THE MELIÁ WHITE HOUSE JOURNAL Nº010
ALBANY ST, LONDON NW1 3UP
Did you know…?(Cont.
MAY 11, 2017
from Issue 009)
THE FINAL OUTCOME OF MR LONSDALE’S STORY, A VERY HUMAN SPY
Sometime
after M15
set
up the watching station next door to Lonsdale’s flat at The White House, Lonsdale departed abroad, a fact which proved Lonsdale’s suspicions of being followed. However, later on he was identified entering his office in Wardour Street. Lonsdale soon picked up his old life, running his jukebox business, meeting Houghton and dating a variety of girls. He didn’t re-enter The White House until one month later, where he was staying was a mystery. M15 realised it would be difficult to follow a trained and experienced intelligence officer like Lonsdale for any distance without alerting him to the fact, so a new technique was imposed. Every night a team of Watchers located him and followed for a short distance. The next day Lonsdale was picked up by a new set of Watchers, and so on. The whole operation took two weeks and the same faces were never used twice. As scheduled, Lonsdale moved back into his flat in the White House, and for the following two months M15 successfully monitored Lonsdale’s biweekly messages from Moscow. One evening, during the vigilance, one of the agents wondered how long Lonsdale would serve in prison and said that he could not help thinking of
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Section One of the Official Secrets Agency Book where can be seen an original photograph of Lonsdale’s flat with his newspaper in the door.
Lonsdale’s wife and kids. They all knew what he meant: they had seen almost too much of Lonsdale over the past two months; they had seen Lonsdale’s messages, talking of home, family hardships, birthdays and children who missed their father. For all his professionalism, he was a very human spy. After six months of surveillance, enough
evidence had been collated to expose all five members of the ring. On Saturday 7th January 1961, Lonsdale was arrested. Lonsdale was put on trial and charged with espionage, along with his associates. Refusing to reveal his identity he was charged to 25 years in jail. On 22nd April 1964, Lonsdale
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was exchanged for a British businessman, Greville Wynne, who was convicted in Moscow. As part of this process the Soviets admitted he was a spy and gave his real name, Konon Molody. Lonsdale/Molody died in September 1970, aged 48, under what was thought by some to be mysterious circumstances.
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