A Thousand Cuts
Page 13
I have been shown photographs of ENGINEER COMMANDER BAINES and ENGINEER LIEUTENANT BECK, and I remember seeing them come into the café at about 7.30 p.m. on the evening of 10th April. Many of the servicemen are ‘rowdies’, but these two sat quietly at the bar and drank a few bottles of ale. The younger man did most of the talking, whilst the older listened. When they stood up to leave, both appeared steady on their feet.
That was at exactly 9.15 p.m. I remember the time because it was when the Flamenco dancers arrived. They are nice enough girls, but I understand they are not to everyone’s taste.
I make it my business to recall particular details about customers. That is why so many of them come back to the Piccadilly.
I have had this read to me and it is true.
Signed: Peter Zammit
First statement made at British Military Hospital at 10 a.m. on 20th April, 1940 by ESTEBAN ALEJANDRO REYES, Spaniard, born in La Línea on 18th August, 1919. Working at H.M. Dockyard, Gibraltar, as a labourer at the Foundry. Living with Gibraltarian wife, MAGDALENA PAULA REYES, née MONTEGRIFFO, at 17b Sefarty’s Passage, Gibraltar. No dependents or children.
—
I have been warned that I do not have to answer any questions but that anything I do say will be taken down in writing and may be used as evidence.
(Signed) Esteban Alejandro Reyes
Question: Please confirm that you can fully understand the questions being put to you.
Answer: I understand what you say. My English is good.
Question: And are you well enough to proceed?
Answer: I want to see my wife. The other man said I could see my wife.
Question: Please answer the question.
Answer: Yes. Yes, I feel stronger today.
Question: Please give your name, address, occupation and nationality.
Answer: My name is ESTEBAN ALEJANDRO REYES. I live at 17b Sefarty’s Passage, Gibraltar, with my wife, MAGDALENA. I work at the Dockyard as a labourer. I was born in Spain but my wife is Gibraltarian.
Question: When did you arrive in Gibraltar?
Answer: On 6 April, 1939. The day we got married.
Question: And when did you first obtain employment at the Dockyard?
Answer: In July last year. I don’t remember the day.
Question: Do you remember what happened on 10th April this year?
Answer: What day is today?
Question: 20th April. Do you remember what happened ten days ago on 10th April?
Answer: I’m not sure. My head is still confused.
Question: Do you know why you’re in hospital?
Answer: The doctor said there was an explosion.
Question: Why were you at the Dockyard on the evening of 10th April?
Answer: I work there.
Question: You work at the Foundry, not at the Dry Docks. Is that correct?
Answer: Yes.
Question: But you were at the Dry Docks on 10th April, weren’t you? What were you doing in a different sector of the yard after dark?
Answer: My wife is pregnant. Sometimes she needs time alone. I told this to the other man.
Question: Go on, Señor REYES.
Answer: I needed to breathe. So I went for a walk by the Dockyard – I don’t know why. Then I saw a light in the Dry Docks.
Question: Why didn’t you alert the Police Constable on duty?
Answer: The sentry box was empty. Maybe the guard was playing cards. But I could still see the light. And my boss, CAMILLERI, always tells us to be watchful. That we must be on our guard. So I ran through the gate. I remember seeing two men in British uniform. Then, everything is black.
Question: What were the two British servicemen doing when you saw them?
Answer: Just standing. On the dock floor.
Question: Why do you think they were there?
Answer: I don’t know. Why don’t you ask them?
Question: Because both ENGINEER COMMANDER BAINES and ENGINEER LIEUTENANT BECK are dead.
(Prisoner attended to by medical staff – pause for fifteen minutes.)
Answer: Now I remember better. I think maybe the two servicemen were setting a bomb. Yes, I remember the cap of one torpedo was unscrewed. One man was keeping watch while the other put something inside.
Question: Did you see the bomb?
Answer: I think so, yes.
Question: Was it a ‘galapago’ or a ‘puro’?
Answer: A ‘galapago’. It looked like a ‘galapago’. You call it ‘tortoise’ in English, I think.
