Professor ‘a double agent’

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 6

Professor ‘a double agent’

NZPA London The alleged Russian spy, Hugh Hambleton, had been a double agent working for the French and Canadians, it was claimed at the Old Bailey yesterday. The professor, aged 60, had successfully penetrated the Russian espionage operation, said his defence counsel, John Lloyd-Eley Q.C. . The assertion came as a Special Branch Detective Superintendent, Peter Westcott, was being cross-, examined about his interviews with the man said to have been in almost continual contact with the Russians for nearly 30 years. Mr Lloyd-Eley asked:

“Have you been told the defendant in this case was at the material times a French and Canadian agent who had successfully penetrated the Russian espionage organisation?” Detective Superintendent Westcott replied: “I have not been told directly. I have heard a hint of it from a question in this Court.” The Court had been in camera with the press and public excluded until shortly before lunch. Mr Lloyd-Eley went on to ’ask if the Special Branch man knew that “from May 1980 the Solicitor-General of the Canadian Government announced in Ottawa that no

charges were being placed against Professor Hambleton in Canada.” The , Canadian Government’s announcement allegedly came after Hambleton’s interrogation by Canadian authorities in 1979, said Mr Lloyd-Eley. Superintendent Westcott agreed that the defendant was interviewed for. the first time by Canadian authorities in November 1979. Mr Lloyd-Eley asked: “Do you know for a fact he was interviewed on a number of occasions thereafter?” Superintendent Westcott: “Not from my first-hand knowledge.” The trial continues.