MI5 report reveals my dad was a spy in WW2

DARING Sydney Jones A MAN of 80 discovered the story of his father’s life as a spy in the Second World War when MI5 sent him papers after a 70-year ban on publication ended.

Anthony Jones learned how his father Sydney had volunteered for the Special Operations Executive in 1942.

The papers told how Sydney carried out a number of daring missions in France during the war.

He was betrayed and captured in 1943, then taken to a concentration camp.

In 1944, when Anthony was six years old, Sydney was among 50 prisoners shot dead by the Germans.

Anthony, from Marldon, Devon, said he started SECRETS MI5 papers

looking through the papers before “suddenly realising what they were”. He said: “It was the whole history of my father. It was quite magnificent what he did for king and country.

“I was very, very honoured in having a father with that sort of history.”

Sydney’s story has now been published in a book written by a local author, Chris Robbilard, who spent a year researching the remarkable tale.

Chris said: “It’s a bit like the Spitfire pilots – they were amazing. So few against so many.

“This was a similar thing but done in a different way.

“It’s taken a fair bit of my life, but I feel pleased that it’s done. It’s very good for the soul.”

Sydney received a posthumous MBE for his service to the nation.

An eight-year-old Anthony accepted it on his father’s behalf in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 1946.