Spies, treason and the Wandsworth gallows

During World War Two HMP Wandsworth played host to some of the most infamous spies and traitors in the country. Wandsworth prison historian Officer Stewart McLaughlin delves into one of the most colourful periods in the history of the prison estate.

Spies, treason and the Wandsworth gallows During World War Two HMP Wandsworth played host to some of the most infamous spies and traitors in the country. Wandsworth prison historian Officer Stewart McLaughlin delves into one of the most colourful periods in the history of the prison estate. In the 60 years up to the beginning of World War Two that HMP Wandsworth's gallows had been open for business, 69 executions had been carried out. That number was set to increase sharply with the arrival some of the country's most infamous spies and traitors. The prison's normal routine changed with the arrival of prisoners held under Section 18B of the Defence Regulations. The group was made up of those with alleged Nazi sympathies or a cause of trouble if left at liberty. This included Germans, and other nationals, including British, as well as members of the IRA.

On 23 May 1940, an Act of Parliament was passed to allow civilian courts to try people for spying. Known as the Treachery Act 1940, it was the only law passed in the twentieth century to increase the scope of the death penalty (it was repealed in 1945).

One prisoner received in the prison at that time was George Owens. The prison's first spy, he was held in the prison as a double agent after feeding misinformation to the Germans.

At the same time, London, including Wandsworth, was the focus of more and more frequent air raids. On 17th August tragedy struck the jail. Historical documents recount that an Officer Cullen was cycling home from work when he was killed by a bomb. It appears he was the only member of staff killed in the blitz. One month later the jail itself suffered its first war damage – an anti aircraft shell landing in the photography studio. The Governor at the time, Major BD Grew, made the following note in the prison records:

9th September: Night of Bombing

10th September: Night of indiscriminate bombing

12th September: All night raid – heavy AA (anti Aircraft) bombs nearby. No damage to prison

20th September: Bomber brought down after direct hit – back of prison

28th September: 10 bombs dropped inside prison. Smashed A wing, RC Chapel, Old Hospital, PWS incendiary bombs dropped, put out

11th October: Six incendiary bombs in prison, many incendiary bombs in quarters put out. Two quarters damaged.

In November Wandsworth held its first spy to face execution under the Treachery Act. Dutchman, Charles Van Der Kieboom, landed on British shores with fellow countryman Sjoerd Pons with radio equipment and code signals. Sentenced to death after, it is suggested, Pons turned queens evidence (Pons was found not guilty) Van Der Kieboom claimed he had been forced to work for the Germans. His appeal failed and he was executed at Pentonville on 17th December 1940.

1941 proved a quiet year for the executioner but a very tense time with bomb disposal a regular occurrence:

22nd April: Bomb removed from the carpenters' room (250kilo)

23rd April: Bomb removed from quarters' allotment (250kilo).

The first execution at the jail for treachery took place on 9th July 1941. The details are sketchy and only read “Armstrong – In USA intent to assist the enemy.”

The first spies to be executed at Wandsworth were Karl Drucke and Werner Walti. They had come ashore from a Luftwaffe seaplane near Banff, Scotland. The pair separated and Walti was soon arrested carrying a radio, pistol and British currency. Drucke managed to get to Edinburgh before he too was arrested. With no use for either of them as double agents they were tried and eventually executed on 6th August 1941.

Eight days later German army Sergeant Joseph Jakobs was also executed but under unique circumstances. Caught after parachuting into Britain and badly breaking his ankle on landing, he was found guilty of espionage. On the morning of 14th August 1941, he was transported to the Tower of London to be executed by firing squad.

The Governor Major Grew remembered Jakobs shaking his hand and thanking him for the consideration given to him in prison. Still in pain from his broken ankle he managed to click his heals and salute before finding a place in history as the last person to be executed at the tower.

There was no such dignified end for the next spy held at Wandsworth. Karl Richter, a Sudeten German in origin, went to the gallows on 10 December 1941 with a considerable struggle.

He parachuted into England where his unhelpful and abrupt manner to a lorry driver had his behaviour reported to the police who subsequently detained him. He apparently tried to knock himself unconcious in the condemned cell but when this failed he struggled desperately, breaking the leather strap, which was securing his wrists. Famous executioner Albert Pierrepoint was only on his third execution and was given the broken strap as a souvenir.

The first British subject (actually a Gibraltan resident) to be executed at the prison was Jose Estella Key. He had reported shipping movements from the Rock and was brought to Britain for interrogation and trial. He was executed at a double execution on 7th July 1942 alongside Alphonse Timmerman, a Belgian who came to England posing as a refugee but found guilty of treachery.

Another posing as a refugee was Dutch national Johannes Dronkers. He arrived sailing a small yacht from his homeland in May 1942. Like Mr Timmerman his cover story fell apart on interrogation. He was executed at the end of 1942.

Before him though was 21-year-old merchant seaman Duncan Alexander Scott-Ford, who was convicted of treachery on 16th October 1942. He had been in the payment of the Germans whilst working ships travelling between Britain and Portugal. He went to the gallows in November the same year.

The last spy to be executed at Wandsworth was Fransiscus Winter. Like others before, he tried the refugee angle as part of his defence but to no avail. He went to his death on 26th January 1943.

The Wandsworth gallows would claim two more under the Treason Act – both high profile.

Jon Amery was executed on 19th December 1945. He had supported the German cause, making radio broadcasts and getting British prisoners of war to form a small unit of the German army. He was the son of a cabinet minister, Sir Leo Amery and the elder brother of Julian Amery. Julian later served his country in the army and went on to become an MP and was elevated to the peerage.

The execution was one of the few recalled by executioner Pierrepoint, with Amery greeting him and the two exchanging pleasantries.

The last execution for treason was the most famous. William Joyce - more commonly known as Lord Haw Haw because of his nasal drawl - broadcast radio propaganda against Britain throughout the War. Although born in the USA, he had previously declared himself Irish (prior to partition) and thereby entitled to British citizenship and a British passport.

He attended Battersea Technology College and his family had settled in East Dulwich, so the area South of the Thames was a familiar location to end his days. A considerable crowd had gathered outside the prison to read the official notices of execution. Both Amery and Joyce were exhumed from their graves at the families' request many years later.

At the end of the war Wandsworth suffered from the penultimate V2 rocket attack on London in March 1945, crashing near the deputy governor's house.

The war had placed immense pressure on the prison but it had come through with most of it still intact. Life eventually returned to normal but the collection of colourful stories and characters – both mythical and true – hold a special place in the history of HM Prison Service.

• Based on Stewart McLaughlin's excellent history of the Wandsworth Gallows: ‘Execution Suite'. Email Stewart.McLaughlin@hmps.gsi.gov.uk to purchase a copy.