QUIET 'LONER' WHO ENJOYED FOOTBALL AND HIS FAMILY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96B01172R000300030010-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 10
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2007/12/14: CIA-RDP96B01172R000300030010-5
.-iaa. t r? et
PAYMENTS
Y KG--
ONLY,. ?. y
PIN-MONEY
PRIME betrayed' his
country's secrets to -the
Russians for virtual , pin-
money in world espionage
'terms.
In 14 years as a traitor he
was only paid a total of just
over #8,000.
British Intelligence sources
point out, that Prime's miserly
rewards back up his story that
he got sucked into the , top
stream of espionage activities
for ideological reasons.
His biggest payment, #4,000,
would appear 'to have' been
made 'on his last visit behind
the Iron Curtain, to Potsdam,
almost exactly' a .'year ago,
'when he was closely questioned
'about top. secret Allied activi-
ties., ,
#400 sweeteners
His other payments, if his
account is to be believed, were
rarely more than #600 or #700.
His first sweetener " in 1968
was a mere #400.
.He was usually' paid on his
trips to the' Eastern Bloc, but
accor'ding' to him, he also col-
lected cash at secret hiding
places, ' once 'near 'a lake ill'
Esher, and another. time at a
pick up point near Banstead
Station, Surrey.
TRIPS ABROAD
FOR MASTERS
RIME,, codenamed
Rowlands by the
Russians, was 'first re-
cruited by the K G B in
1968, while he served in
the R A F in Berlin.
He mane regular trips behind
the Iron Curtain for debriefing
sessions, his. last journey being
to East Germany only a year
ago.
In.,,L5,; just after he had
been briefed IW, his employers
to `;"give fresh high security
classification, he attended 'a
series of meetings in Vienna
when he passed nvnr nhntn-
Quiet `loner' w
~fl~joye football
and hi's -family
fly ALAN COPPS
THE public face of Geoffrey Prime' was
that of a quiet family man. He doted
on his three stepsons,
aged 10, 14 and 15.
He enjoyed football
matches and was something
of an ace at crosswords.
His fascination with the
Russian language and culture
was, obvious, but he rarely
talked about politics and
never discussed his work at
GCHQ.
His taxi-driver colleagues
called him a loner.
His home was a neat, modern
detached house in a quiet Pane
behind one of Cheltenham's
gracious crescents.
The front door of Laburnum
Cottage in Pittville Crescent
Lane, is the kind of modest
facade behind which many
secrets are stored in the Cots-
wold Spa, where at least one
in ]0 of the working population
is employed at G C H Q.
In the years he lived there
Prime made few close friends,
but one man who got to know
him better than mpst was
fellow-driver Mr Glynn Priday,
32,
Computer tape
After Prime left G C Il 0 in
1977 he first worked for a
company called Cheltiax, a firm
which still has 'a contract to
transport computer tape from
the Cheltenham bases to various
destinations.
When two years later a
dozen Cheltax drivers 'decided
to set up their own company
Prime and Mr Priday were
among the leaders,
" We used him as a secretary,
because we could pick his
brains to write letters. He was
very good with words," said
Mr Priday. "There is no way
he was a communist. He liked
making money too much."
Prime put in a lot of work
to help set up the co-operative
called A 2 B taxis, but he did
not socialise with the other
members.
appeared as an exhibit at the
Old Bailey.
At other times he would ask
for evenings off so he could
drive to . London for Russian
films or other ctiltural events!
"He said he'd left G C H Q
because of the' pressure of
work. He got fed up with
going to the same place day
after day. He said he liked the
freedom of being a taxi
driver."
Geoffrey Prime left A 2 B taxis
after a dispute over plans to
,turn it into a limited company.
In November 1981 he went to
work for a German wine coin-
pan?y based in Bristol.
The sihock of Prime's arrest
was as great for his family as
for his former colleagues.
Prime was horn on Feb. 21,
1938. His father, Mr George
Prime was described as a cop-
per wire drawer of Humble
Bee Bank, Alton, near Stoke on
Trent.
He 'has two brothers. Mr
Vincent Prime, the younger, a
council roadsweeper, who still
lives near Stoke, has not seen
Geoffrey for about 20 years.
Mr George Prime, the second
brother, is a joiner at Blythe
Bridge, near Stoke. His sister
dives in Uttoxeter, Staffs.
Geoffrey Prime went to the
village church school until he
was 14 and then to St Joseph's
Roman Catholic Secondary
School in Trent Vale, Stoke.
Language course
At 18 he entered national
service with the R A F and was
persuaded to make it his
career. After serving in Kenya
he was selected' for a Russian
language course at 11 A F
Leuehars in Fife, where he also
studied German.
He qualified from that course
in May, 1964, and the follow-
ing month was posted to classi-
fied work at 11 A F Gatow in
West Berlin, In 1966 he was
promoted to corporal and in
1968 to sergeant.
