retired, he was a civilian, so why would they close down the story?”

Convinced that a sinister side to Lawrence’s death had been covered up, he started to ask who might have wanted to get rid of him.

He said: “While he had influential friends, his uncompromising manner created powerful enemies.

"There were many credible reasons someone might have wanted him dead. Zionists, the secret service and the establishment were all against him.

“First, he continued to be involved in the Arab cause, and was in regular contact with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, who was angry that the Allies hadn’t kept their promises on the Belfour Declaration about Jewish settlements in Palestine, and was talking of an Arab revolt.

“When Faisal suddenly got ill and died while visiting Switzerland, which I think is very suspicious, Lawrence continued contact with King Abdullah who replaced him.

"So it could be that the establishment were worried that Lawrence was stirring up problems in Arabia, and specifically about Palestine.

“Lawrence had also created links with Oswald Mosley and the Blackshirts, a fascist party in the UK, and there is a communication about the possibility of him even meeting Hitler.

“He might have infiltrating the group so he could find out more about the Nazis and the threat of a Second World War, or he might have gone native.

"But the idea of a British war hero meeting Hitler would have been very embarrassing to the establishment.”

(Image: Getty Images)

Perhaps the most credible theory, according to Mark, is that Lawrence was assassinated by the British intelligence community after hints that Winston Churchill planned for him to lead the Secret Service.

Following his death, Churchill, a friend of Lawrence, appeared to confirm the role saying he had hoped he would “take a commanding part in facing the dangers while now threaten the country.”

Mark said: “Churchill was planning a huge shake-up the secret service.

"In his diary he talked of creating a directorate which would oversee the Secret Service, the police and the military all together.

"The person who but a stop to that, a guy called Quex who had run the SS since the First World War, was sacked when Churchill was made Prime Minister in 1940.”

While Mark admits he doesn’t know for sure what really happened, he is certain that something was covered up.

He said: “I have wondered if it was a simple accident, that a VIP was in that black car which collided with the motorbike, and that was the reason why the Secret Service needed to manage what would have been an embarrassing situation.”

But he claims that it won’t be long before the world will know the truth about how and why the legendary Lawrence of Arabia really died.

He said: “There is a big reveal in 2020, which will be 85 years since the event, when the National Archives will release all the top secret documents about his death.

"It will be fascinating to finally know the truth, and I think many will be shocked by what they discover.”