Saturday September 30, 2000

The government has revealed that the retired navy commander who recruited Hull seamen as amateur spies in the cold war years, up to the mysterious sinking of the fishing trawler Gaul in 1974, was a member of the secret intelligence service MI6.

The admission, made in a two-page affidavit from the Ministry of Defence to the high court, has angered the families of the 36 Gaul crew who lost their lives.

They have always suspected that the trawler, which went down in the Barents sea off the coast of Norway, was scuttled by the Russians while on an espionage mission for the Royal Navy. But their effort to get at the facts has been a long and frustrating journey.

"For 26 years we have had lots of lies and deceit and this shows yet another one," said Roy Clark, a member of the Gaul Family Association who lost his son Paul. Mike Sturgeon, whose father Maurice was the crew's mate, said he now hoped that MI6 would open its files on the intelligence operation. "I just want the truth," he said.

MI6's supervision of the spying operation may explain why it was not until three years ago that the Ministry of Defence made the limited admission that Hull boats had been used for surveillance of Russian ships and submarines during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The fate of the Gaul has been one of the enduring mysteries of the cold war and it is still under formal investigation by the former wreck commissioner, high court judge Sir David Steel.

His inquiry is not expected to begin until next year after the wreck is officially reinspected. It was set up last year after a report by the maritime accident investigation branch concluded that the vessel had been swamped by heavy seas entering unsecured deck hatches. But an examination of the wreck by remote cameras failed to find any human remains or personal effects.

To assist Sir David's inquiry, the MoD asked Commander Timothy Clark, a member of the defence intelligence staff, to review ministry records. In his affidavit he says: "I have seen in the MoD records reference to a Cdr Brookes as an intelligence liaison officer in Hull with the crews of fishing trawlers. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1960 and I understand that from then until his death in January 1971 he was a member of the secret intelligence services."

Until now everyone concerned about the case has assumed that Brookes was merely a retired officer who provided the skippers with specialised cameras and recording equipment to gather intelligence for the Royal Navy.

Cdr Clark's affidavit reiterates government information finally released in 1998 that up to 40 trawlers, occasionally carrying surveillance navy personnel, were used for intelligence gathering during the period.

In a carefully worded conclusion he said: "I can confirm from MoD records I have examined, that no record is held which indicates that any member of the crew of the MV Gaul was, or had been, engaged in intelligence activities for the Royal Navy."

But since "no records of trawler personnel involved in this activity exist in MoD files", Cdr Clark adds: "It cannot be stated with absolute certainty that none of the crew... had been briefed on intelligence collection, or issued with photographic or radio equipment, during the 12 months before the loss."

Former Hull seamen have recently testified that both Maurice Sturgeon and the skipper, Peter Nellist, had been on surveillance and hardware recovery operations on other vessels in 1968 and 1972.

Cdr Clark leaves open the possibility that MI6's operations were more extensive than anyone involved in the case has realised. "It is apparent that other intelligence organisations were also involved in intelligence gathering in the Barents sea area in the 1960s," he says.

Max Gold, the Hull solicitor who represents the crew's families, said yesterday: "It is vital new information, very peculiar but not surprising. There has been deliberate deception all along." Mr Gold has written to the Russian ambassador asking for Moscow's intelligence records to be opened.

"What the families really want to know is, what happened to their loved ones and where are their remains," he said.

© 2000 Guardian Unlimited