Authors: Nick Barratt
Section 7 stipulated that anyone found to have attempted or made preparations to commit an offence under the Official Secrets Act would be treated as though they had actually carried out the offence. In other words, the investigators thought that he was guilty of planning to do something wrong, but were still not entirely sure what the exact nature of this wrongdoing might be. Nevertheless, time was clearly running out for Oldham, with plans to bring him in for interrogation only a case of when, not if.
The question then for consideration is – who should conduct the interview? Whether it should be left to a police officer from Special Branch to do so, or whether it should be done by a member of this office who is a superintendent of police under the provisions of the Official Secrets Act. In any case, whoever conducts the interview will have to be specially authorised by an order under the signature of the commissioner of police.
All these points will, I think, have to be finally decided after discussion both with the Foreign Office and the DPP.
I would suggest that I should interview him, accompanied either by Mr Ottaway or, if it is thought better, by a member of the Foreign Office staff. I suggest this latter alternative as Mr Norton, when I last spoke to him, seemed to consider that this might be advisable.
284
Kell agreed with Harker’s suggestion that Oldham be kept under further surveillance, thus delaying the need to make a decision. A further discussion took place on 21 July, but as before they simply ran over the same ground without reaching any conclusions, other than the terms under which Oldham should be questioned:
1. Is the interview to be conducted without invoking in any way the assistance of the Official Secrets Act? That is to say, are we merely to interview Oldham and try to get out of him (a) the diplomatic passport if he has it and (b) some sort of explanation of his conduct on the 13 June [sic]? DSS [Director of Secret
Service] points out that, if he declines to give us any information, our bluff is called and we can do nothing.
2. If it is proposed to proceed under Section 6 of the Official Secrets Act 1920, it is obvious as a corollary that we should have in readiness, under Section 9 of the Act for 1911, a search warrant which, in the event of his refusing (a) to answer and (b) to admit possession of the passport, could be sued to find out what he has got. In these circumstances it is further a question for consideration, if it is found necessary to use the search warrant, who is to be employed, eg, a Special Branch police officer. All these points will have to be considered at a joint meeting at the Foreign Office early next week.
285
By this stage, Oldham had hatched an elaborate plot – with Bystrolyotov’s help – to leave the country. A report prepared by Ottaway on 26 July outlined his daily routine.
During the time he was at 31 Queen’s Gate, which is a nursing home, he was visited occasionally by his wife and a Mr Parelli [sic]. He daily visited the local public houses, drinking lots of beer and some afternoons sat in Kensington Gardens reading and sleeping, but he was not seen to associate with anyone.
286
Then, on 22 July, Oldham left the nursing home and made a trip in preparation for his imminent departure.
On Saturday 22nd inst at 12.20 pm he called at the offices of the American Express company, 6 Haymarket, where he remained five minutes and afterwards returned to 31 Queen’s Gate.
287
This was almost certainly an attempt to secure some funds for his trip. Two days later, on 24 July at 6.15 pm, he placed a phone call to his wife with the help of a nursing home operator.
Ernest:
Is that you…? Ernie speaking. I am going to Vienna with Joe tomorrow so shall be packing tonight
.
Lucy:
Ahem!
Ernest:
Don’t talk like that
.
Lucy:
Ahem!
Ernest:
I shall be home after dinner. I thought I had better warn you, that’s all!
Lucy:
All right! Don’t worry about that
.
288
The next morning, Oldham duly packed his belongings together and left the nursing home. He was monitored for a while by Ottaway.
Continuous observation was kept on 31 Queen’s Gate from 19th to 25th inst, on which date Oldham left the address about 10.30 am and was driven direct to his home, 31 Pembroke Gardens, by taxi cab.
He had with him a small suitcase and small attaché case and stated that he was flying that day to Vienna.
289
However, in an indication that he perhaps knew that he was under surveillance, or perhaps because he was naturally cautious, Oldham was able to demonstrate the elusive qualities that had so infuriated Bystrolyotov in Paris throughout 1930 and 1931 and managed to lose the people who were tailing him. Later that day, Harker submitted a report outlining just what had gone wrong.
Information was received at 10.00 am that Oldham had made arrangements to leave the nursing home and was proposing to go to Vienna by air.
Immediate steps were taken to shadow him and at about 10.30 am he left the nursing home in a taxi which proceeded in the direction of Victoria. Unfortunately, it was missed.
290
One can sense the growing panic as Harker and Ottaway realised Oldham had disappeared. They immediately alerted the authorities in the Foreign Office.
Various enquiries were started and at 10.45 am I was able to get in touch with the Foreign Office and inform then what had happened. Mr Norton discussed the matter with Sir Robert Vansittart and it was finally decided that, if we could find out how he was proceeding abroad, C should be informed and arrangements were to be made to warn all our controls and steps were to be taken to search him, should Oldham attempt to use the diplomatic or ‘red’ passport which he is alleged to possess.
291
‘C’, incidentally, referred to Admiral Sir Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair who had helped to establish the Secret Intelligence Service. On his instruction, passport control officers across Europe would be watching out for Oldham.
Spoke Major Vivian personally who informed me that this would be done as soon as we could give him the necessary information.
292
Major Vivian – nicknamed VeeVee – was one of Sinclair’s trusted officers in SIS and a veteran of the Indian police service. His work specifically focused on the activities of Comintern. However, on this occasion, neither MI5 nor SIS were able to prevent Oldham from escaping.
About 2.30 pm, information was received from Mr Canning to the effect that Oldham had left Croydon in an aeroplane leaving for Paris at 2.00 pm. This information was immediately telephoned to Major Vivian’s secretary.
