Two local newspapers (Dudley News and Hales Owen News) from the West Midlands in the UK, recently carried the same article about the HD Paranormal investigation into Bella in the Wych Elm. See my blog post from Friday March3…
Both articles note:
Jayne has also been in touch with the grand-daughter of Josef Jakobs – a German spy and the last man to be executed at the Tower of London after he was captured parachuting into the UK in 1941.
She said: “He had a photo with him of a lady who matched ‘Bella’s’ description, named Clarabella, and claimed she was a spy and that he was supposed to meet her in the West Midlands.”
The articles contains a few factual errors. First off, I was never contacted by Jayne and therefore the “She said:” in the second paragraph does not refer to myself.
The photo Josef had on his person was of Clara Bauerle (not Clarabella) who was described as being a “tall” woman by Josef and another spy who knew her. Given that Bella in the Wych Elm was around 5 feet tall, I’m not entirely sure I would say their descriptions “match”.
Josef said that Clara Bauerle was possibly going to be spent to England but, given that the German Abwehr had not heard from him, he doubted that they would send her over. Since the Germans would also have heard about Josef’s execution on August 15, 1941 (courtesy of widely available international newspapers), it is highly unlikely that they would have sent Clara to meet up with Josef (who was, at that point, deceased). Or perhaps the Abwehr decided to send her over to spring Josef out of MI5s clutches? I’m sure Clara could have used her feminine wiles to sneak her way into Camp 020 or Wandsworth Prison or the Tower of London. A regular Mata Hari perhaps.
Josef also never said that he was to meet her in the West Midlands.
One could, naturally, wonder… if the Abwehr was really going to send Clara Bauerle over to England, would they have let one of their agents travel with a picture postcard of her? Rather hard to imagine…
I still think D.J. Cockburn has the best theory…