ANOTHER AIRMAN CHARGED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 29 August 1945, Page 5

ANOTHER AIRMAN CHARGED

GIVING INFORMATION TO ENEMY London, Aug. 27. Another court-martial, in which an R.A.F. ex-prisoner of war was charged with aiding the Germans while in captivity, opened at Uxbridge. The accused, Flight-Sergeant J. Alcock, aged 32, an air gunner from Manchester, pleaded not guilty to nine charges of giving the Germans information regarding R.A.F. formations, details of Halifax aircraft, information regarding secret radar equipment known as “Monica,” asking fellow prisoners to fill in German forms, and accepting parole from the German authorities. The prosecution stated that the alleged offences occurred in the German interrogation transit camp, Dulagluft, where Alcock was imprisoned after he wps shot down in a raid on Mannheim. A Luftwaffe officer, Lieutenant Bauer Schlightigroll, said in evidence that Alcock in return for The offer of a little more freeoom accepted the job of taking forms to prisoners in cells to have them filled in. Witness said he listened in by microphone to the cells. Alcock was not a good helper and approached the prisoners clumsily and made them suspicious. Witness did not think he brought in one form filled in. Alcock after he took up the job was given other quarters and allowed to wear civilian clothes but received no payment. NOT GUILTY ON FOUR COUNTS London August 28. The court-martial found Alcock not guilty on four charges all relating to conduct alleged to have been prejudicial to good order and discipline and will promulgate its finding on the remaining five charges. The defence submitted that there was no motive for Alcock to divulge information to the enemy. What he did he did innocently. The Judge Advocate, summing up said Alcock bore an exemplary character with no evidence of pro-Nazi sympathies before he was taken prisoner. The court would have to be satisfied that accused intended to aid the enemv.