DISLOYALTY CHARGE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 72, 17 December 1937, Page 14

DISLOYALTY CHARGE

Young Men's Plan to Expose R.A.F. Chief THEFT OF PAPERS Four men who claimed that they raided the home of an ex-Major, now an Air Ministry expert, with the idea of handing over his papers to Whitehall, stepped from the dock at Surrey Quarter Sessions free, after telling an amazing storv. When a reporter spoke to Thomas Jonathan Ford, the 26-year-old agent, and one-time Communist, he said: "I am expressing no regret for what I have done. I have lost my job through this case and am unemployed, but ..." John Preen broke in: "I went it heart and soul with Mr. Ford in this 1 affair because I believe as he does. 1 have no regrets either. "I had a full sense of responsibility, as I have been a special constable and I knew what I was doing." Mr. G. B. McClure, who prosecuted the four raiders on charges of breaking into the Alajor's home and stealing various documents, told the Bench in his iinal remarks: "I think it only right to tell the Court that among the many papers found in suitcases taken by the men from Major Vernon 's hut were some which are considered of great importance. "These, for reasons I need not go into have not been produced here in Court. ' ' After the four men, Ford, Preen, Dawson and Mann, had been found not guilty of breaking into the house, but had been bound over for a year for stealing the papers, Mr. B. A. C. Duncan, counsel for Major Vernon, said: "In view of tho seriously and extremely damaging statements made in connection with Major Vernon, I wish to deny emphatically that he has been engaged in any way in any action of a subversive character. " j The chairman: We have heard your j Btatement. During the hearing of the case, Major Vernon, a clean-shaven, grey- I haired man of middle-age, giving evi- i dence, said, under cross-examination, that his Civil Service post at the Air Ministry was "a fairly responsible one." He denied that he was disloyal to the Government, admitted he was a Socialist, but not a Communist. He said he was actively interested in a society known as the Union of Democratic Control, and had collected money for the Spanish funds. Major Vernon agreed that he had visited Russia, and admitted that a list of Russian addresses, said to have been taken from his hut, were addressed to him. Mr. F. H. Lawton (defending) asked him: Here is a ietter from the Union of Democratic Control. It goes: "Aa to the L.S.T. ... I hope we can one day guillotine them. " Are those your sentiments? Major Vernon: No. Mr. Lawton: Do you still say you are not a Communist? — Yes. There is a document I want to put | to you. Is this one which a loyal subject would have in his possession one j moment? It is headed "The Royal Wedding. The Greeks had a word for it. Gold-digging ex-Royalties get a break." — It is a curiosity. Detective-Sergt. Bishop produced a long statement made by Ford, in which i he alleged that while in the Army, and j believing in Communism, he had re- ! ceived money from Vernon, who sug- ! gested schemes to increase Communism among his Majesty's Forces. His evidence was that, having abandoned Communism, he thought it his duty to expose Vernon. Preen, who followed Ford in the box, gave similar evidence, and Dawson and Mann admitted joining in what "any patriotie Englishman would have done. "