20. Simpson, Forty Years of Murder, p. 124.
21. ‘Confidential Memo to all News Editors’, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
Chapter 7
1. ‘Offensive Started in Belgium’, Evening Standard, 7 June 1917.
2. Lloyd George, War Memoirs, Volume IV, p. 2110.
3. ‘Great Battle Over Thames’, Evening Standard, 6 June 1917.
4. Parents’ report to the court, 8 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.
5. Letter from William Heath to Neville Heath, 5 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.
6. Letter from Bessie Heath to Isaac Near, 6 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
7. Letter from William Heath to Neville Heath, 5 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
8. Gerald Byrne suggests that the Heaths were descended from James Heath (1757–1834), the celebrated engraver to the court of George III. This is not correct, as the Heaths are actually descended from James Heath (1787–1868) of Rumbolds Whyke in Sussex, a much more humble ancestor.
9. See Gunby, A Potted History of Ilford, pp. 88–9.
10. Title of a 1924 book about the case by E. M. Delafield.
11. For further details of this case, see Weis, Criminal Justice.
12. See Percy Clevely’s testimony in Young (ed.), The Trial of Frederick Bywaters and Edith Thompson, p. 18.
13. Weis, op. cit., p. xxix.
14. People, 29 October 1946.
15. From handwritten notes by Dr Young, senior medical officer at Wormwood Scrubs, following a 55-minute interview with Heath on 6 September 1946, TNA P COM 9/700.
16. Letter from Bessie Heath to Isaac Near, 6 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
17. Report of Dr Young, senior medical officer at Wormwood Scrubs, 17 September 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.
18. See electoral registers for Merton 1932–1946, Merton Public Library.
19. Rutlish School Prospectus, 1933, Rutlish School Archives, Surrey History Centre.
20. Other than Heath, Rutlish’s most famous old boy is former prime minister, John Major (1954–9). Foreword, Brock, Rutlish School.
21. ‘A Tribute to E. A. A. Varnish’ by A. J. Doig (1970), reprinted in Brock, op. cit.
22. Conference notes between inspectors from the Board of Education and the School Governors, 10 March 1933, Rutlish School Archives.
23. Brock, op. cit., p. 15.
24. ‘The First Rutlish School Song’ (1916), words: John Oxenham, music: James Edward Jones, quoted in Brock, op. cit.
25. See Brock, op. cit., p. 124.
26. Rutlish School Prospectus, 1933, p. 14.
27. Gibson, The English Vice, p. 38.
28. Chums Annual, Vol. 50, 1927–8, p. 94.
29. ‘Boys’ Weeklies’ in Orwell, Inside the Whale and Other Essays, p. 91.
30. Ibid., p. 95.
31. Ibid., p. 100.
32. Arthur Jones quoted in Brock, op. cit., p. 85.
33. Rutlish Archive.
34. Brock, op. cit., p. 86. See also Cave, Practical Exercises in Spoken English, p. 3: ‘The final aim of all speech-training must be to open the eyes of students to their own deficiencies, and to encourage them to speak clearly, accurately and attractively.’
35. Conference notes between inspectors from the Board of Education and the school governors, 10 March 1933, Rutlish School Archives, p. 2.
36. In his report to the court on Heath, 5 July 1938, Varnish wrote: ‘No special aptitude. Good athletics . . . always a bit unsteady, easily influenced and exerted an upsetting influence on others. Boisterous. Lacked steady concentration on particular work for any length of time. Inclined to exaggerate to the point of lying but believing in himself.’ TNA P COM 9/700.
37. Casswell, A Lance for Liberty, p. 242.
38. ‘The Son I Knew’, Bessie Heath, People, 29 October 1946. The full text of this interview is given in Chapter 23.
39. Byrne, Borstal Boy, p. 14.
40. Byrne, op. cit., p. 16.
41. Playfair and Sington, The Offenders, pp. 42–4.
42. Byrne does not identify ‘Jeanette’s’ father, but later mentions that Heath was advised by Evelyn Walkden (1893–1970), the trade unionist and later MP for Doncaster. Playfair and Sington claim that their source was a ‘former Conservative MP’, but Walkden was Labour. Given that it’s unlikely for Heath to have known more than one MP who lived locally and that Walkden had a daughter (Vera) the same age as Heath, it’s possible that ‘Jeanette’ was Vera Walkden. She was questioned by the police at the time of the murders but stated that she had not seen Heath for years.
