WIFE OF ARRESTED BRITON TALKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100500004-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 26, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 30, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

THE. DAILY EXPRESS
S"ftiMgH j-pprove fir elease : IA-F~
Tondo England
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APRIL 30, 1965
t~j 10 f e
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The Brookes iWiMoh%rjqj?? to ~rasl,e : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100500004-5
THEY QUESTIONED MEAL NIGHT.
SAYS TEARFUL MRS. BROOKE
From IAN BRODIE: Moscow, Thursday,
tears tonight'a young wile from Lon on
told how she was.:quctioned all night by
Soviet police after her husband was whisked
away under arrest.
Barbara Brooke, 24 and pretty, Is going home-
tomorrow. Her husband, 26-year-old lecturer Gerald
Brooke, is still held somewhere in Moscow, perhaps
I understand the word
"espionage" has not been
mentioned by the Russian'.
They have used the_phras9,
which could cover anything:
Mr. Brooke's friends here-he
was leading a party of British
school teachers - think the
whole thing is a frame-up.
As one said : " He could not
have been involved in anything
shady. No man would take his
wife along for something . like'
that."
A CALL
It was on Sunday that the
young couple -apparently in
response to a mysterious tele
phone invitation-went to visit
Moscow.
Gerald Brooke speaks fluent,
Russian. Barbara Brooke under-
stands little-and so tonight she
still scarcely knew what had
happened.
At the Moscow home of Miss
Agnes Wood, the newly arrived
British Consul, Mrs. Brooke
wept as she tried to explain
how three, Russians burst .into
the home they were visiting.
They were, all. speaking
ROSEMARY HONEY
" Ridiculous " .
Russian," she sal'd. " They took .
me away to another building-
I don't know where-and there
they questioned me. They kept
questioning me all ' night."
Mrs. Brooke,' spectacled.
wearing red skirt and beige
sweater, went on : "I don't
know the exact time the men
carne because I don't have a
watch, but it was latish' in the
evening. They released me at
7.30 next morning. They Just
let me go.
" I would rather not say what
questions they asked. They did
not use any force.
I don't know the Russian
people in the flat. I have no
idea if they were arrested."
4nd. her husband ? "I don't
know," said Mrs. Brooke. She
1. broke down. Miss Wood-helped
her from thg room.
Some of the gaps in the story
were filled in by one of Mr.
Brooke's ' touring party, 40-year-
. old Mr. Paul Harvey, a teacher
from Woodford Green,. Essex.
who first raised the alarm.
Apparently. the Brookes were
-" hosppitablyy welcomed" at the
1 flat ttiey.visited.
But after 48 minutes the three
 Sanitized - Approved F&'r ;Release CIA-RDP75-00149R000100500004-5
CPYRGHT
Russians came in and told Mc,
Brooke he was under arrest.
.Mrs. Brooke was taken to
what she thought was a police
station with ' large, high-
ceiling?ed offices. She eventually
signed a statement.
At dawn the Russians, telling
her not to worry about her
husband. escorted her back to
her hotel, the Bucharest, across
the river from the Kremlin.
.They took her to her room,
No. 602, emptied luggage and
turned out drawers.
Finally they confiscated a
camera, a school exercise book.
and. two long playing records
Mr. Brooke had declared to
Soviet Customs when he arrived.
The policemen went off say-
ing-to Mrs. Brooke : "We hope
you are enjoying your stay."
The young wife wore up Mr..
Harvey. Hb went to the British
Embassy. Diplomats contacted
the Soviet Foreign Ministry.
Back at the hotel Mr. BrooKe's
tourists decided to say, nothing
while thqre was a chance he
Would,be released. .
For three days they -guarded
APR 3 0 1965
Mrs. Brooke -and kept quiet.
Today the news came out.
The inquiries had been led by
the British Ambassador,. Sir
day he asked for immediate
access to Mr. Brooke.
Yesterday the Foreign Ministry
said a " criminal charge had
been made against him.
Today the Ministry told the
embassy that the question of a
meeting. would be considered."
Mrs. Brooke might be allowed
to see her husband " in May "
Gerald. Brooke. who once
spent a year in Moscow as a
student, brought 30 secondary.
school teachers overland for aY,.1
14-day course in Russian.
The trip was not officially
sponsored, and it was a normal'
Intour lst-guided ' rubber neck-
ins~ : affair-untU that telephone
call on Sunday night
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100500004-5