Alphons Louis Eugene Timmerman (1904 – 7 July 1942) (assigned the codename Scruffy by the British) was a Belgian ship's steward who became a spy for the German intelligence agency, the Abwehr, during the Second World War.
[1] He became a ship's steward and in that role visited many British ports in the inter-war years and developed a good knowledge of the English language.
[5][3][6] Timmerman was taken to the Royal Victoria Patriotic School which was run as a "reception centre" by the British security services to interview newly arrived foreign nationals.
[7][6] The British security services had been warned via an Ultra decryption of a coded German message that a Belgian seaman was en route to the UK as a spy to make detailed reports on allied shipping.
[11] The executions of Key and Timmerman were carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk, Henry William Critchell and Stephen Wade.