In his new book Agent Jack, ROBERT HUTTON reveals how mild-mannered Eric Roberts proved an astonishing success at flushing out German sympathisers

How? A clue came in the summer of 1940, when Roberts was sent to Leeds to infiltrate a fascist cell that was plotting an arson campaign against Jewish shops.

His first visit went well. The group were convinced of his authenticity. They promised to develop plans for espionage. But when he returned a few weeks later, he found the ringleader, Reg Windsor, was suspicious of him. What had changed?

Eventually, he got to the truth. In his absence, Windsor had been warned that his mail was now being opened. Worse, when he had visited London, he’d found that Roberts had lied about where he worked and lived.

Roberts didn’t record what he said to Windsor and his colleagues that day. He simply reported that, in the course of a tram journey into the city centre, he “succeeded in allaying their suspicions on these points”.

They knew they were being watched. They knew the surveillance had started after Roberts had appeared. And they knew Roberts had lied to them. But somehow, he talked them round.

It would be some time before his superiors could find out what his technique was. It was revealed when they read the transcripts of his meetings with British traitors in the London flat.

Roberts behaved like a mirror. With one of his male recruits, he played the part of another chap, fond of a drink, weary with work and worried about his family.

With groups of young women, he was playful and snide, as much one of the girls as a married father of three in his 30s could be. If someone was cautious, he would be cautious in return, gradually offering trust, and receiving it. Today, psychologists recognise the technique of mirroring behaviour as a way of building rapport. Roberts, a selftrained spy, seems to have developed the technique himself.

If that was how Roberts kept his targets on board, how did he keep himself sane? Many of those who worked undercover for MI5 suffered breakdowns, as well as drinking heavily or having affairs. But though Roberts suffered from stress-related diabetes, and was fond of a beer, he seems to have had a blissful home life.

HIS wife Audrey knew about his work, and covered for him with neighbours, explaining that he wasn’t in the Army because he was a conscientious objector.

In retirement in Canada, far from anywhere the people he’d spied on could reach him, his children found their friends adored their father. His son-inlaw described him as his best friend. Eric Roberts’ remarkable personal resilience seems to flow from the fact that, although he was lying in all sorts of ways, he was throughout true to himself in a deep way: he really was a very likeable chap.

To order Agent Jack: The True Story Of MI5’s Secret Nazi Hunter by Robert Hutton (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20, free UK delivery), call The Express Bookshop on 01872 562310. Or send a cheque made payable to Express Bookshop to Agent Jack Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ. Or buy online at expressbookshop.co.uk