TRAITOR’S GATE
Reciting Hitler’s lies for ‘Nazi’s BBC’ & a prostitute who betrayed UK over dead puppy…the dark history of Brit traitors
One traitor became the only woman to be sentenced to death by a British court during the war
THERE are many heroic episodes that come out of war - but Britain's conflict history is also peppered with tales of treachery and deceit.
Today two traitor Brits were branded an "absolute disgrace" for proudly fighting against Ukraine for tyrant Vladimir Putin's Russian army.
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There were calls for Ben Stimson, 48, from Oldham, and convicted felon Aiden Minnis, from Chippenham, to be jailed if they ever return to the UK.
Meanwhile dozens of Brits have made the decision to fight for the Ukrainian side - which our government is supporting with billions of pounds worth of arms, ammunition and training.
Since the outbreak of World War Two, Britain's security forces have seen shocking acts of treachery - from Hitler sympathisers to Soviet double agents.
Here we take a look at our nation's dark history of traitors.
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Peddling Hitler's lies for 'Nazi's BBC'
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William Joyce - known as 'Lord Haw-Haw' for his posh accent - became a Nazi propaganda pusher in WW2.
Born to Irish parents, Joyce's extreme right-wing leanings reportedly began to fester when his father fought against the Nationalists for a unified Ireland.
In 1933 he signed up to Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists.
With a war in Europe looming, Joyce left the UK for Berlin where he became a newsreader for the German Radio Corporation.
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His broadcasts for Reichsrundfunk attracted six million regular listeners and became so popular that the British government and the BBC dubbed him "Sinister Sam".
He grew increasingly radical and denounced his homeland on multiple occasions.
Traitor Brits fighting for Putin are thrill-seeking gamer losers…they should NEVER be allowed back
Joyce's controversial career ended the day after Hitler died in April 1945.
He fled Germany with false papers, but was later caught by British officers in Denmark, who shot and wounded him when he tried to escape.
Joyce was found guilty of treason and hanged at Wandsworth Prison a year later.
Prostitute seeks revenge for dead puppy
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Petty criminal and prostitute Dorothy O'Grady is believed to have turned traitor after her pet puppy died while she was locked up.
The dog reportedly suffered serious neglect while O'Grady was waiting to be released from remand in 1918.
It fostered a deep hatred for British authority and O'Grady subsequently allied herself with Nazi Germany, seeking vengeance.
In 1926 she married a fireman and moved to the Isle of Wight, where the couple ran Osborne Villa, hosting members of the Hitler Youth.
When the island's Sandown Bay became a military target, O'Grady carried out reconnaissance for the Germans.
She collated several maps of the bay and provided detailed drawings of the British defences.
O'Grady was later caught spying by MI5 agents and found guilty of treason.
In 1940 she became the only woman to be sentenced to death by the British courts during the war.
Soviet double agent
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George Blake was an illustrious British soldier who became a Soviet double agent after becoming disillusioned with the West.
The turning point came for Blake after he witnessed the intense bombings of North Korea in the 1950s, when he was posted to the region as a soldier.
He reportedly saw communism as the only way to "put an end to war" and defected to the Soviet Union.
Working for the security body MGB, Blake was eventually outed by a Polish spy and accused of revealing the details of 40 MI6 agents.
He was sentenced to 42 years imprisonment but escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison five years into his sentence.
Blake was later smuggled into East Germany where handlers escorted him back into the Soviet Union.
He lived there for the remainder of his life and died in Moscow in 2020, aged 98.
Which countries were in the Soviet Union?
THE USSR was one of the largest political, military, and economic powers in the world during the 20th century.
The Soviet Union was formed of 15 member countries, all ruled by one central communist government.
The USSR was a socialist state formed after the Russian revolution in 1917.
It was initially a confederation of the states of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and modern-day Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, but eventually grew to include a total of 15 countries.
These included Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The USSR officially dissolved on December 26, 1991, following a long political and economic decline.
Although the Soviet economy was the second-largest in 1990, the countries within the Union were complaining of economic stagnation.
The Soviet black market was booming, while shortages of consumer goods were commonplace.
Politically, the collapse of the Soviet Union is often connected to the number of radical reforms the incumbent president Mikhail Gorbachev had implemented during his six years as the leader of the USSR.
'Mata Hari of World War Two'
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Mathilde Carré - known as 'The Cat' - was an invaluable French Resistance fighter and British operative when she turned.