43. Heath came closest to discussing sexual matters with Dr Young in their meeting on 10 September 1946. Young recorded that Heath ‘denies any homosexual experience. Denies masturbation or attempts by others to masturbate him. Says that he had no knowledge of sex until the age of eighteen – when pressed if he did not have some insight into it at puberty he denies it and says he does not think so – a frequent reply to many questions put to him.’ TNA P COM 9/700.
44. ‘Antecedents of Neville George Clevely Heath alias James Robert Cadogan Armstrong’ compiled by Spooner, 20 August 1946. TNA MEPO 3/2728.
45. Pawson & Leaf’s report to the court, 4 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.
46. News of the World, 29 September 1946.
47. ‘I Cannot Believe I Did It’, Sunday Pictorial, 29 September 1946.
48. Ibid.
49. Bishop, Fighter Boys, p. 45.
50. Ibid., p. 45.
51. Ibid., p. 46.
52. Ibid., p. 51.
53. Biggles: The Camels Are Coming by W. E. Johns, quoted in Bishop, op. cit. p. 52.
54. Beaton, Winged Squadrons, p. 45.
55. David, My Autobiography, p. 12.
56. Bishop, Fighter Boys, p. 59.
57. Ibid., p. 61.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid., p. 60.
60. Ibid., p. 60: ‘Flying fighters required a particular softness of touch. Horsemen, yachtsmen and pianists, the prevailing wisdom held, made the best fighter pilots.’
61. Ibid., p. 62.
62. Quoted in Byrne, op. cit., p. 18, though no source is given.
63. Capt. Allen MacNeil Dyson-Perrins, 16 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
64. Letter re. Pilot Officer N. G. C. Heath No. 79 (Fighter) Squadron, 3 August 1937, TNA AIR 43/10 RAF Courts Martial Book.
65. ‘RAF Officer Not Guilty of Desertion’, Evening Standard, 20 August 1937.
66. Ibid.
67. Minterne, The History of 73 Squadron, p. 23.
68. Kent, One of the Few, p. 45.
69. Evening Standard, 20 August 1937.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Daily Mirror, 21 August 1937.
73. Arlene Blakely, 27 April 1938, MEPO 3/2728.
74. Daily Mirror, 12 November 1937.
75. Ibid.
76. Heath’s father then started a new job, managing Faulkner’s, a hairdressing shop on the station concourse at Waterloo. This was one of a chain of hairdressing shops situated at various London railway stations which also sold locks, clothes and hosiery – last-minute purchases before taking the train.
77. Daily Mirror, 12 November 1937.
78. Probation officer’s report, 6 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700: ‘Average intelligence and ability. Good general conduct apart from boyish pranks.’
79. Ibid.
80. Mrs Archdall, 24 March 1938, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
81. Letter from Leicestershire Constabulary to New Scotland Yard, 1 April 1938, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
82. Heath’s parents’ report to the Court. 8 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.
83. Metropolitan Police letter, 9 April 1938, MEPO 3/2728.
84. Brock, The Life and Death of Neville Heath, p. 110–11.
85. Handwritten note by Heath, 8 April 1938, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
86. Bulman was the name of an instructor who had taught Heath to fly at Leicester in 1935.
87. From a report of lady visitor I. W. Davies, 16 June 1938, TNA P COM 9/7
00.
88. Chaplain’s remarks (Arthur Casey), 15 June 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.
89. Letter from Heath to the editor of the Daily Mirror, 15 June 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.
90. Evening Standard, 12 July 1938.
Chapter 8
1. Letter from Heath to C. A. Joyce, 8 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
2. Guardian, 18 October 2002.
3. Byrne, Borstal Boy, p. 25.
4. Behan, Borstal Boy, p. 206.
5. Behan, op. cit., p. 211.
6. Letter from Heath to C. A. Joyce, 8 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
7. Byrne, op. cit., pp. 25–7.
8. Heath’s physical statistics at Hollesley Bay are in his borstal record, TNA P COM 9/700.
9. Byrne, op. cit., p. 25.
10. From the printed statement that Neville Chamberlain waved as he stepped off the plane on 30 September 1938.
11. Housemaster’s report, 20 April 1939, TNA P COM 9/700.
12. Behan, op. cit., p. 219.
13. Ibid.
14. Anderson shelters were mass-produced, costing the government £5 each. They were issued to 1.5 million families in 1939 and to over 2 million by April 1940 when steel shortages brought an end to production. See Inwood, A History of London, p. 777.
15. 27 April 1939.
16. Housemaster’s report, 19 July 1939, TNA P COM 9/700.
17. Confidential report by Mr Scott, Director of the Borstal Association, 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.
