OFFICER’S ESPIONAGE ON BEHALF OF FRANCE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6808, 11 January 1929, Page 7

OFFICER’S ESPIONAGE ON BEHALF OF FRANCE

Dane in Germany SENTENCED TO GAOL AFTER SECRET TRIAL WOMAN ACCOMPLICE ALSO. United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. Received Thursday, 7 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 9. The Berliu correspondent of the Times reports that after a secret trial, the Supreme Court sentenced a Danish officer, Captain Lembourn, to five years’ imprisonment for espionage, and his accomplice, a ’German woman clerk, Fraulein Stegermann, to two years. It is understood that Captain Lembourn contended that he undertook certain inquiries on behalf of a friend who heard that he was intending to have a holiday in Germany, but ho had not expected that tho inquiries would lead him to espionage. He pleaded that die only wanted to ascertain if the Nationalists were organising and planning an attack on the Danish frontier. The judge, in summing up, pointed out that Captain Lembourn sought, information as to the training of air pilots and tho manufacture of armaments. • It was also clear that he was not acting on behalf of Denmark, but of a foreign Power working through Copenhagen. The judge found that there were extenuating circumstances for Fraulein Stegermann, whom love had led astray, but she should have harkened to her friends’ warning that Captain Lembourn was employing her for espionage. , Though no Power was mentioned, all Germany assumes that Franco was meant. It is pointed out that Captain Lembourn, who posed as an Lnglisnman named Brown, was formerly seconded for the French Army and arranged the Fraulein Stegermann should get°a post in the Ministry of Dcfenco. Sentence Causes Danish Sensation “GERMANY SHOULD HAVE NO MILITARY SECRETS.” Received Thursday, S.ofl p.m. LONDON, Jan. 30. A Copenhagen message states that there is a sensation throughout Denmark at the sentence of five years penal serviture at the Leipzig Supreme Court on tho Danish officer, Captain Lambournc, who was charged with spying in Germany in tho interests or France. The trial was a secret one but it is stated Lambourno assorted that ho had acted only in the interests of Denmark, being anxious to discover_ what preparations the German Fascist organisations ha'd made for an attack on the Danish southern frontier. The court, to the contrary, declared Lambourne had acted on behalf of the secret service built up by the French military attache at Copenhagen and that his researches were chiefly directed against the _ Reichswelir and tho militarised section of the police. The Danish press savs Germany, under the Versailles treaty, should not. have military secrets; therefore, it was not a question of espionage.