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| ‘No regrets’ says man who aided double agent George Blake to escape ‘No regrets’ says man who aided double agent George Blake to escape | |
| (2 months later) | |
| Exactly 50 years ago, on 22 October 1966, one of Britain’s most notorious double agents escaped from prison. With ministers, the police special branch and MI5 all assuming it was the work of the KGB, a huge manhunt failed to find him. While the country’s ports were watched and his photograph was displayed on television and the front pages, he was lying low in a nearby bedsit. | Exactly 50 years ago, on 22 October 1966, one of Britain’s most notorious double agents escaped from prison. With ministers, the police special branch and MI5 all assuming it was the work of the KGB, a huge manhunt failed to find him. While the country’s ports were watched and his photograph was displayed on television and the front pages, he was lying low in a nearby bedsit. |
| The extraordinary circumstances surrounding the breakout did not emerge for 25 years. Security and intelligence chiefs were as anxious to keep it under wraps as those responsible for the escape – two anti-nuclear campaigners and a petty criminal. Official documents on the affair remain secret on the grounds that their release would cause distress to individuals still living. But now, in advance of today’s 50th anniversary, one of those involved in the escape has told the Guardian that he has no regrets. | The extraordinary circumstances surrounding the breakout did not emerge for 25 years. Security and intelligence chiefs were as anxious to keep it under wraps as those responsible for the escape – two anti-nuclear campaigners and a petty criminal. Official documents on the affair remain secret on the grounds that their release would cause distress to individuals still living. But now, in advance of today’s 50th anniversary, one of those involved in the escape has told the Guardian that he has no regrets. |
| The episode had elements of sheer farce from the very beginning. On the night of 22 October 1966, the deputy governor of Wormwood Scrubs telephoned Shepherd’s Bush police station in west London. “I have just been informed by my chief that we have lost one of our chaps over the wall,” he said. “We think it’s Blake.” | The episode had elements of sheer farce from the very beginning. On the night of 22 October 1966, the deputy governor of Wormwood Scrubs telephoned Shepherd’s Bush police station in west London. “I have just been informed by my chief that we have lost one of our chaps over the wall,” he said. “We think it’s Blake.” |
| “Blake?” asked the duty constable. “Yes,” came the reply, “the one doing 42 years. He went over the east wall. He’s probably in prison grey. Look, I’m a bit tucked up at the moment, I’m in the middle of releasing a man. I’ll ring you back when I get more information.” | “Blake?” asked the duty constable. “Yes,” came the reply, “the one doing 42 years. He went over the east wall. He’s probably in prison grey. Look, I’m a bit tucked up at the moment, I’m in the middle of releasing a man. I’ll ring you back when I get more information.” |
| The escaped prisoner was indeed George Blake, the former MI6 officer who agreed to spy for the Soviet Union when he was captured during the Korean war. He was exposed by a Polish double agent. | The escaped prisoner was indeed George Blake, the former MI6 officer who agreed to spy for the Soviet Union when he was captured during the Korean war. He was exposed by a Polish double agent. |
| He escaped with the help of two radical anti-nuclear campaigners, Michael Randle and Pat Pottle, and an Irishman, Sean Bourke. They had been fellow inmates: Randle and Pottle were released after being jailed for entering a US nuclear bomber base; Bourke was under probation after being convicted of sending a homemade (and easily detectable) explosive device to a police officer. | He escaped with the help of two radical anti-nuclear campaigners, Michael Randle and Pat Pottle, and an Irishman, Sean Bourke. They had been fellow inmates: Randle and Pottle were released after being jailed for entering a US nuclear bomber base; Bourke was under probation after being convicted of sending a homemade (and easily detectable) explosive device to a police officer. |
| “I have no regrets,” Randle says now. “None of us involved in the planning and execution of the escape agreed with his passing official secrets to the Russians. However, we all felt that the 42-year prison sentence he received in 1961 was inhuman.” Other British double agents, including Kim Philby, who had betrayed many more western agents, had been offered immunity from prosecution. Even MI6 was concerned about the sentence, one that would not encourage other spies to confess, as Blake had done. | “I have no regrets,” Randle says now. “None of us involved in the planning and execution of the escape agreed with his passing official secrets to the Russians. However, we all felt that the 42-year prison sentence he received in 1961 was inhuman.” Other British double agents, including Kim Philby, who had betrayed many more western agents, had been offered immunity from prosecution. Even MI6 was concerned about the sentence, one that would not encourage other spies to confess, as Blake had done. |
| Bourke smuggled a walkie-talkie into the jail enabling Blake to communicate with him outside the prison wall. On the appointed night, while most of the other inmates and guards were at the weekly early evening film show, Blake climbed out of a window at the end of a corridor, slid down a porch and ran to the perimeter wall. Bourke threw over a ladder made of rope and knitting needles. Blake climbed up and over. | Bourke smuggled a walkie-talkie into the jail enabling Blake to communicate with him outside the prison wall. On the appointed night, while most of the other inmates and guards were at the weekly early evening film show, Blake climbed out of a window at the end of a corridor, slid down a porch and ran to the perimeter wall. Bourke threw over a ladder made of rope and knitting needles. Blake climbed up and over. |
