Handsome Brute: The True Story of a Ladykiller (56 page)

81
. Letter from Leicestershire Constabulary to New Scotland Yard, 1 April 1938, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

82
. Heath’s parents’ report to the Court. 8 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.

83
. Metropolitan Police letter, 9 April 1938, MEPO 3/2728.

84
. Brock,
The Life and Death of Neville Heath
, p. 110–11.

85
. Handwritten note by Heath, 8 April 1938, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

86
. Bulman was the name of an instructor who had taught Heath to fly at Leicester in 1935.

87
. From a report of lady visitor I. W. Davies, 16 June 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.

88
. Chaplain’s remarks (Arthur Casey), 15 June 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.

89
. Letter from Heath to the editor of the
Daily Mirror
, 15 June 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.

90
.
Evening Standard
, 12 July 1938.

Chapter 8

1
. Letter from Heath to C. A. Joyce, 8 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

2
.
Guardian
, 18 October 2002.

3
. Byrne,
Borstal Boy
, p. 25.

4
. Behan,
Borstal Boy
, p. 206.

5
. Behan, op. cit., p. 211.

6
. Letter from Heath to C. A. Joyce, 8 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

7
. Byrne, op. cit., pp. 25–7.

8
. Heath’s physical statistics at Hollesley Bay are in his borstal record, TNA P COM 9/700.

9
. Byrne, op. cit., p. 25.

10
. From the printed statement that Neville Chamberlain waved as he stepped off the plane on 30 September 1938.

11
. Housemaster’s report, 20 April 1939, TNA P COM 9/700.

12
. Behan, op. cit., p. 219.

13
. Ibid.

14
. Anderson shelters were mass-produced, costing the government £5 each. They were issued to 1.5 million families in 1939 and to over 2 million by April 1940 when steel shortages brought an end to production. See Inwood,
A History of London
, p. 777.

15
. 27 April 1939.

16
. Housemaster’s report, 19 July 1939, TNA P COM 9/700.

17
. Confidential report by Mr Scott, Director of the Borstal Association, 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.

18
. Letter from Neville Heath to Mr Scott, 15 September 1946, TNA P COM 9/700.

19
. Peggy Dixon, 9 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

20
. Confidential report by Mr Scott, Director of the Borstal Association, 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.

21
. Ibid., re. a letter from Heath, 17 July 1940.

22
.
Sunday Pictorial
, 29 September 1946.

23
. Norbert Thomas Gaffrey, undated, MEPO 3/2728.

24
. This story of Heath’s part in the raid on Fort Rutbah was told in the
Sunday Pictorial
, 29 September 1946: ‘Every officer of the RASC who tried to take part in the war at this stage was classified as unsuitable – but they’d never let one leave the organisation.’

25
. Hill,
Portrait of a Sadist.

26
. Coward,
Middle East Diary
, entry for 15 August 1943, p. 49.

27
. Cooper,
Cairo in the War, 1939–1945.

28
. Robert Lees, ‘Venereal Diseases in the Armed Forces Overseas (2)’,
British Journal of Venereal Diseases 22
(1946), p. 163.

29
. Imperial War Musuem Documents 286, private papers of G. C. Tylee.

30
. Hill, op, cit., p. 78.

31
. Ibid., p. 85.

32
. Ibid., p. 18.

33
. The rand was introduced in 1961.

34
. Morton,
In Search of South Africa
, p. 209.

35
. Wells,
South Africa
, p. 251.

36
. One of the great and lasting images of South Africa during the war was the middle-aged soprano Perla Siedle Gibson, Durban’s ‘Lady in White’. Mrs Gibson stood at the docks, singing rousing and patriotic songs to troop ships as they left Durban Harbour. She sang throughout the war – popular songs, anthems and sentimental ballads. For many troops, she was an iconic maternal figure who represented the warm welcome and emotional farewell they received from the people of South Africa. (See Gibson,
Durban’s Lady in White
.)

37
. Walker,
A History of Southern Africa
, p. 251.

Chapter 9

1
. Smuts’ influence within the Allies was so strong that a plan was mooted in 1940 – and supported by George VI – that if Churchill were to die unexpectedly, Smuts would take his place.

2
. Reader’s Digest,
Illustrated History of South Africa
, p. 347.

3
. Ibid., p. 352.

4
. Bryant,
As We Were
, p. 82.

5
. Ibid., p. 83.

6
. Documentation Centre of the South African National Defence Force and Service Record World War 2, Pretoria, DSCO 5892.

7
. DSCO 5906.

8
. Morton,
In Search of South
Africa, p. 239.

9
. Ibid., p. 300.

