Bernard Sheldon (14 July 1924 – 19 February 2008) was an officer of

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

and a lawyer.Bernard Sheldon
obituary,

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

, 27 February 2008, retrieved 29 June 2009

Biography

Born on 14 July 1924, he received a scholarship to

Hurstpierpoint College (''Blessed are the pure in heart'') , established = , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent School , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Dominic M ...

in 1938, was captain of the school, joined the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

in 1943, being commissioned the following year. He served on HMS Formidable, seeing action against the Tirpitz and at the Battle of Okinawa. He was demobilised in 1946 and studied for the Bar, became a member of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1947, then was called to the bar in 1949. While working for the Colonial Legal Service in Malaya he was recruited by MI5. In 1963 he became security liaison officer in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. He returned to London in 1966, becoming understudy to MI5's legal adviser until he assumed the role in 1968. He became legal adviser to the Secret Intelligence Service and

Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...

. He was involved in the prosecutions of

Geoffrey Prime Geoffrey Arthur Prime (born 21 February 1938) is a former British spy who disclosed information to the Soviet Union while working for the Royal Air Force and later for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence age ...

, Michael Bettaney and Hugh Hambleton. Controversial allegations about security service activity in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

involved him in damage limitation on behalf of the security services. He retired in 1987, became involved in

Citizens Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...

as well as police, fire service and prison boards. He died on 19 February 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldon, Bernard 1924 births 2008 deaths People educated at Hurstpierpoint College British intelligence operatives British people in British Malaya British expatriates in Hong Kong Colonial Legal Service officers Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Naval Reserve personnel