| “The most fraught period was during the period immediately following the escape, especially the day after it took place when I was desperately trying to find a doctor willing to deal with the wrist George broke as he fell heavily climbing down from the prison wall,” Randle recalls. He found one who said he had heard Blake had worked for the wartime resistance in the occupied Netherlands. | “The most fraught period was during the period immediately following the escape, especially the day after it took place when I was desperately trying to find a doctor willing to deal with the wrist George broke as he fell heavily climbing down from the prison wall,” Randle recalls. He found one who said he had heard Blake had worked for the wartime resistance in the occupied Netherlands. |
| For almost two months, Blake hid in the homes of people willing to harbour him. One was that of a priest, John Papworth, and his French-born wife, Marcelle. | For almost two months, Blake hid in the homes of people willing to harbour him. One was that of a priest, John Papworth, and his French-born wife, Marcelle. |
| In one of the many remarkable episodes in this saga, she told a therapist she was consulting that she had seen in her flat the man whose face was frequently appearing on television, the escaped spy. The therapist, who had told his patient previously that for the treatment to work the patient always had to be totally honest, dismissed her claim as the imagination of a disordered mind, said she must be hallucinating and should forget all about it. | In one of the many remarkable episodes in this saga, she told a therapist she was consulting that she had seen in her flat the man whose face was frequently appearing on television, the escaped spy. The therapist, who had told his patient previously that for the treatment to work the patient always had to be totally honest, dismissed her claim as the imagination of a disordered mind, said she must be hallucinating and should forget all about it. |
| “It was a nerve-racking time,” said Randle. The most anxious period was when he prepared a camper van to smuggle Blake out of the country. Under cover of a family Christmas holiday, Randle drove his wife and their two young children, with Blake under a bunk, to Dover. They dropped him off at a checkpoint in East Germany. | “It was a nerve-racking time,” said Randle. The most anxious period was when he prepared a camper van to smuggle Blake out of the country. Under cover of a family Christmas holiday, Randle drove his wife and their two young children, with Blake under a bunk, to Dover. They dropped him off at a checkpoint in East Germany. |
| Britain’s security establishment was so embarrassed when it finally realised who was behind the escape that it kept quiet. Then in 1989 Randle and Pottle admitted their role after their names were thinly disguised in a book on the affair. | Britain’s security establishment was so embarrassed when it finally realised who was behind the escape that it kept quiet. Then in 1989 Randle and Pottle admitted their role after their names were thinly disguised in a book on the affair. |
| More than 100 Tory MPs signed a Commons motion demanding their prosecution. The government conceded. Just after the prosecution assured the two men that all relevant documents had been disclosed, MI5 produced a “note for file”. It revealed that in 1970 a senior special branch officer, Rollo Watts, told an MI5 officer, Miss A, that he had identified Randle and Pottle. He had done so after Bourke wrote a book on the escape calling the two men, Michael Reynolds and Pat Porter. But to prosecute them now, noted Miss A, might be considered persecution – “a big fish had got away so they were taking it out on the little fish”. | More than 100 Tory MPs signed a Commons motion demanding their prosecution. The government conceded. Just after the prosecution assured the two men that all relevant documents had been disclosed, MI5 produced a “note for file”. It revealed that in 1970 a senior special branch officer, Rollo Watts, told an MI5 officer, Miss A, that he had identified Randle and Pottle. He had done so after Bourke wrote a book on the escape calling the two men, Michael Reynolds and Pat Porter. But to prosecute them now, noted Miss A, might be considered persecution – “a big fish had got away so they were taking it out on the little fish”. |
| The document was key evidence in their trial in 1991; the jury unanimously acquitted them, despite instruction from the judge to convict and that the two had admitted their role. They were cleared in the same Old Bailey court where Blake was convicted 30 years earlier. Randle said: “We were conscious of the political risk that it might be assumed we were working with Soviet Intelligence. But we were confident our record as independent peace activists opposing oppression and military interventions by both east and west would scotch suggestions of that kind.” | The document was key evidence in their trial in 1991; the jury unanimously acquitted them, despite instruction from the judge to convict and that the two had admitted their role. They were cleared in the same Old Bailey court where Blake was convicted 30 years earlier. Randle said: “We were conscious of the political risk that it might be assumed we were working with Soviet Intelligence. But we were confident our record as independent peace activists opposing oppression and military interventions by both east and west would scotch suggestions of that kind.” |
| Pottle died in 2000. Bourke died in 1982. Blake, 93, and almost blind, lives with his Russian wife, Ida, in a dacha in a pine forest about 25 miles from Moscow. | Pottle died in 2000. Bourke died in 1982. Blake, 93, and almost blind, lives with his Russian wife, Ida, in a dacha in a pine forest about 25 miles from Moscow. |