SOLD PLAN TO NAZIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 118, 22 May 1939, Page 9

SOLD PLAN TO NAZIS

TEN YEARS' SENTENCE AT

MANCHESTER

LONDON, May 20.

Joseph Kelly, for stealing and selling to Germany a plan of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton, was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment at the Manchester Assizes.

The Judge, in passing sentence, said: "The possession of thi^ plan in the event of war between England and Germany would enable the Germans to bomb and destroy the factory."

, A message irom London on April 20 stated: A story of how Secret Service agents tracked a British bricklayer to Germany, where he allegedly sold a vital plan of the Royal Ordnance Factory, Lancashire, was unfolded in the Chorley Court. The police found in Kelly's house correspondence from agents and one of the missing plans. The other would* be of the greatest assistance to enemy bombers, as a bomb placed accurately could cause untold havoc and loss of life. It was known to be in Kelly's possession when he went to Germany. The ordnance factory at Euxton, Lancashire, was recently opened. It cost £10,000,000 and is believed to be the most modern and most efficient in the world*.