Question: How do you know what a ‘galapago’ bomb looks like?
Answer: Everyone from La Línea knows this.
Question: Do you know a man called RAÚL DE HERRERA?
Answer: No.
Question: RAÚL DE HERRERA. Perhaps you know him from La Línea?
Answer: No, I am a resident of Gibraltar now. When my papers come through, maybe I’ll sign up and join the war.
Question: Please look at this photograph.
(Shown a photograph.)
Question: Is that you?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Who is the man in the moustaches sitting next to you?
Answer: I don’t know.
Question: The man in this photograph is RAÚL DE HERRERA. If you don’t know him, then why do we have a photograph of you drinking with him at a bar in La Línea?
Answer: I don’t know. I can’t understand.
Question: RAÚL DE HERRERA gave you the ‘galapago’ bomb, didn’t he?
Answer: No, I have never seen this man before.
—
I have had this read to me in Spanish and English and it is all true and made of my own free will.
(Signed) Esteban Alejandro Reyes
(Above statement completed at 11.40 a.m. – prisoner given lunch.)
SECOND STATEMENT: Made at 3 p.m. 20.04.40 at B.M. Hospital.
Yes, I have again been cautioned that I need not say anything or answer any questions unless I wish to and anything I do say will be written down and may be given in evidence.
(Signed) Esteban Alejandro Reyes
(Shown a strip of metal retrieved from the site of the explosion.)
Question: Do you know what this is?
Answer: No. I want to see MAGDALENA now. Please let me see my wife.
Question: This is a metal safety strip. It has to be removed from the time fuse mechanism before a ‘galapago’ bomb can be primed. Can you see the traces of yellow paint at the end?
Answer: Yes.
Question: The yellow paint tells us that the bomb was set to explode between ninety minutes and two hours after it was planted.
Answer: I’m just a labourer, Mister. I don’t know anything about bombs. I don’t believe in violence. Ask my friends. Violence is the lowest part of a man.
Question: ENGINEER COMMANDER BAINES and ENGINEER LIEUTENANT BECK spent the evening together in a bar until just thirty minutes before the bomb exploded. Do you understand what that means? That it would have been impossible for them to have planted the bomb.
Answer: One of them could have left the bar, no? Run to the Dry Docks, set the bomb, then come back without anyone seeing.
Question: But you told me that when you entered Dry Dock 3, you saw two British servicemen interfering with the torpedoes on the trawler.
Answer: My memory is confused. I have been very ill.
Question: Let me tell you what I think, Señor REYES. I think that RAÚL DE HERRERA gave you the bomb. And that is how you know what a ‘galapago’ looks like.
Answer: No. No.
Question: Then DE HERRERA paid you a sum of money to carry it over the border and plant it. You work at the Dockyard; you know how to slip in and out undetected – and where to plant a device to cause maximum damage. But you were interrupted by two Royal Naval Engineers as they passed the Dry Docks on their way back to their sleeping quarters.
Answer: If the bomb had a timer, why would I wait at the Dry Docks for i
t to explode? You didn’t think of that, did you?
Question: Perhaps you mis-set the timer.
Answer: Or the other men did.
Question: Maybe you were keeping watch nearby after you planted the bomb. Making sure that everything went to plan. You saw the two Naval Engineers enter the Dry Docks, and you tried to distract them, worried that they would find the bomb.
Answer: Can you not hear how you sound? How ridiculous you English are with your ‘maybes’ and ‘perhaps’? You have nothing on me.
This has been read to me in Spanish and English and I have said all this of my own free will because I want to tell the truth.
(Signed) Esteban Alejandro Reyes
STATEMENT OF KENNETH MICHAEL SHAWFIELD, DEFENCE SECURITY OFFICER, GIBRALTAR, made at DEFENCE SECURITY OFFICE, GIBRALTAR on 17th June, 1940 – CONTD.
