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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 28
Page 65
65 / 66
BT 30, 1958
contaoiine sasnenoi cee
Weather; Suinly: fing’:
- Ar
Wanted men:
All Britain iw
{" was shocked
when the Daily
Srna
debe and Molle ¥
nit ot aon, PERSIA 1
King Drala’ rasa
wlane for heme.
TNQUI
INTO'B
PATCH
WIMBLE
1 raane wa]
Wisecroos:
ren
te the Vily Exprem definite evidence that will lad tw the aetetion
oF the moat purating mystery tm roceat. Peary
@ ALL BUCH INFORMATION itl be carefully itted and
Dasved on te the
tity watheritles— 31.5, Keallapd. Yard
Special Branch, ané Fervign Office pelice fer inveegatiun:
wuarantees: |
Express broke
the story of
their defection
i
across Bt. James's
Parks w Leconfield
House. I braced inpsell
for a sticky ordeal, 1
was still confident thas
could" gurvive an
examination, however
robust, on the basis of
the evidence known to
me. But I could not
be sure that new
evidence had not come
to hand for Milmo to
shoot at me:
On arrivat at Lecon-
field House I was intro-
duced to the head of the legal
branch of M15 and then
ushered into the presence of
Milmo.
He was a burly fellow with a
florid. round face, matching his
nickname “ Buster,”
‘On his left sat Arthur Martin,
® quiet young man who had
been one of the principal in-
vestigators of the Maclean case.
He remained sitent throughout.
watching my movements. When
T looked out of the window. he
made a note; when I twiddied
my thumbs, he made another
note.
After sketchy greetings, Milmo
adopted a formal manner, ask-
ing me to refrain from smoking
as this was a “ judicial inquiry.”
It was all flummery, of course,
It crossed my mind td ‘ask Milmo
for his credentials or to suggest
that the headquarters of M15
were an odd venue for a Judicial
inqury. But that would have
been out of character for the
part which [ had decided wo
play: that of @ co-operative ex-
member of the Secret Intelli-
ence Service, as keen as Milmo
imself to establish the truth
about Burgess and Maclean,
So, for the best part of three
hours. I answered or parried
questions meekly enough, oniy
permitting myself a note of
anger when my character was
directly attacked.
Tt_was useless, I knew, to try
to convince the ex-Intelligence
officer in Milmo; my job. was
simply to deny him the confes-
sion which he required as a
lawyer.
I was too closely involved in
Mitmo’s interrogation to form
an objective opinion on its
merits. Much of the ground that
he covered was familiar, and my
answers, excogitated long before,
left him little to do but shout.
Early in the interview, he
betrayed the weakness of his
position by accusing me of en-
usting to Burgess “intimate
personal papers.”
The charge was s0 obviously
nonsensical that I did not even
have to feign bewilderment.
It appeared that my Cam-
bridge degree had been found
in Burgess’s flat during the
search which followed his de-
parture, Years before, I had
folded ‘that useless document
and put it in a book.
Burgess, as anyone would
have told Milmo, was an in-
veterate borrower of books with
and without the permission of
their owners.
The alm, of the accusation
was to show that I had
deliberately _underplayed
degree of my intimacy '
Burgess. It was flimsy
and went far to strengthen
confidence in the outcome
But Milmo produced at }
two rabbits out .of the
“which I had not foreseen.
which showed that the cl
of circumstantial evide
against me was even lor
jan | had feared,
Two days after the Vol
information reached | Lon:
there had been a spectac
rise in the volume of N.K.
radio traffe between Lor
end Moscow, followed b;
similar rise’ in the tr
between Moscow and Istar
(Volkov, a Russian Emb
oftclat in Istanbul, had trie
lefect to the West with injc
ation that might have inc
inated Philby, Burgess,
Maclean. Aa a result of Phi
intervention, Volkov
spirited away by the Russic
Purthermore, shortly aft
had-been omelally briefed at
the embassy leakage in W
there had © been
similar jump in NK
traffic. 7
Taken in conjunction
the other evidence, these
flems were p: amt
But to me, sitting {n the 1
rogation chair, Y posed
problem.
When asked in Milmo’s
thunderous tones “to ac
for these occurrences. I res
quite simply that I-couid ni
I was beginning to tire «
suddenly — Milmo — gave
Martin asked me to siay
for 2 few minutes. When I
invited into the next Tr.
Milmo had disappeared and
M.L5 legal omcer was in
He asked me to surrender
passport, saying that they c
Ret it anyway but that v
tary action on my part
obviate publicity, 1 ‘re
agreed as my escape pls
tainly did not envisage |
of my own identity pape:
offer to send the docum
night by registered pos!
ington,
rejected use it was
risky.”
Skardon [of 3.2.5] was de:
to accompany me back i
home and receive {tt {row
On the way, Skardon w
his breath sermonising o1
Advisability of | Co-oper
with the Authorities.
relieved to listen, thou
relief was tempered |
knowledge that I was nc
out of the wood—not by a
chalk,
NEXT: WAS THI
A FOURTH MA
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