Russia Infiltration Into The British Intelligence.

In a peaceful and tranquil Isle of Portland in Dorset, you would not expect to find one of English history's worst spy leaks—one of the greatest acts of treachery committed against the nation. The arrest, trial, and conviction in 1961 of five Soviet spies, three of whom were illegally living in London, and a deep cover marked a story that captivated and also angered the nation in the early 1960s. It is one of the most famous uses of illegal resident spies, who operate in a foreign country without the cover of their embassy.

In 1959, the CIA received letters from a mole codenamed "Sniper." Sniper stated that information was reaching the Soviets from the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment from Hey Thomas Osprey in Portland, Dorset, in England. Here, the Royal Navy was testing new and up-to-date equipment for underwater warfare. These letters were then passed on to MI5, Britain's domestic counterintelligence and security service. The spy ring had even been smuggling copies of top-secret British naval documents containing details on the UK's nuclear submarine program. The top-secret British documents that the spies were sharing with the Soviets included designs for HMS Resolution, Britain's first submarine equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles, which had been developed in Portland.

Suspicion fell on a man called Harry Houghton, a former sailor who was a civil service clerk at the base. Born in Lincoln, England, he left school to join the Royal Navy and by the end of World War Two was a master-at-arms. After the war, he was attached to the staff of the naval attaché of the British Embassy in Poland. Here, he dabbled in the black market, beginning by trading coffee but moving on to medical drugs. This made him money and led him to the attention of the Polish Secret Service. In 1952, Houghton was ordered home following a divorce. He was appointed to the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment in Portland in the 1950s.

Suspicion fell on Houghton as he bought his fourth car and a house. He was also a heavy drinker who would generously buy rounds for people at the local pubs. Houghton's way of living raised suspicion, as his lavish lifestyle expenses were far beyond his rather average salary. MI5 then placed Houghton under surveillance and began to watch him and his mistress, Ethel "Bunty" Gee. Gee was a filing clerk who handled some documents even Harry didn't have access to. They both worked at the naval base in Portland. Often, the couple would go to London and would meet with a man who was identified as Gordon Lonsdale, a Canadian businessman. This mysterious man would actually be the Soviet intelligence officer Konon Molody, the mastermind of the Portland Spy Ring. Lonsdale himself dealt in jukeboxes and bubblegum machines. He often traveled abroad and was considered a ladies' man. MI5, once a link was established, placed him under discreet surveillance. It was found that Lonsdale often went to 45 Cranley Drive in Ruislip, Middlesex. Here, he would meet with a bookseller, Peter Kroger, and his wife Helen in their home. This couple were then also placed under close surveillance.

On Saturday, the 7th of January 1961, Houghton, Gee, and Lonsdale were meeting in London when they were arrested by Special Branch, as MI5 officers are not authorized to make arrests. Gee's shopping bag contained huge amounts of film and photographs of classified material, including details on HMS Dreadnought, Britain's first nuclear submarine, as well as many other secrets. Detective Superintendent George Gordon Smith, who carried out the arrests, then went to Ruislip to see the Krogers, claiming to be investigating a local burglary. 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. This was found to contain microdots—the photographic reduction of documents in order to make them small enough to be smuggled easier. Smith had suspected correctly Mrs. Kroger's intention was 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 letters included information on money matters and how their children were doing at school. Kroger had used his antique books to hold the microdots and to smuggle them between Britain and the Soviet Union. These would have included the secrets obtained by Houghton and Gee from the Portland Naval Base. Inside the Kroger house was a dwelling full of spying equipment. This included large sums of money, photographic material, code pads for coding messages, and a long-range radio transmitter and receiver for communicating with Moscow. It took several days for all this equipment to be found, and other items, including fake passports, were also found. Over the years, subsequent renovations have taken place in the house of the Krogers, and even more radio transmission equipment has been found. Large amounts of money were also found at the homes of Houghton, Gee, and Lonsdale.

Two days after their arrest, all five were charged with espionage. Gee and the Krogers protested their innocence. Houghton, however, tried to turn Queen's evidence, willing to speak the secrets he knew for immunity from prosecution. This request was denied. Molody remained completely silent. Their trial began on Monday, the 13th of March 1961. Whilst giving evidence, Gee claimed that all she knew was that 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 said that she had no idea that information was actually going to the Russians. She also claimed that she had gone along for love, as Houghton was the love of her life. Houghton claimed they had been the subject of threats from a mystery man. He was subjected to beatings by thugs if he failed to pass on information. These men, he said, also made threats involving his mistress, Gee, and also his ex-wife. He also claimed that he only knew Lonsdale as Alex Johnson.

Whilst defending Gee, Lonsdale or the Krogers took the stand but read statements out in court. In his statement, Lonsdale took responsibility, claiming that the Krogers were innocent. He said they often looked after his house while he was away and had used it to hide his spying equipment without them knowing. Peter and Helen Kroger then backed up this claim, saying that Peter was simply a bookseller and Helen a housewife. However, the couple could not explain why fake Canadian passports with their photos inside were found inside the house, which would have been used in a possible getaway. The jury would take no sympathy on any of the defendants and returned verdicts of guilty for all the accused.

Superintendent Smith, when taking the stand, announced that through their fingerprints, the Krogers had been identified as Morris and Lona Cohen, renowned spies who had worked previously in the United States. Lonsdale, throughout his trial, remained a man of mystery. In spite of extensive research conducted by MI5 and the FBI, they were convinced he was in fact a Russian and a member of the KGB, but his past could only be traced to 1954 when he first appeared in Canada.

In terms of sentencing, Houghton and Gee were sentenced to 15 years in prison. Upon their release in 1970, they married the following year. The Krogers, or Cohens, were sentenced to 20 years. In 1969, they were exchanged for the British citizen Gerald Brooke, who had been arrested by the Soviets. The Soviets sent confirmation that these two were, in fact, spies. Lonsdale, the mastermind, was sentenced to 25 years. However, in 1964, he was exchanged for a British spy, Greville Wynne, who had been arrested in the Soviet Union. Lonsdale's true identity would then be revealed as Konon Molody. Molody would then write a book called Spy: The Memoirs of Gordon Lonsdale in 1965. In this, he claimed that the Krogers were innocent. Suspiciously, Molody would die during a mushroom-picking expedition in 1970 at the age of 48. Retired KGB official Leonid Kolosov, Molody's childhood friend, raised suspicion around this, saying that Molody was in fact healthy when he died. He said that Molody would complain when the KGB doctors gave him injections for high blood pressure and that these made him feel much worse, arousing suspicion about his death.

Throughout history, professors have suggested that the Portland Spy Ring was in fact much larger than the five who were arrested. Professor Christopher Andrew stated his belief that the staff at the Russian and Polish Embassy, who were removed from prosecution, were also involved. He also suggests that the ring may have had more senior members of staff at the Portland Naval Research Facility involved, due to the fact that Houghton and Gee were very low down the pecking order in terms of power.

Overall, the shocking part of the Portland Spy Ring is the fact that those involved were not caught for so long and the fact that many secrets were leaked. It is estimated that almost a hundred documents were passed to the Soviet Union through the Portland Spy Ring. Another interesting point, however, is how could such a tranquil and quiet part of the southern English coastline be propelled into the limelight for being one of the worst leaks of intelligence information in British history?