Vassall trapped by orgy pictures An obvious target for blackmail

So blatant was his homosexuality - he later boasted that men said of him he had ``come-to-bed'' eyes - it remains a mystery to this day why he was sent to Moscow, the most dangerous of posts for homosexuals. It was well known that the KGB seized on any such weakness to blackmail its targets.

Nevertheless, he was given his security clearance and off he went to Moscow, where the KGB laid a ``honey-trap'' for him with a boozy party which degenerated into a homosexual orgy. Photographs were taken and, as Vassall later recorded in his memoirs: ``I was shown a box of photographs of myself at the party. After about three photographs, I could not stomach any more. They made me feel ill. There I was, caught by the camera, enjoying every possible sexual activity with a number of different men.''

He was firmly in the trap and agreed to work for the Soviets. He remained undetected in Moscow and continued to play the traitor when he returned to London in 1957.

He worked in the Naval Intelligence Division, was assistant private secretary to Mr Thomas Galbraith, MP for Glasgow Hillhead and a junior Minister at the Admiralty, and was then posted to the Admiralty Branch.

All the time, he was photographing secret documents and passing them on to his KGB controller, Nicolai Rodin.

Rodin, a skilful operator, kept the threat of the blackmail photographs in the background, he was now buying Vassall's treachery with a great deal of money, up to #200, for every document he photographed, and Vassall was able to live extravagantly. Yet nobody seemed to think it was curious that a #15-a-week Admiralty clerk could afford a flat in fashionable Dolphin Square, patronise expensive tailors, lead a social life, and still put #3000 a year into his bank.

It was only when a Soviet defector told the CIA that there was a homosexual spy in the British Admiralty who had recently been in Moscow that the penny dropped. His flat was raided, incriminating photographs were found. He was arrested on September 12, 1962, as he was leaving work and promptly confessed. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey and Lord Justice Parker castigating him for ``selfish greed'', sentenced him to 18 years.

That was not the end of the affair. The case had revealed astonishing laxity on the part of the security services. It also followed on the revelation of George Blake's treachery. Blake's case was held ``in camera'' but he got 42 years, supposedly one year for each British agent he had betrayed. There was a public outcry and the Prime Minister, Mr Harold Mac-millan, set up an inquiry under Lord Radcliffe. The Radcliffe Tribunal made its painstaking way through the evidence but, to the public, it seemed to reserve its criticism for Fleet Street rather than the security services. Two journalists were sent to prison for refusing to reveal the source of stories they had written about Vassall. Brendan Mulholland got six months and Reggie Foster got three.

Given the general feeling among the security services and most of Fleet Street that neither of them had any genuine sources but were too embarrassed to admit it, their sentences seemed somewhat harsh, especially as those responsible for allowing Vassall to continue with his treachery escaped without public condemnation.

The affair did, however, result in a considerable tightening of selection and vetting procedures - something which should have been rigorously imposed following the defection of Burgess and Maclean in 1951.

That these procedures are still not tight enough was proved by the attempted treachery of that strange and silly fellow, Michael Bettany, who was allowed to remain in MI5 despite his obvious unsuitability .

The Vassall case had another consequence: Thomas Galbraith, who had become a junior Scottish Minister, was forced to resign when it was revealed he had written intimate letters to Vassall.

Vassall served 10 years of his sentence, wrote his memoirs, found God, and lived in London under the name of John Phil-lips, a forgotten bit-player in the Cold War drama.