Portland Spy Ring
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The Portland Spy Ring operated in Britain from the late 1950s till 1961 when the hard core of the network was arrested by British security. It is one of the most famous examples of the use of illegal residents, spies who operate in a foreign country but without the cover of their embassy.
Its members included: Harry Houghton, Ethel Gee, Gordon Lonsdale and Morris and Lona Cohen.
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[edit] Tracking a spy ring
In 1960 the CIA received letters from a Russian mole, codenamed Sniper (who later turned out to be Michal Goleniewski.) Sniper claimed that information was reaching the Russians from the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland, England, where the British Royal Navy would test equipment for undersea warfare. The information was passed on to MI5.
Suspicion fell on Harry Houghton, a former sailor and now a civil servant at the base. He had just bought his fourth car, a house, was a heavy drinker and would buy large rounds at the local pubs. His expenses were far beyond his salary.
MI5 kept Houghton under surveillance. They also watched his mistress Ethel Gee. Gee was a filling clerk at the base and handled documents to which Houghton himself did not have access. The couple often went to London. There they would meet a man who was identified as Gordon Lonsdale, a Canadian businessman. During these meetings Lonsdale and Houghton would exchange packages.
Lonsdale dealt in jukeboxes and bubble gum machines. He often travelled abroad and was popular with women. MI5 put him under surveillance. Lonsdale often went to Ruislip in north-west London to visit the house of antiquarian bookseller Peter Kroger and his wife Helen. This house was also put under close but discreet watch.
[edit] The arrests
On Saturday 7 January 1961, Houghton, Gee and Lonsdale were meeting in London when they were arrested by Special Branch officers led by Detective Superintendent George Gordon Smith. MI5 officers are not authorised to make arrests. In Gee's shopping bag they found huge amounts of film and photographs containing secret material, including details of HMS Dreadnought, Britain's first nuclear submarine.
Smith and two colleagues then went to Ruislip to see the Krogers. Claiming to be investigating some local burglaries they gained entry to the house. Once inside they identified themselves as Special Branch officers and said that the Krogers had to accompany them to Scotland Yard for questioning. Before leaving Mrs Kroger asked to be allowed to stoke up the boiler. Before she could, Smith insisted on checking her handbag first. It was found to contain microdots, the photographic reduction of documents in order to make them small enough to be smuggled more easily. Smith, a veteran spy catcher, had guessed her intention to destroy these microdots.
The microdots found at the Krogers' home were letters sent between Lonsdale and his wife, who lived in the USSR with their children. These included things like money matters and how the children were doing at school. Kroger had used the print in his antique books to hold the microdots and smuggle them between Russia and Britain. These would have included the secrets passed on by Houghton and Gee.
The Kroger house was full of spying equipment, including large sums of money, photographic material, code pads for coding messages and a long-range radio transmitter-receiver for communicating with Moscow. It took several days to unearth all the equipment, and other items including fake passports were not found until after the police had left. Large amounts of money were also found in the homes of Houghton, Gee and Lonsdale.
[edit] The trial
Two days after their arrest all five were charged with espionage at Bow Street Magistrates Court. Gee and the Krogers protested their innocence; Houghton tried to turn Queen's Evidence but was refused; Lonsdale maintained complete silence. By the time the trial began on Monday 13 March 1961, no-one knew for sure who he was or where he came from.
Giving evidence Gee claimed that as far as she knew Lonsdale was Alex Johnson, an American naval Commander who wanted to know how the British were handling information passed on by the United States. She had had no idea that the information was actually going to the Russians. She had gone along out of love for Houghton, the first lover she'd really had after a lifetime of spinsterhood.
Houghton claimed that he had been the subject of threats by mystery men, including a couple of beatings by thugs, if he failed to pass on information. These men had also made threats concerning Gee and Houghton's ex-wife. He too, he claimed, had only known Lonsdale as Alex Johnson, and he tried desperately to minimize Gee's involvement. (Like most spies Houghton's version of events must be taken with caution. His "evidence" was more than likely a means to get a lesser sentence).
Neither Lonsdale nor the Krogers took the stand, but, in statements read out in court, Lonsdale took full responsibility. He even claimed that the Krogers were innocent: he had often looked after their house while they were away and had used it to hide his spying equipment without their knowledge. Peter and Helen Kroger backed up this claim, saying that they were simply an antiquarian bookseller and a housewife. But they could not quite explain why fake Canadian passports with their photos were found in the house, quite clearly intended for a possible get-away.
The jury returned verdicts of guilty for all the accused. Superintendent Smith then took the stand. He announced that through their fingerprints the Krogers had been identified as Morris and Lona Cohen, renown spies who had worked with the Rosenbergs, Rudolf Abel and David Greenglass in the United States. Smith also revealed Cohen's past life in the military and scholastic service.
On the other hand Lonsdale remained a man of mystery in spite of extensive enquiries by MI5, the FBI, the RCMP and other Western intelligence services. They were convinced that he was an actual Russian and a member of the KGB, but so far his past could only be traced back as far as 1954 when he had first appeared in Canada.
[edit] Sentences and later lives
Houghton and Gee were sentenced to 15 years in prison. They were released in 1970 and married.
The Krogers (alias the Cohens) were sentenced to 20 years jail. In 1969 they were exchanged for British citizen Gerald Brooke. As part of the process the Russians confirmed that they were actual spies.
Lonsdale, the mastermind, was sentenced to 25 years. In 1964 he was exchanged for British spy Greville Wynne who had been arrested in Russia. His real name was revealed to be Konon Trofimovich Molody.
It is believed that the ring numbered more than the five who were arrested in Britain, but these would have included staff at the Russian and Polish embassies who would have been immune to prosecution anyway.
[edit] In popular culture
Playwright and screenwriter Hugh Whitemore wrote a play Betrayal - Pack of Lies about the relationship between the Krogers and their neighbours in the months leading up to their arrest. It has been staged a number of times.
In 1987 it was made into a TV play starring Teri Garr and Alan Bates, though the name "Kroger" was changed to "Schaefer"; see IMDB entry.
It was also performed as BBC Radio 4's Saturday Play on 9 September 2006. It starred Ed Begley Jr as Peter Kroger and again Teri Garr as Helen. It also included Alfred Molina as their neighbour and Michael York as the man from MI5. It was directed by Martin Jarvis.
The TV movie drama Longford was shown on Britain's Channel 4 on Thursday 26 October 2006. When Lord Longford first visits Myra Hindley at Holloway Prison, it is announced that Helen Kroger and Ethel Gee are also expecting visitors; see IMDB entry.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- BBC report on the case. Includes a video news report on the Krogers/Cohens' return to the Soviet Union and an interview with former Foreign Secretary George Brown over the issues.
[edit] References
- Soviet Spy Ring, by Arthur Tietjen, published by Pan Books, (1961)
- Spy Book The Encyclopedia of Espionage, by Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, published by Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-278-5 (1997)
