History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This is the extraordinary story of a KGB officer who defected in London. It is mainly about the Russian spy, with a short account about what little is known about his agent who lived in Cricklewood. Most of his files at the National Archives have not been released, but Christopher Andrew who wrote the authorized history of the MI5, provided some details of the case in his book ‘The Defence of the Realm’. Books by Nigel West and others, as well as newspaper articles, have been used to piece the story together which sounds like something straight out of a spy novel. The Trigger On 30 August 1971, at 1.30 in the morning, PC Charles Shearer and PC George Paterson were on duty in a police panda car. When they came into the Tottenham Court Road, they saw a Hillman car in front of them which did not have its lights on and was being driven erratically. They decided to follow and pulled the car over in a side street near Warren Street Tube station.  The driver was quite belligerent when he ...