From bank clerk to British spy

The origins of Britain’s leading Second World War spy

1940

This unremarkable letter began the career of one of the most successful British spies of the Second World War. The story of Eric Roberts, code-named ‘Jack King’ has only recently come to light through files released to The National Archives from MI5. It is an extraordinary tale of one man’s bravery in exposing the fifth column in British wartime society, those who supported Hitler’s fascist policies and would go to any length to help Germany win the war.

When this letter was written in summer 1940, the unassuming figure of Roberts was working at the Euston Road branch of the Westminster Bank. Roberts’ past remains something of a mystery, but when MI5 decided to set up an operation to uncover fascist sympathisers in Britain, they quickly selected Roberts as their man. One MI5 official noted that ‘Roberts is thoroughly familiar with everything connected with the various pro-Nazi organisations in this country’, and that the renowned spycatcher Maxwell Knight ‘has the highest opinion of his character and abilities’.

In a wonderful exchange of letters Oswald Allen Harker, Deputy Director General of MI5, wrote to the Westminster Bank stating that he was anxious to ‘employ him [Roberts] in my organisation at the earliest possible moment’. Mr RW Jones of Westminster Bank agreed, but wrote cuttingly that ‘what we want to know here is – what are the particular and especial qualifications of Mr. Roberts – which we have not been able to perceive’.

Despite this less than ringing endorsement from his former employer, Roberts was swiftly thrust into the dark world of British Nazi sympathisers. He was initially brought in to infiltrate a group of employees of Siemens Schuckert, a British subsidiary of the large German firm, Siemens. One of those who rapidly came to Roberts’ attention was Marita Perigoe, a woman of mixed Swedish and German origin, described by MI5 as a ‘masterful and somewhat masculine woman. Both in appearance and in mentality she can be described as a typical arrogant Hun.’ The security services were so concerned about Perigoe that they changed Roberts’ cover, and he went from being a disloyal Englishman to a fully fledged member of the Gestapo.

In part through Perigoe, Roberts managed to build up a large network of Nazi sympathisers who all reported to him any information they came across. While much of this was relatively mundane, there was some extremely sensitive intelligence, including about the early developments of jet fighters and about Operation Window, a technique for blocking German radar. These traitors believed that Roberts was then passing this information on to his superiors in Germany, but in fact it was simply ending up in files at MI5. As such, Roberts managed to channel the subversive activities of many sympathisers into harmless pursuits.

Other intelligence given to Roberts was less sensitive, but lifts the veil on the true nature of those individuals who were desperate for the Nazis to win the war. In 1943 a Nancy Brown from Brighton gave Roberts some information on the air defences of the town, and at their next meeting was ‘thrilled at the recent tip and run [German air] raids. She seemed to think that her information was the reason for the German choice of targets and deplored the fact that there had been so many near misses’. Her support for the Nazi cause went beyond a mere callous indifference to the suffering of others. As Roberts reported to his superiors, ‘a nearby school was hit and Nancy Brown said with a grin that one expectant mother was killed, two girls badly injured, a clerk and two children killed … Nancy Brown looked a fine, healthy specimen of an Englishwoman, but it is obvious that the deaths of these people meant absolutely nothing to her.’

Through his skill and no little bravery, Roberts expanded the list of those reporting to him into a network that amounted ‘certainly to scores, and probably to hundreds’ of Nazi sympathisers. According to a report by a very senior MI5 figure at the end of the war, this formed ‘the single most valuable source of information’ available to those dealing with subversion in Britain. This humorous letter written by a bank manager is the origin of this real-life James Bond story.