35 YEARS FOR MASTER SPY CONFESSION LED WIFE TO GIVE HIM UP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96B01172R000300030018-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 18
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2007/12/14: CIA-RDP96B01172R000300030018-7
00 ,V?P ? z
Licalculable harm' to Alli.es,
0
nfession I
ive i
By ALAN COPPS
GEOFFREY PRIME, ruthless and rationally-motivated spy" in
the words of Lord Chief Justice, Lord Lane, was jailed for 35
years at the Cld Bailey yesterday for 14 years of treachery that caused
" incalculable harm " to Qcitain and her allies.
Approved For Release 2007/12/14: CIA-RDP96B01172R000300030018-7
 ment's top-secret code-cracking and
communications centre in Cheltenham,
lived a triple life-as a spy for Russia, as
a devoted step-father, and as a sexual and
social misfit.
It was his lust for young girls that
led to his downfall. After being arrested on
sex charges he confessed to his second wife,.
Rhona, that he was also an agent for Russia.
She found his spying equipment in a
plastic bag under a bed at their home in
Cheltenham and,' after, three 'weeks of
agonising, told the
police.
Prime, 44, had the full
paraphernalia of espionage.
It. included a miniature'
camera to photograph docu-
ments, special writing paper
to carry coded messages, a
powerful radio to receive
coded transmissions and a
tape recorder to help
decipher .them.
Prime was also goven one
time pads." on which he could
decipher coded radio messages
and encypher his replies,and
envelopes pre-addressed to East
.Berlin to carry messages in in-
visible code. All this was con-
tained in a brief case with a
false bottom.
Geoffrey Arthur Prime in
custody in July.
Codename `Rowlands'
His controllers, known as Igor
and Valya, gave him the code-
name `Rowlands' and a. pass-
word.
His contact '.would say: "I
believe we met'in Pittsbufgh in
1968."
Prime was to reply: "No, at
that time I was in Berlin."
He had been taught how to
receive. and ha'iefle microdot
communications and was given
training in East Berlin in the
(lead-letter box procedure. .
'fhroughoot his spy career he
sent regular 'details of top-
secret documents.
Ills meeting witli his piasters
took hint to East Berlin, Vienna.
once to a Russian cruise boat on
the Danube, and to Potsdam in
East Germany.
But when, it came to explain-
ing the material that Prime
passed to his Russian spy-
masters at those meetings and
its potential damage, to Western
security, the No. 1 court, at
the Old Bailey sat in camera.
The case of Prime, who
worked for nearly 10 years at,
the Government communication
headquarters in London and
Cheltenham, has already caused
fears about a rift between
British and United States intel-
ligence agencies.
Mrs Thatcher is to make a
statement about the case in the
Commons today and she is cer-
tain to face fierce questioning
from M Ps demandin gto know
how Prime twice passed the
Positive vetting procedure
0i-4Tni0 to Word -Opt notential
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#7,000 pay
During his years as a KGB
agent Prime collected more
than #7,000 from his paymasters.
in 1976, when.his career both
at the communications H Q and
in the K G B was at its height,
his controller informed him
that if he ever wished to defect
he would be given a pension and
the rank of colonel.
Prime pleaded builty' at' the
Old Bailey to sevn counts under
the Official Secrets Act of eom-
,pnunicating information useful
to an enemy. He also admitted
three charges of indecently
assaulting young girls, for
which he was jailed for three
years.
-Vow a broken and remorseful
man. who appeared lrawn and
weary as he sat in they dock,
Prime has promised to, co-
operate fully with the security
services to repair whatever. he.
can of the damage he caused.
But much of it is irreperable.
In a 30-page confession,
Prink said he first offered his
services to the K G B while.
serving with the RAP in Ber-
lin in 1963 -partly as a result
of a misplaced idcatistic view
of Soviet socialism which was
compounded by basic psycho-
logical problems within myself."
When they question Mrs
Thatcher today, MPs wig ]also
want to know why there was
no inquiry after Prime, tiring
.of his life of deception, sud-
denly left the ' communications
H Q in 1977, even though by
that time he had risen to be a
section head dealing with deci-
sions " of the utmost secrecy
In the event, Prime was
questioned about espionage
only after Mrs Prime had seen
the police while her husband
was in custody for sex assaults
against young girls.
Prime, said yesterday. by Mr
George Carman Q C. defending,
to have had an unhappy child-
hood which made him a " sexual
and social misfit," first made
contact with the K G B after
leaving a message at a Berlin
checkpoint in 1968.
The reply came in a metal
cylffinder attached to his car.
He met This contacts. Igor and
Valya, at the Fried richstrasse
station, gave them information,'
and was encouraged by them to
pursue his application for a
job as a linguist in the Civil
Service.
. His application was successful
and after passing the positive
vetting procedure. he began
working for the Government's
communications II Q in London.
During that time he received
and conveyed information to
Russia ' by radio, picked up
money and spying materials
and left documents at dead-
letter boxes in the London
suburbs.
A9 his seniority in the Civil
Service increased he was trans-
fered to Cheltenham and he
hidd?-e ntot?e contacts with the
86viet spy eb ilrollers iti Vienna.
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In his last year at Chelten-
ham he took 15 rolls of film
amounting to about 500 photo-
graphs of top secret documents.
But a year after marrying his
present wife in 1976 and plal'-
ing the part of a loving father
to her three sons he tired of
deception and left his Govern.
ment jab. -
Twice he booked flights 10 1
Helsinki with the intention of
defecting, but each time the
pull of his new family held him
hack. .He turned to a new life
as a taxi driver.
But he still had information
the Russians wanted and twice
more they contacted -him.
He flew to Vienna to deliver
his films of documents and last
year, on this final contact with
his spymasters, lie flew to
Berlin and was taken to Pots-
dam to be questioned about top
secret allied activities.
. It was during his time as a
taxi driver' that he carried out
a series of sex attacks and drew
a card index of 2,287 potential
He was arersted on April 28 j
and first questioned about spy-
ing on June 8. At ,first he made
a series of confusing denials
and partial admissions.
But Oil June 26, after long
ouestioning by Det. Chief' Supt
David Cole, lie made a full con-
fession which ended with words
of regret and remorse.
Mr Carman asked Lord Lane
not to pass the " maximum kind
of sentence for the worst pos-
sible sort of. traitor" albeit the
damage inflicted by Prime was
of a very grave order.
He said Prime had co-operated
with the authorities to enable
them ito isolate, detect and hope-
fully arrest the damage at the
earliest possible moment after
detection.
There had been several long
gaps in Prime's activities over
the years, Mr Carman added.
Prime was " desperately
lonely and -totally inadequate."
Wife praised
" It is the misfits of society
that provide the fertile breeding
ground for the ruthless ipropa-
ganda of the oviet system and
its capacity to foster treachery
under the guise of idealism," he
said.
Passing sentence Lord Lane
told Prime: " Whatever has
conic out of this case, your
wife has come out' of it with
great credit.
".But the court has heard
enough about your activities
to realise that by your
treachery you have done incal-
culable harm to the interests
and security of this country
and the interests and security
of our friends and allies."
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