Ethel Gee

Ethel Elizabeth Gee (born 1914, date of death unknown), also known as "Bunty", was a spy who was a member of the Portland Spy Ring.

Early life

Ethel Gee was the daughter of a blacksmith and lived in Portland, England. She left school at 15 and took on a variety of jobs. In October 1950 she became a filing clerk at the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland. Some of the documents she got to handle included top secret material concerning Britain's underwater warfare work and "HMS Dreadnought", the Royal Navy's first nuclear submarine.

She was by now a spinster approaching middle-age. She had very little of a social life since much of her spare time was spent looking after her ageing relatives, including her mother, aunt and uncle.

But in 1954, in a neighbouring office at the base, she became acquainted with Harry Houghton, a former sailor and now a civil servant. Houghton was a heavy drinker and his marriage close to collapse. He and Gee began an affair and she would pose as his wife while booking into hotels. However her commitment to her relatives meant that they could not marry for the time being.

Leaking Secrets

Houghton had already been supplying secrets to spies from Poland and the USSR for some time. Now, through Gee, he could get access to even better material.

In July 1960, Houghton introduced Gee to a man who she claims she only knew as "Alex Johnson" a commander from the United States Navy. "Johnson" wanted to know how the British were handling the information provided to them by the Americans.

By now Houghton and Gee were under surveillance by the British security service MI5. A Russian mole had warned Western intelligence about secrets being leaked from Portland, and Houghton's expenses, which went far beyond his salary, made him an obvious suspect.

MI5 identified "Johnson" as Gordon Lonsdale, a Canadian businessman.

Gee provided material to Houghton which he would photograph and deliver to Lonsdale in London. On the 6 January 1961 Gee left the base with pamphlets which included details of an ASDIC (sonar) device used for detecting submarines.

Arrest and Trial

The following day Houghton and Gee were five persons who were arrested in London by Special Branch detectives. The others were Lonsdale (alias Konon Trofimovich Molody) and Peter and Helen Kroger (alias Morris and Lona Cohen), all professional spies working for the Russians. These five were the hard core members of the Portland Spy Ring.

At first Gee protested her innocence. But during the trial, under questioning from the prosecution, she finally admitted that "In the light of what transpires now, I have done something terribly wrong, but at that time I did not think I had done anything criminal."

Later life

Houghton and Gee were both sentenced to 15 years in prison. They married soon after their release in 1970 and changed their names. According to research, Gee died sometime between 1981 and 1992. [http://archive.dorsetecho.co.uk/2000/12/8/107603.html The ring of confidentiality] ]

References

* "Soviet Spy Ring", by Arthur Tietjen, published by Pan Books, (1961)