18. Letter from Neville Heath to Mr Scott, 15 September 1946, TNA P COM 9/700.
19. Peggy Dixon, 9 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
20. Confidential report by Mr Scott, Director of the Borstal Association, 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.
21. Ibid., re. a letter from Heath, 17 July 1940.
22. Sunday Pictorial, 29 September 1946.
23. Norbert Thomas Gaffrey, undated, MEPO 3/2728.
24. This story of Heath’s part in the raid on Fort Rutbah was told in the Sunday Pictorial, 29 September 1946: ‘Every officer of the RASC who tried to take part in the war at this stage was classified as unsuitable – but they’d never let one leave the organisation.’
25. Hill, Portrait of a Sadist.
26. Coward, Middle East Diary, entry for 15 August 1943, p. 49.
27. Cooper, Cairo in the War, 1939–1945.
28. Robert Lees, ‘Venereal Diseases in the Armed Forces Overseas (2)’, British Journal of Venereal Diseases 22 (1946), p. 163.
29. Imperial War Musuem Documents 286, private papers of G. C. Tylee.
30. Hill, op, cit., p. 78.
31. Ibid., p. 85.
32. Ibid., p. 18.
33. The rand was introduced in 1961.
34. Morton, In Search of South Africa, p. 209.
35. Wells, South Africa, p. 251.
36. One of the great and lasting images of South Africa during the war was the middle-aged soprano Perla Siedle Gibson, Durban’s ‘Lady in White’. Mrs Gibson stood at the docks, singing rousing and patriotic songs to troop ships as they left Durban Harbour. She sang throughout the war – popular songs, anthems and sentimental ballads. For many troops, she was an iconic maternal figure who represented the warm welcome and emotional farewell they received from the people of South Africa. (See Gibson, Durban’s Lady in White.)
37. Walker, A History of Southern Africa, p. 251.
Chapter 9
1. Smuts’ influence within the Allies was so strong that a plan was mooted in 1940 – and supported by George VI – that if Churchill were to die unexpectedly, Smuts would take his place.
2. Reader’s Digest, Illustrated History of South Africa, p. 347.
3. Ibid., p. 352.
4. Bryant, As We Were, p. 82.
5. Ibid., p. 83.
6. Documentation Centre of the South African National Defence Force and Service Record World War 2, Pretoria, DSCO 5892.
7. DSCO 5906.
8. Morton, In Search of South Africa, p. 239.
9. Ibid., p. 300.
10. Elizabeth was a member of the Hardcastle Rivers family and not the Pitt Rivers family as was incorrectly reported in the British press at the time of the murders.
11. ‘Heath’s Ex-wife Tells of Runaway Romance’, News of the World, 29 September 1946.
12. Peggy Dixon, 9 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2828.
13. Mr Scott’s report, based on a letter from Heath, 5 March 1943, TNA P COM 9/700.
14. Sunday Pictorial, 29 September 1946.
15. Harold Vincent Guthrie, undated, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
16. Ibid.
17. Lister, The Very Merry Moira, pp. 82–3.
18. Letter from Heath to Elizabeth Armstrong, 14 September 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
19. DSCO 5941-2.
20. Letter from Heath’s commanding officer to the director of Air Personnel, 8 December 1943, DSCO 5952.
21. Handwritten letter from Heath to the director of Air Personnel and Org. Pretoria, 18 March 1943, DSCO 5944.
22. Letter from C. J. Jooste, adjutant general, 19 April 1943, and another on 21 December 1943, confirming retention of Heath’s services, DSCO 5951.
23. Letter from Heath to Elizabeth Armstrong, 14 September 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.
24. The fact that Heath had a different name and date of birth on his official documents will have helped this subterfuge.
25. Heath was seconded from the SAAF on 23 May 1944 and originally attached to No. 3 AFU South Cerney near Cirencester and the satellite station of Bibury until 15 August 1944. He was then posted to No. 13 OTU at Finmere until 29 September. On 4 October he joined 180 Squadron and was posted to Belgium, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
26. Quoted in Bishop, Bomber Boys, p. xl.
27. Ibid., p. xxxviii.
28. Wilson, Men of Air, preface.
29. Quoted in Bishop, op. cit., p. 61.
30. Fielding Johnson’s statement was taken by Heath’s solicitors some time before the trial but is undated, HO 144/22872.
31. Air Ministry, Psychological Disorders in Flying Personnel of the Royal Air Force, Investigated During the War, 1939–45, compiled by Group Captain CP Symonds and Squadron Leader Dennis Williams, London HMSO, 1947.
