Caught By Accident

Between 1945 and 1972, Britain's security services captured only one Soviet spy without American help - and even that was by accident. In April 1952, an MI5 surveillance expert was on his way home for lunch when, as he got off a bus in Kingston, London, he spotted a Soviet diplomat talking to a young man. The unknown was trailed and found to be a 24 year old radio operator named William Marshall, who worked for Britain's Diplomatic Wireless Service, handling secret radio transmissions to and from British embassies around the world. Three months later, Marshall was caught red-handed selling secrets to the Russian diplomat and was jailed for five years.