Nazi spy radio seized by police goes on show

Northamptonshire Police heritage worker Sue Ward with the spy radio she nominated for an exhibition place

A Nazi spy's radio seized by police after he was arrested in a field having parachuted into the country has gone on public display for the first time.

German spy Gosta Caroli, who went on to become a double agent, was discovered by a farm worker laying in a ditch on land on the Castle Ashby Estate, near Northampton, in September 1940.

The police were called and found the 38-year-old Swede's possessions in a ditch, which included a briefcase containing a radio transmitter and receiver set, batteries and a Morse key.

It will now be shown in A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition at the county town's museum until February.

Caroli tried to escape being detained in a safehouse in Cambridgeshire in 1941 by overpowering his guard and fleeing on a motorbike, before he gave himself up

Caroli was meant to send radio reports to Hamburg about bomb damage to fields in Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Birmingham.

But it was believed he ended up near Yardley Hastings in Northamptonshire instead of his intended destination of Yardley in Birmingham.

The radio ended up in the Northamptonshire Police Museum collection and Sue Ward, part of the force's heritage team, decided to submit it for the celebration of local life.

She said it was "great" the artefact had been chosen as it was an "important item" in the museum's collection.

"Remarkably, the radio is so well preserved, and this will be the first time it has been on public view," said Ms Ward.

"It will no doubt generate interest in how our force played such an important role in not only Northamptonshire's history, but also the history of World War Two."

After Caroli was found, he was taken to Northampton's Angel Lane police station before being handed over to MI5 officers in London. He was then interrogated and revealed secret information about his training, fellow spies and radio transmissions.

In order to escape a trial and death sentence, he enrolled in the MI5 Double Cross programme and was given the codename Summer, under which he sent misinformation to the Nazis in Germany and helped the allies in the D-Day landings.

He died in 1975 after being repatriated to Sweden following the Second World War.