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Geoffrey Prime
Geoffrey Arthur Prime (born 21 February 1938) is a former British spy who worked for the Royal Air Force as well as the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). While working for these organizations, Prime disclosed information to the Soviet Union. He was convicted in the early 1980s under charges of espionage and child sexual abuse. He was sentenced to a total of 38 years' imprisonment but was released from prison in 2001.
Prime grew up in Staffordshire. After attending St. Joseph's College, Stoke-on-Trent, and having satisfactorily completed O-levels in languages, he became a junior wages clerk at a factory. In 1956, he was selected for national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Due to colour blindness, he became a store man in the RAF. He was later sent to learn Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists (JSSL) in Crail, Scotland. He was appointed as an acting sergeant after having demonstrated proficiency in the language. However, he resumed duties as a store man after failing an advanced Russian course at the University of London three months after his enrolment in the course, and was subsequently demoted.
Posted to Kenya, Prime was promoted to corporal and learned Swahili in his spare time. Prime was shocked by the poverty in Kenya and the racism of European settlers in the country, and what he perceived was the exploitation of Kenya by the British colonial authorities. While there, he listened to Communist radio broadcasts and started reading the Soviet Weekly magazine. Upon returning to Britain in 1962, he reapplied for language training, spending a year at RAF Tangmere in Tangmere, Sussex, and was posted to the signals intelligence unit at RAF Gatow in Berlin, where he worked as a wireless operator monitoring Russian voice transmissions. He was reappointed as a sergeant in May 1968.
Prime was positively vetted and approved for security clearance in September 1968. His security clearance was subsequently reviewed in 1973, 1974, and 1976, being passed on each occasion. In November 1972, Prime consulted a psychiatrist, who subsequently cast doubt on his mental stability. Prime refrained from reporting his psychiatric appointments, because of concern over his security clearance being revoked.
He returned to Britain to work for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and became a translator with the London Processing Group (LPG) at St Dunstan's Hill in the City of London. The LPG processed and translated material obtained by telephone intercepts and bugging by the British secret agencies. Prime started at the LPG in late 1968; he was part of a new group of entrants to LPG, recruited to replace older employees who joined during the Second World War.
In the mid-1970s, LPG moved to Cheltenham, the home of GCHQ, with Prime moving there in March 1976. He was part of the J30 section of J Division 'Special SIGINT' at GCHQ, which dealt with Soviet intelligence, and one of three officers with access to a vault in J Division, from which he was able to take documents home to photograph, and photocopy documents at will. In June 1976, he was promoted to Higher Intelligence Specialist in J Division and moved to lead a team of transcribers in J25, another part of the division.
In November 1976, Prime was moved to another section that focused on the intelligence analysis of transcribed material and appointed as Personal Security Supervisor for his section. He had to deliver lectures in his new role and failed to appear for a lecture on 22 September 1977, resigning shortly afterward.
As a train carrying Prime moved into West Berlin in 1968 he threw a message at a Soviet sentry guard, offering his services as a spy. He was subsequently contacted by the Soviets by the placing of a magnetic cylinder on the handle of his car. The cylinder contained instructions telling him to meet them at Friedrichstraße station, then in East Berlin. Prime met the KGB, the security agency of the Soviet Union, several times to prove his sincerity, and though he insisted he wished to work for them for ideological motives, they gave him money. Knowing that his RAF enlistment was to expire, the KGB successfully persuaded him to apply for a job at GCHQ in Cheltenham, and he returned to Britain.
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Geoffrey Prime
Geoffrey Arthur Prime (born 21 February 1938) is a former British spy who worked for the Royal Air Force as well as the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). While working for these organizations, Prime disclosed information to the Soviet Union. He was convicted in the early 1980s under charges of espionage and child sexual abuse. He was sentenced to a total of 38 years' imprisonment but was released from prison in 2001.
Prime grew up in Staffordshire. After attending St. Joseph's College, Stoke-on-Trent, and having satisfactorily completed O-levels in languages, he became a junior wages clerk at a factory. In 1956, he was selected for national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Due to colour blindness, he became a store man in the RAF. He was later sent to learn Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists (JSSL) in Crail, Scotland. He was appointed as an acting sergeant after having demonstrated proficiency in the language. However, he resumed duties as a store man after failing an advanced Russian course at the University of London three months after his enrolment in the course, and was subsequently demoted.
Posted to Kenya, Prime was promoted to corporal and learned Swahili in his spare time. Prime was shocked by the poverty in Kenya and the racism of European settlers in the country, and what he perceived was the exploitation of Kenya by the British colonial authorities. While there, he listened to Communist radio broadcasts and started reading the Soviet Weekly magazine. Upon returning to Britain in 1962, he reapplied for language training, spending a year at RAF Tangmere in Tangmere, Sussex, and was posted to the signals intelligence unit at RAF Gatow in Berlin, where he worked as a wireless operator monitoring Russian voice transmissions. He was reappointed as a sergeant in May 1968.
Prime was positively vetted and approved for security clearance in September 1968. His security clearance was subsequently reviewed in 1973, 1974, and 1976, being passed on each occasion. In November 1972, Prime consulted a psychiatrist, who subsequently cast doubt on his mental stability. Prime refrained from reporting his psychiatric appointments, because of concern over his security clearance being revoked.
He returned to Britain to work for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and became a translator with the London Processing Group (LPG) at St Dunstan's Hill in the City of London. The LPG processed and translated material obtained by telephone intercepts and bugging by the British secret agencies. Prime started at the LPG in late 1968; he was part of a new group of entrants to LPG, recruited to replace older employees who joined during the Second World War.
In the mid-1970s, LPG moved to Cheltenham, the home of GCHQ, with Prime moving there in March 1976. He was part of the J30 section of J Division 'Special SIGINT' at GCHQ, which dealt with Soviet intelligence, and one of three officers with access to a vault in J Division, from which he was able to take documents home to photograph, and photocopy documents at will. In June 1976, he was promoted to Higher Intelligence Specialist in J Division and moved to lead a team of transcribers in J25, another part of the division.
In November 1976, Prime was moved to another section that focused on the intelligence analysis of transcribed material and appointed as Personal Security Supervisor for his section. He had to deliver lectures in his new role and failed to appear for a lecture on 22 September 1977, resigning shortly afterward.
As a train carrying Prime moved into West Berlin in 1968 he threw a message at a Soviet sentry guard, offering his services as a spy. He was subsequently contacted by the Soviets by the placing of a magnetic cylinder on the handle of his car. The cylinder contained instructions telling him to meet them at Friedrichstraße station, then in East Berlin. Prime met the KGB, the security agency of the Soviet Union, several times to prove his sincerity, and though he insisted he wished to work for them for ideological motives, they gave him money. Knowing that his RAF enlistment was to expire, the KGB successfully persuaded him to apply for a job at GCHQ in Cheltenham, and he returned to Britain.