Cold War spy story: The Blake escape
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. 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."
Forty-two years after his dramatic escape from British custody, the startling truth about one of this country's most notorious spies is revealed in secret Home Office documents and personal letters written by the MI6 double agent while he was on the run. In heart-felt correspondence with his mother, George Blake tells of his future plans for his family while security service memos expose the total intelligence failure leading up to his break-out and the subsequent British helplessness in trying to establish his whereabouts.
The documents, all released by the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act, include a memo from Roger Hollis, then head of MI5, written two years before Blake's break-out, which reassures the Government that the spy was being too closely watched for him to attempt an escape, as well as papers that show he was a model and trusted inmate who appeared to have come to terms with his exceptionally long prison sentence.
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"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."
Forty-two years after his dramatic escape from British custody, the startling truth about one of this country's most notorious spies is revealed in secret Home Office documents and personal letters written by the MI6 double agent while he was on the run. In heart-felt correspondence with his mother, George Blake tells of his future plans for his family while security service memos expose the total intelligence failure leading up to his break-out and the subsequent British helplessness in trying to establish his whereabouts.
The documents, all released by the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act, include a memo from Roger Hollis, then head of MI5, written two years before Blake's break-out, which reassures the Government that the spy was being too closely watched for him to attempt an escape, as well as papers that show he was a model and trusted inmate who appeared to have come to terms with his exceptionally long prison sentence.