It was while he was in Berlin
shortly before he left the R A F'
that lie made his contact with
"The rest of the blokes
would get out of their cars and the Russians.
come into the office for a chat In 1s he was married for
and some coffee. But not the first t time to Miss Helena
Organ in London when en he was
r? 4T - ti, ,,. , :_ , AA
7.
The D. ilg Telegrriph,'Thursr1r
COvert. Goat
New Wpol
dis~m't'im' '
Made in Great Britain from
this fawdi Covert Coat
; tailored' fo6he man c
With all the meticulot
detail that makes all t
graphic co Approved For Release 2007/12/14: CIA-RDP96BOl 172R000300030010-5
 Approved For Release 2007/12/14: CIA-RDP96B01172R000300030010-5
enussions olt -*rr
,ii,eachery
nevul
now
might niake the Americans' more
circumspect in their, personal
dealings with' British agents.
.An American . intelligence
expert ,aid ,the episode. had not
destroyed , the trust , and ' the
valuable' working relationship;
that had been ' built' u'p; over
HE full scale of the damage Geoffrey
Prime's treachery has done to Western
intelligence will never be fully known.
But the "incalculable harm " of which the Lord
Chief .Justice spoke yesterday has possibly come closer
,to driving a rift between the United States and British
'intelligence services t hit n
any,.other known security By ALAN COPPS
,
e
en
However, there , is ' 'concern
that publicity" over the ; issue
and rumours. bf a split between
the ' two' ' espionage.- services
could ' become a hot -political
issue in the United States with
some congressmen using' it to
urge that the CIA and the
NSA should not share r their
most
. sensitive' ? secrets , with
Brit
.
a
~~ug run is unan ely. to succeed.
For one thing
- Ch
lt
ham's.
For an enormous and vital Times as saying: "You can s eoiansea, computers ;t have
t e capaotty to- de so me
never tell for sure what led
proportion of all Western in
-
informti b
aoneyond the 'range
telligence passes / through the Russians to change encryp- of their Amenriaan equivalents.
Lion systems or switch to differ-
G C H Q, which works in ent channels. It's what you don't
In addition,. ' G CH. Q has
close co-operation with the know in a case like this that access to, intercepts from-'some
American National Security scares you most." listening posts which the U.S:,
despite its satellite technology
Agency. That view was echoed b
,
one
British expert y would find difficult to replace
Mr . ,!
Caspar Weinberger, who had been The Senate Intelligence Com;
American Secretary of Defence involved in security at Chelten- ?;..
catastrophic."
Privately at least one senior
British official has said that the
Prime case is nothing short of
a " disaster " for the intelligence
services.
The Americans are said to be
angry that Britain has not yet
provided a full assesment of
the harm caused by Prime, al-
though there have iren assur-
ances on this side of lie Atlantic
that Cheltenham is tow thought
clear of moles.
Advanced translator
Prime worked h way up to
the most senio' rank of
Advanced Linguit Specialist.
and became a 'ection head.
His job was to tanscribe and
translate Soviet c-mmunications
intercepted by bch British and
American satellits and ground
stations around he world. .
Much of the information
arrives in code'snd has to be
ing,possibly even the base from " sun trying to determine how
where communications were serious the damage is.
,
being monitored. That informa- But because of the laws whi.c
tion is invaluable . to the forbid publication of evidencee!
Soviets." in this country,. the' American
Crucial negotiations farbin ore aboutlthe implications
When Rrime's potential know- of the case.
ledge is set against the back. brI July, hatcher r made i?ade
a
e e tem T Thatche.
ground of Western-Soviet rela- i s
na
tions during his time at GCH whith g gas ive e v nt in the Commons
the reasons for alarm are cle whic only the barest de-
tails. She did say; however, that.
His career began at a time any security issues arising as a
of extreme tension following result would be referred to the
the Soviet invasion of Czecho? Security Commission.
Slovakia in 1968, and lasted
throughout the .years of detente panel reconstituted
i
b
. as
m possi
le
crucial arms negotiations. to say with absolute certainty
h
h
et
er any other people were
In drawing up negotiating w
positions at such conferences, likely' to be charged. Further`
the kind of intelligence evidence would be considered
gathered at Cheltenham would the Director of Public Prose+
play a vital part-as it would cu cutfons in the normar way.
in many other major forei n Several MPs on both sides
policy decisions on both sides of the House put down
of the Atlantic questions about security when
. put througih Chltenhani's huge the case first broke. But for
and higih-ly-sop,hsticated de.cod- The talks which took place one reason or another none was
ing computers aefore reaching during P the e s Stahtegcment in- answered.
the hands of tansla:tors. g' Arms One conhesvely minor
Limitation Treaties, the . Hel- change in the seecurity prose=
In this positin, Prime would sinki conference on European dure has however been linked
have been ab'1 to,report to the Security and Cooperation with wit>