-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- http://mprofaca.cro.net/mainmenu.html -------------------------------------- Thursday, January 13, 2000, -------------------------------------- Journalist jailed in British spy case Refused to reveal sources of information for story during Vassall scandal BETTY WILLIAMS and MATTHEW ENGEL The Guardian In February of 1963, Fleet Street crime reporters Reg Foster and Brendan Mulholland made history in Britain by being jailed. They had persisted in their refusal to disclose sources of information in their reporting of the Vassall spy case and were sentenced at the high court for contempt. Mr. Foster of the Daily Sketch was given three months for refusing to name one source, and the Daily Mail's Mr. Mulholland got six months for refusing to reveal two. Mr. Foster, who has died aged 95, had come before Lord Radcliffe, chairman of the tribunal inquiring into the activities of John Vassall, the Admiralty clerk sentenced in 1962 to 18 years' imprisonment for selling secrets to the Soviet Union. During a Moscow posting, Mr. Vassall was photographed at a homosexual party and blackmailed into spying. Mr. Foster, one of several journalists who gave evidence to Lord Radcliffe about reports they had written on the case, was asked to say from what type of source he had obtained information about Mr. Vassall buying women's clothes in London's West End. He refused. Mr. Foster was born in south London and educated at Alleyn's School, Dulwich. He became a trainee on the South London Press and from 1924 to 1932 was on the Daily Mail, after which he joined the Daily Herald. When he joined the Daily Mail, there was -- he recalled -- "a large panelled reporters' room with a phone with a handle on the wall, and a big roaring fire and a bell you could ring for boys who'd bring you beans on toast or marmalade on toast. If the news editor wanted you, he'd either ring the phone or he'd panic down the corridor with his coat-tails flying." During those years he earned the nickname "Fireman Foster" for his enthusiasm in reporting fires. He was aided by a relative in the fire department who tipped him off, explaining why he was the first reporter on the scene of the dramatic 1936 Crystal Palace blaze. Journalism between the wars in Britain was not a gentle profession. Competition for news was fiercer than in any other era of the 20th century, and it bred an approach that would give modern editors heart failure. Mr. Foster's world of crime reporting was probably the fiercest and most amoral of the lot. The star Scotland Yard detectives might go out of town on a juicy murder enquiry (such as the Cheltenham torso killing or the Brighton trunk murders) for weeks, pursued by Fleet Street's finest, who would be under pressure to keep the story going at any cost. "Someone might find a bloodstained garter in a ditch," reminisced Mr. Foster. "Marvellous story, but no relevance at all to the investigation. . . . There was a certain amount of freedom of expression. I think I'd better leave it like that." Sometimes, when Mr. Foster was away on a story for a long time, would send for his wife, Kate, whom he adored, to join him. He covered the big criminal cases, for the Mail, the Herald, and later for the News Chronicle, which he joined after wartime army service. His cases included the 1949 acid-bath murderer John George Haigh, and the 10 Rillington Place serial killer John Christie. He also reported the 1952 Craig and Bentley case, in which a policeman was shot dead and for which Derek Bentley was hanged, despite not having committed the murder. Mr. Foster was the News Chronicle's "Yard man," spending his time in the smoke-filled press room at Scotland Yard, or hobnobbing in nearby pubs with police and contacts. After the Chronicle closed, Mr. Foster freelanced for the Sunday Dispatch, Sunday Express and Daily Mirror; then came the Sketch and the Vassall case. The two journalists were committed to Brixton Prison. On their first night there, Mr. Foster recalled later, he heard two other prisoners talking. "Blimey," said one, "someone's gone and put sugar in this cocoa." Replied the other: "It must be because of those bloody reporters!" Mr. Foster served most of his sentence at Ford Open Prison in Sussex, largely tending the gardens. At the age of 58 he also played on the prison soccer team. "I couldn't run very fast, so they put me in goal," he recalled. Toward the end of his career, he worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post in its London office, and then retired to Pevensey Bay, East Sussex. But he always attended the News Chronicle's annual reunion. His wife died in 1984 after 53 years of marriage. Mr. Foster is survived by a son and a grandson. ------------------------------------------- *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to SPYNEWS eGroup members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml *** Mario Profaca, moderator mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
