Jones

LONDON — Forty years after the body of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones was found floating in his swimming pool following a binge of drugs and drinking, police said Monday they are reviewing the case in light of new evidence turned over by a journalist.

Jones' 1969 drowning was ruled an accident, though friends and fans have long insisted the 27-year-old rock star was murdered, and reports have swirled of a deathbed confession by a building contractor.

Sussex police in southeast England said they will examine the new documents and have not yet decided whether to officially reopen the case.

"It's too early to comment at this time as to what the outcome might be," the Sussex duty inspector said, reading a statement over the telephone.

Police did not give further details or name the journalist. The Mail on Sunday identified him as Scott Jones — a freelancer who is not related to the musician — and said he had handed over 600 documents to police.

Brian Jones was a founding member of the Rolling Stones and reportedly came up with the band's name, taking it from a song title on a Muddy Waters album cover.

"In the beginning, Brian Jones was the real catalyst for the Rolling Stones, the smart, handsome, multi-instrumentalist leader who loved the blues and galvanized the band," Jasen Emmons, the director of curatorial affairs at Seattle's Experience Music Project, said in an e-mail.

But his role started to shrink as the band branched out from blues covers, "and his legendary substance abuse made him less reliable and desirable, although it didn't hurt the Stones' reputation as one of rock n' roll's most dangerous bands."

Jones stood out even among his bandmates for his flashy clothes and prodigious appetite for drugs. But he was quickly eclipsed by swaggering lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, whose songwriting propelled the band's popularity.

Increasingly marginalized and drawn to drugs and alcohol, Jones was convicted twice on narcotics charges, avoiding jail by promising to quit his habit.

He left the band a month before his July 2, 1969, death and was replaced by Mick Taylor.

Two 1994 books have claimed that Jones was murdered by a London building contractor hired to help renovate Jones' 11-acre Sussex estate. "Paint it Black: The Murder of Brian Jones," by Geoffrey Giuliano and "Who Killed Christopher Robin?" by Terry Rawlings, said the builder, Frank Thorogood, confessed on his deathbed in November 1993 to killing Jones.

"It was me that did Brian. I just finally snapped," Thorogood was quoted as telling Stones road manager, Tom Keylock, in Rawlings' book. Keylock died in July.

It was not clear why British police did not reopen an investigation after those books were published.

The Rolling Stones are one of the most influential and biggest-selling rock bands in the world, with album sales estimated at more than 200 million copies.

The band topped Forbes' list of wealthiest musical performers in 2007, earning some $88 million between June 2006 and June 2007, mostly from their "Bigger Bang Tour."