Traitor Prime free after 19 years' jail

The traitor and paedophile Geoffrey Prime was released from prison on parole yesterday after serving half his 38-year sentence for betraying secrets to the KGB. Prime, 62, who worked for the GCHQ intelligence-gathering centre in Cheltenham, was jailed in 1982. He would have been freed automatically two thirds of the way through his sentence in 2007, but prisoners are entitled to parole after serving half of their sentence if they show remorse. [...]

He started working for the KGB in 1968 while on RAF intelligence duties in West Berlin. It is thought that the Soviets learned of his paedophile activities and blackmailed him. He was persuaded to take a posting as a translator at GCHQ, where he had access to top secret codes and military frequencies. He passed information to the KGB during regular visits to Vienna. [...]

Prime was also a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange and had a card index of 2,287 young girls whom he targeted by phone. He will be placed on the sex offenders' register and is expected to live in a Probation Service hostel.

source: Article 'Traitor Prime free after 19 years' jail' by Philip Johnston; www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1326330/Traitor-Prime-free-after-19-years-jail.html; Telegraph; 14 March 2001