History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

In 1935 Scotland Yard was warned by the German police that forged English £5 notes were being sold there at half their face value. Detective Inspector George Hatherill, who spoke several languages, was sent to Berlin to track down the source of the notes. He found they were a very high-quality forgery of a new and unknown type.  To trap the gang, Hatherill posed as an English buyer based in Antwerp, engaged in smuggling and gun running. In his autobiography he says he was comfortable playing this role because he had previously worked in Antwerp as the liaison officer between Scotland Yard and the Belgium police. His contact introduced Hatherill to the gang and he had several meetings in East Berlin cafes. He paid for all the drinks and flashed a roll of bank notes, to convince them he really meant business. Finally, it was agreed that 1,000 Bank of England £5 notes would be ready in a week. At this point the German police raided the homes of the gang members and arrested them all, ...