◆ SpookStack

case. This came to their notice through anonymous communiestions, They looked into it to see if there was anything to investigate: asd'@ there was, they took statements which eventually disclosed a case agéinst him, a5 a result of which they arrested him and conducted the case to trial. 79. The important point for present purposes is, however, this: In the course of the conduct of the Edgecombe case, the ordinary police officers came across information which might have a security significance and the question is whether it was handled properly by them, or by Special Branch. or, later on, by the Security Service. oe (iv) Christine Keeler tells the Police 80. On Saturday, 26th January, 1963, Detective-Sergeant Burrows of the Marylebone Police Station went to wat Christine Keeler and Marilyn Bina Tiaviac that they ware renuired tn attend at the Central Criminal Court SN re ee SALE TL FFP WR ASR ee BS SES aKS GE TEE See naSeS at the trial of John Edgecombe. He served recognisance notices on them and then Christine Keeler voluntarily made a statement to him (I give it from the note he made and in the very form he reported it to his superiors): “She said that Doctor Ward was a procurer of women for gentlemen in high places and was sexually perverted: that he had a country cottage at Cliveden to which some of these women were taken to mect important men—the cottage was on the estate of Lord Astor; that he had introduced her to Mr. John Profumo and that she had had an association with him; that Mr. Profumo had written a number of ‘letters Foo whee eens nod thas she wens still in anecaedt to her on War Office notepaper and that she was still in possession of one of these letters which was being considered for publication in the Sunday Pictorial to whom she had soid her life story for £1,000. She also said that on one occasion when she was going to meet Mr. Profumo, Ward had asked her to discover from him the date on which certain atomic secrets were to be handed to West Germany by the Americans, and that this was at the time of the Cuban crisis. She also said that she had been introduced by Ward to the Naval Attaché of the Soviet Embassy and had met him on a number of occasions.” 81. It is to be noticed that that statement of Christine Keeler contains in concise form the very gist of all the important matters—the procurement of women by Stephen Ward—the association of Mr. Profumo with Christine Keeler—the request for information about atomic secrets—and the Ivanov relatianship. (v) A Meeting is Arranged $2. Detective-Sergeant Burrows reported it to his supegige, Detective- Inspector Anning, who thought it was outside the field of cobaijkGet a matter for the Special Branch. So he telephoned to Detective-Inspagiiy Morgan of Special Branch. He thought it of considerable security fjijpetance and thought that Christine Keeler should be seen by Special arranged a mecting for Detective-Sergeant Burrows and himself to see ber. Whilst he was making inquiries Christine Keeler told the police at Marylebone that she believed that Ward, in an endeavour to “have her put away”, was 26 ~ eee