SOLD HIMSELF TO ENEMY

Evening Star, Issue 25426, 6 March 1945, Page 4

SOLD HIMSELF TO ENEMY

ENGLISH TEACHER CHARGED BROADCAST ANTI-COMMUNIST TALKS Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright (Roc. 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, Mar; 5. Gerald ' Percy Sandys Hewitt, aged 44, a former teacher of English in Paris, -was sentenced to 12 yearsl penal servitude at the Old Bailey on an indictment under the Defence Regulations charging . him with doiing acts likely to assist the enemy by supplying broadcast scripts and making, broadcasting records for use by the enemy as propaganda between December, 1942, and June, 1944. Hewitt pleaded guilty. '■ - ■ ■ The prosecuting counsel, said that Hewitt was a British subject, born of English parents. He lived .in France for many years with his mother. Hewitt, in a statement, which counsel read, said he had always been antiCommunist, and he believed in, friendship ■ with Germany. When Paris was about to fall he and his mother escaped to unoccupied France. As they were anxious to return to Paris, the Germans struck a bargain with them, and they were allowed to return to Paris, Hewitt consenting to do anti-Commu-nist propaganda, but insisting that he should do nothing anti-British or antiFrench. Hewitt visited Berlin in July, 1943, and wrote to his mother praising what he saw there. Later, he returned to Paris and wrote weekly talks dealing with the deadly nature».of "Red" views, throughout the world. He later became disillusioned about the Nazi regime and went to Switzerland. The prosecution aalleged that Hewitt did monthly broadcasts for two years after the German occupation and received 20.000 francs a mouth. A cash book found in his flat showed payments totaling nearly 250.000 francs up to June, 1944. The judge, sentencing Hewitt, said: " You sold'yourself, your country, and your adopted country, to the'enemy. It is impossible to measure, even to estimate, what harm you did'your compatriots and friends."