DOUBLE LIFE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1939, Page 6

DOUBLE LIFE

SELF-CONFESSED SPY. RACING TIPSTER SENTENCED. After a two hours' trial behind lock- ’ ed doors at the Old Bailey, London. I Donald Owen Reginald Adams, a 561 year-old racing tipsier and self-con-fessed spy for Germany, was sentenced ’ to seven years’ penal servitude. 1 The indictment contained 18 counts, ' charging Adams, who gave an address ' in Richmond, with having on six dates. ■ between January and June this year, obtained, recorded and communicated to addresses in Germany certain information relating to His Majesty’s forces which was calculated or might be. or was intended to be. directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy. Mr L. A. Byrne conducted the case for the prosecution in camera. During the part of the case heard in public. Adams said he pleaded guilty on the advice of his counsel. When he stood in the dock to receive his sentence, Mr Justice Oliver told him: “You have pleaded guilty to one of the most shocking charges at a time like this, when we are at war —a charge of collecting, recording and communicating information which might be of value to an enemy—Germany. “That you have done for money, • and that you have taken money to do during a time when it was apparent that this frightful war was coming upon us. "I spent last week trying people for murder. I do not really know if a man like you is not worse than any of these murderers, because you took your part for pay in murdering your countrymen if you could.. If you had communicated information that was of more value than you did, I would have given you a more severe sentence." Adams left the dock to serve his sentence. 22 years, to the day. after he was gazetted second-lieutenant in the British Army. Adams, who was known in the Richmond district as “Captain Adams." patronised many clubs, particularly those connected with ex-servicemen's organisations. His arrest by Secret Service agents, a few weeks before the outbreak of war, came as a great surprise to his friends and acquaintances. He was hail-fellow-well-met. always ready with an appropriate racing anecdote. He was also fond of talking about his career in the last war and how he rose from the ranks. "When he was in our club." one ex-serviceman said, "he made a point of discussing the possibility of war with Germany. "Serving service men were frequently guests at the club, and conversation was generally fairly free. Ho spent money freely, and had a weakness for expensive cigars. Many of us envied his apparent wealth, and asked him to reveal the source of his success. He would smile and pass it off as the reward of lucky lurf investments."