32. Beaton, Winged Squadrons, p. 39.
33. No category was allowed for psychopathic personality. This omission is highlighted in the report. Possibly in the light of Heath’s trial, it was considered that such statistics might be misinterpreted – presumably by the press – and that the psychopathic state would probably develop symptoms under one of the other headings anyway.
34. Air Ministry, Psychological Disorders in Flying Personnel: ‘Even the most seasoned pilot may show that loss of confidence which, unless immediately treated, will end in a frank anxiety state. Suddenly, for some reason not obvious to the outsider, some minor accident, private worries, or even the awakening of a too lively imagination, may liberate a series of repressions.’
35. Wyndham, Love Is Blue, p. 188. Seventy-two million Benzedrine tablets were officially issued to the British military during the Second World War. See On Speed: The many lives of amphetamines, Nicolas Rasmussen, New York University Press, 2008, p. 71.
36. Quoted in Wells, Courage and Air Warfare, p. 200.
37. Nichol and Rennell, Tail End Charlies, p. 158.
38. Ibid., p. 158.
39. Bishop, op. cit., p. 160.
40. Ibid., p. 161.
41. Kershaw, Never Surrender, p. 277.
42. Beaton, op. cit., p. 31.
43. Bishop, op. cit., p. 163.
44. Kershaw, op. cit., p. 281.
45. Peter Godfrey in ‘How I Met Neville Heath’, quoted in Master Detective magazine, September 1990.
46. William Spurrett Fielding-Johnson, TNA HO 144/ 22872.
Chapter 10
1. ‘Antecedent History of Neville George Clevely Heath alias James Robert Cadogan Armstrong’ compiled by Spooner, 21 August 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
2. Confidential report by Mr Scott, director of th
e Borstal Association, 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.
3. Handwritten life story by Heath, TNA P COM 9/700.
4. From Heath’s defence at Durban Magistrates’ Court, 19 July 1945, TNA DSCO 5972.
5. Sunday Pictorial, 5 October 1946.
6. Elizabeth Armstrong in ‘How I Met Neville Heath’ by Peter Godfrey, quoted in Master Detective magazine, September 1990.
7. Desertion is quoted in the Armstrongs’ divorce petition, 7 September 1945, National Archives Repository, Pretoria, 8044.
8. Sunday Pictorial, 29 September 1946.
9. See DSCO 5969, Magistrates’ Court Documents.
10. Sunday Pictorial, 5 October 1946.
11. The relationship is also confirmed in a letter on 19 April 1945 from Mr Williams’ solicitors in Nottingham, Browne, Jacobson & Hallam, to Captain Steele, the administration officer at South Africa House in Trafalgar Square, DSCO 5955.
12. Zita Williams, 6 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
13. Letter from Browne, Jacobson & Hallam to Hayman, Godfrey & Sanderson, solicitors, 30 August 1945, Johannesburg, DSCO 6015.
14. ‘Owing to the circumstances in which our client is placed, it is imperative that she should know the full position . . .’ DSCO 5955.
15. In a letter from E. V. H Mickdal to the South African Commissioner of Police, Witwatersrand Division, it was claimed that ‘Armstrong was engaged or was about to become engaged to a young lady in Durban, but on her hearing that he was a married man the engagement fell through. It is believed that the young lady concerned is a daughter of one of the Natal sugar magnates.’ 27 July 1944 in TNA MEPO 3/2728.
16. Sir Edward Cecil George Cadogan (1880–1962) had been knighted in 1939 and had served in the RAF in the war.
17. Zita Williams, 6 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.
18. Mr Scott’s report, quoting his own entry into the Borstal Association Official Record on 20 August 1945, p. 4. He ends: ‘I can only suggest that there may be reasons for investigating the possibility of Heath being a schizophrenic type.’ 23 August 1946, P COM 9/700.
19. Letter from Heath to Elizabeth Armstrong, 27 July 1945, National Archives Repository, Pretoria, 8029.
20. 31 July 1945, DSCO 5962/3.
21. Letter from L. Botha, director of the Queen’s Hotel to Neville Heath, 11 August 1945, DSCO 5967.
22. Letter from Heath at the SAAF base in Roberts Heights, Pretoria, to Messrs Hayman, Godfrey & Sanderson in Johannesburg, 9 August 1945, National Archives Repository (NAR), Pretoria, 8035.
Handsome Brute: The True Story of a Ladykiller Page 40
