Karen Soich enters 'Underbelly'

Karen Soich. Photo / Getty Images

Last night's gripping episode of Underbelly introduced Karen Soich into the mix. It's fair to say Soich has led a colourful life with some colourful characters. Perhaps none more gaudy than Mr Asia syndicate drug king Terry Clark, with whom Soich was intimately entangled.

Soich was working as a young law clerk for criminal lawyer Peter Williams when she first met Clark. The encounter was revealed last night in Underbelly's sixth episode 'Stranded'.

In 1975, Clark was busted for importing heroin in New Zealand. He skipped bail and headed for Australia. Later, at a party in a Queensland hotel, Terry was arrested, but it's the old New Zealand criminal charge that had him extradited back to Auckland. Enter Williams and Soich as his legal team.

On the show, Soich is played by Aussie actress Katie Wall, who struggled at times in last night's episode with the Kiwi accent. There was one scene last night that probably raised some eyebrows where Matthew Newton, who plays Clark, buries his face in Wall's champagne-doused cleavage. Another controversial scene has Soich's character standing naked as the camera pans her from behind before she climbs into bed with Newton. The blatant nudity follows in the same vein as an earlier episode featuring Anna Hutchison that according to the Herald Sun, clocked up a set of bare breasts on average every 73 seconds.

Newton researched his role as Mr Asia thoroughly, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. He studied the royal commission reports from the time and consulted Soich on many details. Soich was able to play consultant because she knew Clark, not only as part of his legal team, but as a former lover as well.

Soich was reportedly helpful to the show's producers but has veered away from doing any publicity. A Sunday newspaper reported Soich the lawyer found her admittance to the bar wasn't as straightforward as it should have been after her dalliance with Clark. She was denied a practising certificate in 1984 but was granted one in 1991.

During an undercover police sting on Clark's house in Opua, cops watched as Clark and Soich made love. The Daily Telegraph reported she was allegedly given a duvet quilt by Clark made of $50 notes. Soich was also famously photographed cavorting on a bed of banknotes.

Karen has always maintained she knew nothing about Clark's underworld life. She thought he was a property developer, the Dominion Post reported.

The couple reportedly holidayed in Sydney, Adelaide and Los Angeles enjoying the high life. She later revealed at Clark's trial in England - at the time the most heavily guarded trial in British history - that "we spent most of the time in bed."

In fact, Soich was in bed with Clark when police burst into their Kensington flat in London and arrested him in 1979. Soich was arrested and charged with conspiring to import and supply drugs along with Clark, but was found not guilty. She was acquitted of any involvement and has become one of Auckland's most successful entertainment lawyers and a frequent figure in Spy's social pages. She lives with advertising businesswoman Toni Urlich.

Clark was later jailed for the murder of Marty Johnstone - the so-called Mr Asia - his friend and drug associate based in Singapore. He died in prison on the Isle of Wight in 1983. It's not clear what has come of Terry's children - the three kids he had with first wife Sally Raynell, and his son Jarrod with Maria Muhary, who features on the Underbelly series.

Allison Dine, the Rotorua-born kindy teacher-turned-drug couriering mistress was another significant woman in Clark's life. In last night's Underbelly episode in which Terry meets Soich, it's Dine, played by our gorgeous Anna Hutchison, who holds down the fort in Sydney. With Terry in Auckland, Allison takes the reins in Australia, organising the running of the drug mules and couriers. She reportedly received a new identity and testified as a witness against him.

Rachel Glucina

Pictured: Karen Soich. Photo / Getty Images