10
. Elizabeth was a member of the Hardcastle Rivers family and not the Pitt Rivers family as was incorrectly reported in the British press at the time of the murders.

11
. ‘Heath’s Ex-wife Tells of Runaway Romance’,
News of the World
, 29 September 1946.

12
. Peggy Dixon, 9 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2828.

13
. Mr Scott’s report, based on a letter from Heath, 5 March 1943, TNA P COM 9/700.

14
.
Sunday Pictorial
, 29 September 1946.

15
. Harold Vincent Guthrie, undated, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

16
. Ibid.

17
. Lister,
The Very Merry Moira
, pp. 82–3.

18
. Letter from Heath to Elizabeth Armstrong, 14 September 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

19
. DSCO 5941-2.

20
. Letter from Heath’s commanding officer to the director of Air Personnel, 8 December 1943, DSCO 5952.

21
. Handwritten letter from Heath to the director of Air Personnel and Org. Pretoria, 18 March 1943, DSCO 5944.

22
. Letter from C. J. Jooste, adjutant general, 19 April 1943, and another on 21 December 1943, confirming retention of Heath’s services, DSCO 5951.

23
. Letter from Heath to Elizabeth Armstrong, 14 September 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

24
. The fact that Heath had a different name and date of birth on his official documents will have helped this subterfuge.

25
. Heath was seconded from the SAAF on 23 May 1944 and originally attached to No. 3 AFU South Cerney near Cirencester and the satellite station of Bibury until 15 August 1944. He was then posted to No. 13 OTU at Finmere until 29 September. On 4 October he joined 180 Squadron and was posted to Belgium, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

26
. Quoted in Bishop,
Bomber Boys
, p. xl.

27
. Ibid., p. xxxviii.

28
. Wilson,
Men of Air
, preface.

29
. Quoted in Bishop, op. cit., p. 61.

30
. Fielding Johnson’s statement was taken by Heath’s solicitors some time before the trial but is undated, HO 144/22872.

31
. Air Ministry,
Psychological Disorders in Flying Personnel of the Royal Air Force, Investigated During the War, 1939–45
, compiled by Group Captain CP Symonds and Squadron Leader Dennis Williams, London HMSO, 1947.

32
. Beaton,
Winged Squadrons
, p. 39.

33
. No category was allowed for psychopathic personality. This omission is highlighted in the report. Possibly in the light of Heath’s trial, it was considered that such statistics might be misinterpreted – presumably by the press – and that the psychopathic state would probably develop symptoms under one of the other headings anyway.

34
. Air Ministry,
Psychological Disorders in Flying Personnel
: ‘Even the most seasoned pilot may show that loss of confidence which, unless immediately treated, will end in a frank anxiety state. Suddenly, for some reason not obvious to the outsider, some minor accident, private worries, or even the awakening of a too lively imagination, may liberate a series of repressions.’

35
. Wyndham,
Love Is Blue
, p. 188. Seventy-two million Benzedrine tablets were officially issued to the British military during the Second World War. See
On Speed: The many lives of amphetamine
s, Nicolas Rasmussen, New York University Press, 2008, p. 71.

36
. Quoted in Wells,
Courage and Air Warfare
, p. 200.

37
. Nichol and Rennell,
Tail End Charlies
, p. 158.

38
. Ibid., p. 158.

39
. Bishop, op. cit., p. 160.

40
. Ibid., p. 161.

41
. Kershaw,
Never Surrender
, p. 277.

42
. Beaton, op. cit., p. 31.

43
. Bishop, op. cit., p. 163.

44
. Kershaw, op. cit., p. 281.

45
. Peter Godfrey in ‘How I Met Neville Heath’, quoted in
Master Detective
magazine, September 1990.

46
. William Spurrett Fielding-Johnson, TNA HO 144/ 22872.

Chapter 10

1
. ‘Antecedent History of Neville George Clevely Heath alias James Robert Cadogan Armstrong’ compiled by Spooner, 21 August 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

2
. Confidential report by Mr Scott, director of the Borstal Association, 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.

3
. Handwritten life story by Heath, TNA P COM 9/700.

4
. From Heath’s defence at Durban Magistrates’ Court, 19 July 1945, TNA DSCO 5972.

5
.
Sunday Pictorial
, 5 October 1946.

6
. Elizabeth Armstrong in ‘How I Met Neville Heath’ by Peter Godfrey, quoted in
Master Detective
magazine, September 1990.

7
. Desertion is quoted in the Armstrongs’ divorce petition, 7 September 1945, National Archives Repository, Pretoria, 8044.

8
.
Sunday Pictorial
, 29 September 1946.

9
. See DSCO 5969, Magistrates’ Court Documents.