This is a secret world of espionage. Told by the spies themselves. A tale of assassination. Manipulation. Deception. Secrets of the Spies I: Deception, ITV 2022
‘The world of espionage is all around us. Deceit and manipulation are hardwired into the profession.’ ibid. James Wolff, former British Intelligence officer
The Allies are prepared to invade northern France. But an enemy spy is sending military secrets back to the Germans. Agent Brutus. Roman Czerniawski. ibid. caption
MI6 employs a group of spies like Brutus to feed false information to the Germans. ibid.
‘The tanks were dummy rubber blow-up tanks, the landing craft were made of balsa wood and many of the aircraft were dummy aircraft.’ ibid. Nigel West
1934 Cambridge: The double agent. In Cambridge in the 1930s communism is attracting the university’s intelligent elite. One of these recruits is Kim Philby. In 1940 the Soviet agent Kim Philby joins British intelligence. ibid.
He is one of a ring of spies recruited with him known as the Cambridge Five. ibid.
Western codebreakers start to make some inroads … There might be a spy in Washington, in the British embassy, suspicion eventually falls on Donald Maclean. ibid.
Kim Philby lives in Moscow until his death in 1988. He remained a committed communist until the end. ibid.
Conmen: the most devious of all criminals. Charming, cruel and calculating, they betray trust and devastate lives yet remain a complete enigma. Conmen Case Files s1e1: John Myatt & John Drewe, Netflix 2007
The 20th century’s biggest art fraud: a struggling artist was drawn into a con which would make millions, with the artist and conman secretly working together for almost a decade. ibid.
Drewe: his masterstroke was the infiltration of the British art archives. ibid.
‘We reckon he’d done about 200.’ ibid.
The art world and the police were gathering evidence. ibid.
A man who callously conned his local community out of more than £200,000. In true psychopathic fashion Glenn Rycroft cold-heatedly manipulated his friends, his family and his community by doing the unthinkable: pretending he had cancer. Conmen Case Files s1e2: Glenn Rycroft: The Cancer Con
Working as an air steward, Rycroft approached his friends, family and neighbours with an amazingly lucrative but completely fictitious British Airways investment. ibid.
His dramatic and unfounded claims of an inexplicable cult controlling his every whim were rejected by the judge, and the callous cancer conman received a custodial sentence … ‘a four year sentence.’ ibid.
One of Britain’s most prolific and compulsive conmen whose criminal career spanned more than a quarter of a century and who has adopted at least 24 known aliases. His cons not only robbed people of their money but they also put people’s lives in great danger. Conmen Case Files s1e3: Paul Blint: King Con
Walked into a hospital in Kettering Northants in 1983 posing as a locum doctor. ibid.
Paul Blint has committed over 100 offences, appeared in court over 20 times and spent almost a decade of his twenty-five-year conman career in custody. ibid.
The dramatic and shocking intricacies of one man’s elaborate crimes. Conmen Case Files s1e4: Carl Hildebrandt
The men had created fictitious firms and businesses in a sophisticated scheme to fraudulently obtain almost £200,000 in government grants. ibid.
Stolen cheques had been converted to Krugerrands. ibid.
He faked his own death then stole a dead child’s identity. ibid.
The story of the heartless criminal the press called the Casanova Conman, who would seduce women online, whisper words of love and leave them in thousands and thousands of pounds of debt. Conmen Case Files s2e1: Nick Gage
‘Nick Gage – what a hound.’ ibid. Kerry Daynes
2002 Maidstone Crown Court: 2-year non-custodial rehabilitation order. ibid.
Gage moved on to Portsmouth and in 2002 began pursuing his next victim over the internet. ibid.
Gage has simultaneously been conning multiple women at once. ibid.
21 counts and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. ibid.
One of Britain’s most prolific and compulsive confidence tricksters who hid behind the bogus persona of an exceptional yet eccentric Cambridge University professor. Conmen Case Files s2e2: Robert Hyams
The bogus professor was sentenced to four years imprisonment after he ambitiously conned £236,000 from the farming community. ibid.
‘He went on while he was bail to commit a further 81 offences.’ ibid.
2005 Southwark Crown Court: 5 years imprisonment.
A conman of the fame-obsessed millennium. He lied, cheated, defraud and terrorised celebrities, royals and anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. Conmen Case Files s2e3: Michael Hammond
Michael Hammond was making small amounts of money selling stories claiming to have slept with famous women, a claim the women in question vehemently denied. ibid.
It would not be the last time he adopted the persona of a policeman; it was to become his obsession. ibid.
Conmen: the most devious of all criminals. Conman Case Files s2e6: Emma Golightly
Over two years Emma Golightly posed as a highflying doctor, a millionairess and a tragic cancer victim and conned at least six known victims out of a quarter of a million pounds. ibid.
In 2004 Emma Golightly had met her first victim – Chris Williams. ibid.
Just three weeks after being thrown out by her first victim she moved in with her second victim. ibid.
She was Taylor Golightly, high flying doctor. ibid.
Cancer became a tool in her scam. ibid.
Robert Hendy-Freegard lied and convinced his prey that he was an MI5 secret agent. Believing the IRA were baying for his blood, his victims paid the ultimate price for his bogus protection. Conmen Case Files s2e5: Hendy Freegard: The Real Story of the Puppet Master
Freegard’s cruelty was becoming infinite. ibid.
Freegard ensnares new victims with his vicious MI5 con. ibid.
Hendy-Freegard was finally in custody after ten years of cruelty … The police had to locate the missing victims. ibid.
The life sentence was a bitter-sweet victory for his victims … The sentence was shockingly reduced to ten years. ibid.
Conmen: the most enigmatic of the criminal fraternity. These expert liars and consummate manipulators use their intoxicating charm to prey upon the most prized human trait: trust, in order to make money and ravage lives. Conmen Case Files s3e1: Hatton: The Bogus Banker
To con a woman called Christine Handy out of half a million pounds. ibid.
She was being groomed by a conman called Marc Hatton. ibid.
He wanted Christine to believe that he was Alexander de Rothschild. ibid.
She had sold her £500,000 home … She had his child. ibid.
He had actually been living with another woman. Monstrously, Marc Hatton had raped and sexually abused the woman’s young daughter. ibid.
The monster was sentenced for all his crimes. ibid.
The man who swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when he took to the stand as a forensic scientist. The fake forensic expert worked for over twenty years on over 700 cases, all without a qualification to his name. Conmen Case Files s3e2: Morrison
Gene Morrison earned up to ten times the amount he paid the experts. ibid.
He simply started working as a forensic investigator. ibid.
The scale of the con was monumental. ibid.
Gene Morrison was in serious trouble with the police in Manchester. ibid.
The four victims who came forward were aged between 8 years old and 15 years old. ibid.