1. The discovery by D.R.T. ANGSTRUTHER, LT., R.N.V.R. of the yellow safety strip, taken with the eyewitness account of PETER ZAMMIT, General Manager of the Piccadilly, means that there was no conceivable way in which ENGINEER COMMANDER BAINES and ENGINEER LIEUTENANT BECK could have been involved in the explosion, regardless of ESTEBAN ALEJANDRO REYES’s best efforts to deflect the blame onto his innocent victims.
2. Despite such compelling evidence of REYES’s guilt, no confession was forthcoming. Given the likelihood that his case would pertain to a capital offence, after further discussion with the Commissioner of the Gibraltar Police, it was decided that stronger evidence was needed against REYES before any charge could be brought. To that end, I made contact once again with LAUREL, and told him to broaden his enquiries with regard to REYES’s precise movements in the days leading up to the explosion.
SECOND STATEMENT GIVEN BY ‘LAUREL’ AT DEFENCE SECURITY OFFICE, GIBRALTAR, ON 21ST APRIL, 1940.
THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT RETAINED IN DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION 3(4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958.
STATEMENT GIVEN BY NICHOLAS CONSUELO ISOLA, POLICE SERGEANT NO. 13, GIBRALTAR SECURITY POLICE, AT THE DEFENCE SECURITY OFFICE ON 22ND APRIL, 1940.
For the last ten months I have been stationed at the Four Corners, where it is my job to examine the passes of all civilians entering the Garrison from Spain. I am permitted to search the clothing and luggage of any person crossing the frontier, but this is not an absolute requirement. As anyone on border duty will tell you, sometimes it is too busy to take everyone into the searching sheds, and individuals known by face get let through quickest.
I confirm that MAGDALENA PAULA MONTEGRIFFO is my second cousin, and that she is married to ESTEBAN ALEJANDRO REYES.
I also confirm that REYES makes regular trips across the border to La Línea to visit his family.
On one or two occasions, REYES has brought me cigarettes purchased in La Línea as he knows I am partial to Spanish tobacco. The fact that REYES makes me these small gifts has no bearing on my decisions to search him.
On the afternoon of 9th April this year, REYES crossed to and from Spain. I remember this because on his return he gave me a packet of cigarettes and that was the last time I received a Spanish packet.
I have been shown a diagram of a ‘galapago’ bomb and can confirm that a device of that size would be easy to conceal in the deep pockets of the Dockyard dungarees that REYES tends to wear.
This is true.
Signed: NICHOLAS ISOLA, P.S. 13,
Gibraltar Security Police
THIRD STATEMENT BY ESTEBAN ALEJANDRO REYES: Made at D.S.O.’s Office at 11 a.m. on 4th May, 1940.
I have again been cautioned that I need not say anything or answer any questions unless I wish to and anything I do say will be written down and may be given in evidence.
(Signed) Esteban Alejandro Reyes
Question: Do you know a man called RAÚL DE HERRERA?
Answer: No. You must believe me. The guard told me they turned my wife away. I need to see her. It’s a long way to come to Detention Barracks to be turned away.
Question: You are being detained under the Gibraltar Defence Regulations, 1939, Señor REYES, and your rights, such as they are, are in the gift of the Governor.
(Prisoner shown a photograph.)
Question: I ask you once again. Do you know the man sitting next to you in this photograph?
Answer: No!
Question: Can you read Spanish?
Answer: Of course I can. Spanish and English. You think I’m stupid?
(Prisoner handed a book.)
Question: Look at the dedication in this book. Can you read what it says?
Answer: No. My head hurts.
Question: Let me read it for you. It says, ‘For Esteban Reyes, a true Son of the Revolution’. Signed, ‘Your friend and fellow linense, Raúl de Herrera’.
Answer: You bastard. You’ve been in my house.
Question: We had a warrant, Señor REYES. You must try to control yourself.
(Prisoner shown two 500 ‘peseta’ notes.)
Question: Where did you obtain this money?
Answer: From my mother. What, I can’t have Spanish money in my house?
Question: I think that these banknotes were given to you by RAÚL DE HERRERA.
