Robin W.G. Stephens – Some more leads

Cover - Interrogation in War and Conflict Edited by Christopher Andrew & Simona Tobia
Cover – Interrogation in War and Conflict Edited by Christopher Andrew & Simona Tobia

I had emailed Christopher Andrew (author of the authorized history of MI5 – Defend the Realm/Defence of the Realm) a few weeks back asking if he had any further information on Robin W.G. Stephens, commandant of MI5’s secret interrogation centre, Camp 020. Specifically, I was interested in any information on Stephens’ death.

Andrew replied back promptly with the following:

  1. Most sources in National Archives KV series
  2. See Defence of Realm
  3. See further sources mentioned in Andrew and Tonia [sic], Interrogation (this is Andrew and Tobia)
  4. Note correspondence a few years ago in TLS by Calder Walton

Some thoughts on the above:

  1. I haven’t actually looked at the original KV folders that were used as the source for the Camp 020 book by Oliver Hoare. Perhaps there is more in there than I had thought?
  2. Defence of the Realm – has some tidbits on Stephens, but nothing on his death
  3. Andrew & Tobia – this is a 2014 publication: Interrogation in War and Conflict: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Analysis – It definitely looks interesting and it’s been on my radar for a while. Unfortunately it comes it with a rather exorbitant price tag on Amazon – $157 (even the Kindle edition is $80). There don’t appear to be any Canadian libraries that carry it… so it may have to go onto my “next-time-I’m-in-London” list at the British Library.
  4. TLS – this is the Times Literary Supplement – apparently in 2013 Calder Walton wrote a rebuttal to Ian Cobain’s book, Cruel Britannia. Calder Walton worked as the lead researcher when Christopher Andrew was writing his authorized history of MI5. There would appear to be a back and forth that took place between Walton and Cobain but, without being a subscriber to TLS, my access is limited.

So there are a few leads here… most of which need a visit to London. On the other hand, I may email Calder Walton, as he was the lead researcher on Defend the Realm/Defence of the Realm and might have some helpful insights.

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