HIGH TREASON
NAVAL MAN'S GUILT
SENTENCED TO DEATH
(By Telenraph—Press Association—Cooyrlflht.) Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, December 21.
Walter Purely, junior engineer in the Royal Navy, who was captured by the Germans when H.M.S. Van Dyck was sunk off Norway in July, 1940, was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey today for high treason.
He was found guilty on two counts, first, that he assisted the enemy by broadcasting, and, secondly, that he assisted the enemy in preparing and editing leaflets to be dropped on Allied troops.
The jury found him not guilty on a third charge, that he betrayed the secrets of fellow-prisoners.
Mr. Justice Oliver, in summing up, said that Purdy was entitled to an acquittal if the jury accepted the motive that his broadcasting was. an honest attempt to assist the Allies and if they accepted his own statement that he prepared the leaflets under threat of death.
When the jury returned its verdict, Purdy's sister,' Mrs. Horton, collapsed and had' to be carried out of court.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 150, 22 December 1945, Page 7
Word Count
170HIGH TREASON Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 150, 22 December 1945, Page 7
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