LONDON -- The government said Thursday it is considering whether to prosecute an 87-year-old woman who admits passing British atomic secrets to the Soviets in the 1940s, as well as four other alleged Cold War spies unmasked in a new book.
The announcement by Home Secretary Jack Straw followed protests that Melita Norwood, a lifelong member of Britain's tiny Communist Party who cheerfully acknowledges spying, is free although intelligence services knew about her activities for years.In a statement to the House of Commons, Straw said that because of Norwood's comments after being publicly identified last month "the papers in this case are currently being studied again by the prosecuting authorities."
At her suburban home, Norwood said she was "not altogether surprised" -- and not worried.
"I've brought it all on myself, the whole thing," she said. "I'll just have to lump it and see what happens. I'm not worried at the moment."
Norwood and several British academics were identified last month in the book, "The Mitrokhin Archive, and a TV series, "The Spying Game," based on thousands of documents smuggled out by KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin who fled to Britain in 1992.
Lawmakers opposed to Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party government had demanded to know why prosecutions weren't launched when Britain's MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies examined the Mitrokhin files.
Straw had said earlier that prosecutors decided it was too late or that prosecutions might have compromised security.
Norwood was a secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metal Research Association, linked to building Britain's atomic bomb. She began spying in 1937 and continued until her retirement in 1972, according to the book.
Straw said Thursday that Norwood was first vetted for access to government secrets in 1945 because of "concerns" about her, and her clearance was revoked in 1951.
"She had not in practice had authorized access to government secrets after 1949," said Straw.
In the 1960s the security services concluded that Norwood spied during the '40s, but they felt they had no "usable evidence" to prosecute, Straw added.
Straw did not immediately reveal the names of the others who might be prosecuted.
Among those also named in the book by Cambridge historian Christopher Andrew were two academics and a former Scotland Yard police officer.
One academic, Robin Pearson, who still teaches at Hull University in northern England, passed names of likely recruits to the Stasi, the East German secret police, according to the TV series.