http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/10/22/stinwenws02015.html October 22, 2000 Jack Grimston and Nick Fielding THE enigma of the Enigma grows ever more mysterious. Only days after the stolen wartime coding machine was posted to Jeremy Paxman, the television presenter, its custodians are still preparing to pay a ransom of 25,000. The rare second world war machine was returned minus three vital rotor wheels, which, it emerged this weekend, are still the subject of a financial demand. It has fuelled police suspicions that the theft was committed by someone with intimate knowledge of Enigma, even possibly by an insider from Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, the wartime codebreaking centre where it was kept. In a tale that involves a former MI5 spy, a man known only as "the master" and an anonymous public benefactor, nothing can be ruled out. Christine Large, the director of Bletchley Park Trust, is this weekend awaiting a telephone call at her London flat from a mysterious intermediary who claims to be acting on behalf of "the master". The intermediary says the master innocently bought the captured German machine from a third party, unaware that it had been stolen. Large has heard nothing since Paxman found the machine in his post last Tuesday. "The master appears to be on holiday at the moment," she said. "But we are prepared to put the new owner in touch with our benefactor to secure the return of the rotors." The anonymous benefactor, whom Large says is a well-known public figure, has agreed to pay for the return of the missing wheels. The theory that insiders are responsible for the theft is backed up by the fact that the machine was stolen in broad daylight, while about 100 visitors were milling around the room in which it was exhibited. Infrared security equipment was due to be installed two days later. "Nothing would surprise me when nutters are at work," said Sir Philip Duncombe, the chairman of the trust. "Of course we take this possibility seriously." Another clue is the use of the phrase "that woman" in one of the ransom demands, which is taken as a disparaging reference to Large, who has been at the centre of a bitter controversy over the future of Bletchley. The complex of huts around the Victorian mansion has a glorious history. At its peak Bletchley employed 12,000 people to break German and Japanese military codes, deciphering up to 50,000 messages a week. Its importance was kept secret for decades and the buildings fell into neglect. In 1991 a small band of volunteers stepped in to stop the site being sold for housing. They formed a charitable trust to lobby to preserve the site as a museum of cryptography. However, initial attempts at raising funds failed. "I resigned as a trustee shortly after this," said Rupert Allason, the spy writer and former MP. "It should be one of the great gems of British heritage, but it just hasn't worked that way." Large, a former businesswoman, was hired last year to put the trust's plans on a professional footing. Almost immediately there was a dispute among the trustees and volunteers. One group, led by Tony Sale, a former MI5 officer, was opposed to a plan to sell off much of the site and increase corporate sponsorship by turning the mansion into a conference centre. Last October Large was sacked by the trustees, only to be reinstated after an inquiry by the Charity Commission. The seven trustees who voted for her dismissal were themselves forced to resign. A police inquiry into death threats left on her answering machine was inconclusive. Large subsequently took boxing lessons at a London gym. "I believe I have quite a good right hook now," she said. "It helps keep me on the ball." Sale, responsible for reconstructing Colossus, the Bletchley computer which cracked Germany's sophisticated Lorenz code, later formed a rival organisation, the Bletchley Park Heritage Society, which continues to oppose Large's plans for the site. A Bletchley insider said: "It's sad, but Tony is not a team player. He is now persona non grata here." Others, however, support Sale and point to the threatened demolition of parts of the complex. "We are very worried about the future of the archive which we have gathered at Bletchley," said Hamish Carmichael, secretary of the Computer Conservation Society. "It's very unclear what will happen." The police have suspicions over the identity of the Enigma thief, but are not thought to be close to an arrest. Apart from showing signs of being a well-informed cryptologist, the intermediary has displayed media savvy at every stage of the inquiry. Early on he contacted Central Television claiming to have the device and requested that negotiations for its return should be carried out through the media. He may well have targeted Paxman because he knew him to be a close friend of Robert Harris, who immortalised Bletchley's wartime activities in his bestselling thriller Enigma. It was also a clever move. If "the master" had left any fingerprints on the machine, Paxman may have inadvertently helped to erase them. Thames Valley police officers are understood to have been "astounded" when they saw him pawing the machine, potentially wiping off valuable evidence. *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ================================================================ C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org *==============================================================*
