AN ESPIONAGE TRIAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 219, 24 December 1910, Page 5

AN ESPIONAGE TRIAL

BRANDON AND TRENCH SENTENCED By Cable— Press Association—(Jopyrigbfc. Berlin, December 22. Brandon and Trench have been sentenced to four years' imprisonment in a fortress. Expert evidence to the precise significance of accused's'discoveries was heard in camera. The prosecution admitted that there were extenuating circumstances. SENTENCE APPROVED/ Received 23, 9.40 p.m. - London, December 23. The British Press generally views the Leipzig sentence with equanimity. It is Acknowledged that espionage is common to all the Powers. HOW SUSPICION WAS AROUSED. A FRIENDLY FORCE. Received 23, 10.5 p.m. Berlin, December 23. The junior Imperial Prosecutor stated that the frequent visits to the German harbor of the training ship Cornwall, on which the accused served, became markedly noticeable to the German officers, and he argued that accused took the vessel there with a view to serving the British intelligence service. Accuseds' counsel alluded to the Helm case, arguing that similar leniency should be extended to the accused. The president, interrupting sharply: We know nothing of the Helm case. The court itself admitted extenuating circumstances, but took into account the danger to national defence which the action of the accused might have involved.

The tone of the proceedings throughout was almost friendly. The accused's frank, manly bearing largely contributed to this. There was no suggestion that the prisoners had attempted to bribe anyone, and the prisoners were cheerful ad satisfied at the result. They will probably be sent to a fortress at Gatz, in Silesia, and will be allowed all comforts, and the society of the governor and officers.