During the German occupation of France, Carré became infatuated with Polish fighter pilot Roman Garby-Czerniawski, who later admitted he was a spy.
The romanticism of spy craft lit a fire inside Carré, who saw herself as the "Mata Hari of the Second World War".
She soon became an agent and was later promoted as a chief recruiter for the Resistance.
However, in 1942 her posse was arrested by the Gestapo - where she was interrogated by feared Abwehr counter-intelligence officer Hugo Bleicher.
He turned Carré and persuaded her to set up a trap for a French agent in Paris - which proved successful.
She continued spying for Germany and was posted to England, where she worked for Britain’s Special Operations Executive.
In 1943, Carré's cover was blown and she was prosecuted for treason.
After being jailed for six years in Britain, she was extradited to France to serve a death sentence.
Cambridge Five
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Kim Philby was a prominent member of the notorious Cambridge Five, a ring of spies who passed information to the Soviet Union.
With fascism plaguing Europe, Philby headed for Austria where he became active in helping the oppressed working class socialists.
Alongside his wife, Jewish socialist Litzi Friedmann, the couple helped the anti-fascist cause in Vienna but later fled to London to escape the Nazis.
Philby’s life changed when he was introduced to a resident Soviet agent, code-named "Otto", at Regents Park.
Along with four other Cambridge students, they were persuaded to start double lives as spies for the Soviets.
Through the help of the KGB they worked their way into government jobs and passed on state secrets to the Russians.
Philby was so good at his job he even secured a high-level job with MI6.
In 1949 he was sent to Washington where be became a liaison intelligence officer 'combating Soviet subversion in Western Europe'.
However, after two members of the Cambridge Five defected, suspicion grew over Philby and he resigned from the Foreign Office.
Cleared of treason allegations, MI6 posted him to Beirut, where he worked as a correspondent for The Observer.
In 1962, his cover was blown during a conversation with a MI5 officer at a party and he later made a 'sham' confession to be granted immunity.
A year later a KGB guide smuggled him into Russia where he lived out the remainder of his life and was treated as a 'hero'.
SS traitor
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British-born Roy Courlander was a traitor who joined the Fuhrer's dreaded Waffen-SS.
He belonged to a little-known splinter unit called the British Free Corps - a group of Commonwealth defectors who had bartered their way out of Prisoner of War camps.
Courlander had been raised by a Jewish family in London but later enlisted in the New Zealand army, serving in the Western Desert and Greece - the latter of which where he was captured in 1941.
Harbouring secret fascist sympathies, Courlander volunteered to fight for Hitler but was turned down by his German captors.
He remained a staunch supporter and in 1943, Courlander was rewarded with a transfer to Genshagen PoW camp - a training ground for Nazi converts.
The traitor was later deployed in Pankow, Berlin, where he was recruited to the BFC and given the rank of corporal.
When the war turned against the Nazi's favour, Courlander's loyalty also waned and in September 1944 he planned his escape.
When he was later sent to the Western Front near Belgium, he seized the opportunity to turn himself in to the allied forces.
After several interrogations and a trial, Courlander was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after which he moved to Australia under an alias.
Klaus Fuchs
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Klaus Fuchs was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for passing classified information to the Soviet Union, which famously helped them build their own atomic bomb.
Born in Germany, Fuchs fled the Nazis and moved to Britain in 1933 -becoming a naturalised citizen not long after.
As a revered scientist he was given security clearance to work at the British atomic project, code-named TUBE ALLOYS.
From there he went on to work on the Manhattan Project developing the atomic bomb.
Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Fuchs passed on secret atomic research to the Russian military intelligence agency.
Combined with other intel, the Russians were able to develop a copy of the American atomic bomb design.
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Fuchs reportedly said he had been motivated by a belief the Soviets had a right to know about the atomic bomb project.
Fuchs was identified as a traitor and arrested in 1950. He died in 1988, aged 76.
All you need to know about Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Everything you need to know about Russia's invasion of Ukraine...
- Why is Russia invading Ukraine?
- Will the UK go to war?
- How can I join the Ukraine foreign legion?
- What can I do to help Ukraine?
- Who is Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
- How much gas does the UK get from Russia?
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- What is Article 5 of the Nato treaty?
- What is the Minsk agreement?
- Which countries were in the Soviet Union?