Answer: Now I see it. You come after me because you need a scapegoat. That’s how you English say it, isn’t it? Un chivo expiatorio. I am a Spaniard in Gibraltar, so I am an easy target. You hid the book and the money in my house for them to find so you can hang me.
Question: The book was found beneath the floorboards in your bedroom. The money was in your kitchen dresser. There were witnesses present when both discoveries were made. We now have all the evidence that we need to charge you. The metal safety strip; an eyewitness account proving that the two Naval Engineers could not have planted the bomb; evidence confirming your personal connection to RAÚL DE HERRERA; two high-denomination Spanish banknotes in your house. And then, of course, there is the simple question to which no satisfactory answer presents itself. If it wasn’t you who planted the bomb, then who was it?
Answer: That is your job, Sir, not mine.
Question: Why not make it easy on yourself, Señor REYES? Confess now. Perhaps the Governor will let you see you wife. She is not well, I understand.
Answer: I want to speak to a Spanish lawyer.
Question: I’m afraid that will not be possible, Señor REYES.
(Signed) Esteban Alejandro Reyes
FOREIGN OFFICE
S.W.1.
25th October, 1940
(C 437/301/G)
Secret
Dear Shawfield
I know that Hayward wrote to you on 18th October regarding the draft obituary notice for Reyes.
I can now confirm that the draft notice has been agreed subject to the omission of the line ‘and his conviction was secured thanks to the courage of certain members of the local community’ in the final paragraph.
Many thanks for your timely assistance in this matter.
Do send my fond regards to Margery.
Yours sincerely,
S.W. Andrews
K.M. Shawfield, Esq.,
M.I.5.
[This document must be paraphrased if communicated to any person outside Government service.]
[CIPHER]
DEPARTMENTAL NO. 1
FROM GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF GIBRALTAR
TO FOREIGN OFFICE
D. 25th October, 1940
R. 3.10 p.m. 26th October, 1940
Repeated to War Office (M.O.5)
Madrid
IMPORTANT
MOST SECRET
Received unofficial visit today from Spanish Consul-General. Purpose of meeting was to plead for life of saboteur Reyes. I responded that regrettable etc. but evidence was firm and my hands were tied. No clemency could be extended to a man responsible for murder of two British servicemen.
Consul-General suggested it was in interest of Allied forces not to aggravate Spanish government. I responded that to all intents and purposes the Axis has free run in Spain already and he grew agitated and t
erminated interview.
As you know, execution of Reyes now fixed for 30th inst. Perhaps some sort of official dinner for Consul-General and his wife once dust has settled? Governess not in favour as pair of them known to have fearsome appetites. But such are demands of diplomacy.
TELEPHONE MESSAGE
Major Shawfield
Major Andrews, D.3.b., telephoned to report that the two men travelling to Gibraltar in connection with the REYES case have now been granted passports and exit permits by M.I.5. and that everything has been arranged to his satisfaction.
1300 hours 26.10.40
AR
SECRET TELEGRAM RECEIVED IN CIPHER
From: D.S.O., Gibraltar
Office File No.: PF. 55053
Date of Origin: 27.10.40
Date of Receipt: 28.10.40
Deciphered by: MN
IMMEDIATE
Reference your DS/113/40/12a of 26.10.40
Execution to take place on morning of 30 October provided hangman and his assistant are not delayed by weather. Information to be released immediately thereafter.
Confidential VS/28
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION – For Official Use of Censors Only
QUALIFIED RELEASE No. K.153
Serial No. 21
Subject: EXECUTION OF REYES
The following P. & C. Memo has been issued today:
‘The obituary notice released today concerning the execution of Esteban Alejandro Reyes includes every item of information about this case that may safely be published.
Editors are requested in the interest of security to publish no other details whatever either of the case itself or of the man, his history and relatives, apart from the photograph of Reyes leaving his trial which has already appeared in the Gibraltar press.’
The obituary notice hitherto mentioned reads as follows:
‘A Spanish national was executed today at Gibraltar, having been sentenced to death for offences against Regulation 23 of the Gibraltar Defence Regulations 1940:-