293
Superintendent Canning was a member of Special Branch, yet another organisation involved with the hunt for Oldham – perhaps underlining the disconnected nature of British intelligence services during this period, as well as the seriousness of the situation.
Later in the afternoon information was received from Mr Canning that Oldham had a single ticket from Croydon to Geneva and that he was due to arrive in Cointrin [Geneva airport] at 6.45 pm, whence he was proceeding to Geneva. Major Vivian immediately informed.
294
With Oldham gone, there was little more that the investigating team could do. However, in an unconnected development, steps were finally taken to secure the Foreign Office, ironically on the same day that Oldham had flown to Geneva – a case of literally locking the stable door after the horse had bolted.
Draft letter to the stationery office stating that, as it has become necessary to change the locks and keys of a considerable number of presses in which highly confidential documents are kept in the Foreign Office within the shortest possible period, the services of a second locksmith will be required and requesting that Messrs Chubb may be asked to supply such a man, if possible one who has previously been employed in the Foreign Office.
295
With her husband gone and Bystrolyotov still on the continent, Lucy was left abandoned, with no idea what would happen to her. However, just when she thought things could not get any worse she received a letter from Oldham’s uncle, Henry George Holloway, containing some more bad news. Without her knowledge, her husband had been borrowing large sums of money. She phoned Holloway at 10.00 am on 26 July to find out what was going on.
Lucy:
Can I speak to Mr Holloway? Is that Mr Holloway? This is Mrs Oldham speaking. Your letter I received came as a great shock. I had no idea he had been doing those sorts of things. Now, can you come up tomorrow and have lunch with me?
Holloway:
I think it would be best if you met me at the National Liberal Club at 1.00 pm tomorrow and have lunch with me
.
Lucy:
Very well, but I may be a bit late as I am going to see my solicitors
.
Holloway:
All right. I’ll wait until you come
.
Lucy:
He came out of the nursing home, you know, he goes into these places periodically and now he has pushed off abroad and we don’t know where he is
.
Holloway:
Don’t you know where he has gone?
Lucy:
No, we haven’t any idea
.
Holloway:
Well, don’t you worry about this, I expect it will be all right
.
296
A note was made at the bottom of the page, stating that ‘from another conversation it appears that Mr Holloway (Oldham’s uncle) lent Oldham £500 and the latter has cleared off without repaying this.’ Oldham had therefore deceived even his closest relatives.
However, he was eventually spotted by one of Vivian’s agents, purely by chance, boarding a train in Geneva on 28 July bound for Paris. He had remained undetected partly because he had still not used the diplomatic passport. Yet again, the trail went cold and Oldham disappeared from view once more; he had given his pursuers the slip. Harker wrote to Wavish at the GPO on 28 July to suspend the telephone trace on Oldham’s house, resigned to the fact that his quarry was abroad.
With reference to the telephone check at present in operation on Western 4571, I have come to the conclusion that this may safely be suspended for the moment, though it may be necessary to reinstate it at a later date.
The efficient operation of this check has been of the greatest assistance to us in dealing with the case, and I am very grateful for all the trouble you have taken in this matter.
297
Although Harker tried to put a brave face on things, the reality was that Oldham was at liberty somewhere in Europe and the British secret services were still none the wiser as to what he’d been up to in the Foreign Office on 13 July.
In my opinion, Oldham is heading for a breakdown
.
H
ERBERT
H
UNTER
, MI5
SURVEILLANCE OFFICER
, 30 S
EPTEMBER
1933
At 5.45 pm on Friday 4 August, the phone rang in the offices of MI5; it was Superintendent Canning from Special Branch with some heartening news. Oldham had landed at Croydon aerodrome, having flown in from Basel. However, they had no idea where he went next. The previous day, Lucy had finally moved out of 31 Pembroke Gardens and taken up residence in a serviced suite of rooms at 8 Grenville Place, 82 Cromwell Gardens in South Kensington – a few doors down from where she had previously lived with Oldham. The post office informed MI5 and inquired whether the postal check should be transferred. The rather dejected response had ‘in the circumstances, instructed them to suspend the check’. This decision was hurriedly reversed as soon as Oldham’s reappearance was confirmed. A phone tap was installed on 5 August and Ottaway was instructed to keep watch on the property.
298
The fact that Oldham’s estranged wife remained MI5’s best lead says a lot about the state of the case. In the two days following Oldham’s return to
the UK, the various security organisations had no idea of his whereabouts, other than to confirm he was not at his home address, the nursing home at Queen’s Gate or his wife’s new residence. Two further days of surveillance proved to be equally fruitless and Ottaway was told to ‘withdraw observation’ on 8 August.
299
It was at this point – four days after Oldham was spotted at Croydon and then promptly lost again – that Harker decided to inform Eastwood that his former employee was back, but that he had no idea where he was. On 9 August, a meeting was convened at the Foreign Office to discuss what steps, if any, should be taken. Harker, Eastwood and Mr Lee (deputising for Norton) were in attendance and they were clearly under pressure from the very top to produce results:
It appears that Sir Robert Vansittart is dissatisfied with the information generally which we have regarding this individual and considers that more intensive enquiries should be made both into his past and present activities.
With a view to achieving this end, Mr Lee is arranging to draw all previous papers in the Foreign Office, Board of Trade and Board of Education, in which Oldham has served. In addition, Mr Kemp has been instructed to get in touch with Mrs Oldham and find out anything he can regarding Oldham’s present whereabouts, where he banks and his present business activities. When this information has been collected, Mr Lee will let me know.
Mr Lee expressed the view that, if possible, we should look at his banking account for the last few years. Explained to Mr Lee that this could only be done with the assistance of the DPP. Mr Lee gave me authority to say to the DPP that the Foreign Office would be glad it if were possible to have this inspection made. DSS informed.
300