Peter Dorschel

Peter Dorschel was an East German spy convicted in Scotland in June 1967 of offences contrary to the Official Secrets Act, involving the sale of information to the USSR.

They proposed to provide finances enabling Dorschel to acquire a small hotel in Dunoon, Scotland, by use of which he would be able to obtain information from local US service personnel regarding fleet movements and facilities at their Polaris nuclear submarine base at the Holy Loch.

[3][4] Then aged 26, he was accused of inciting another man, William Alexander MacAffer (sometimes spelled McAffer), "to obtain documents which might be or were intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State.

Another who was involved in the conspiracy was Garry Lee Ledbetter,[7] a US Navy shipfitter from Dexter, Missouri, US[1] who was stationed on USS Simon Lake, the submarine tender serving the Polaris fleet at Holy Loch.

[7] With Nicholas Fairbairn acting in his defence at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, Dorschel was sentenced on 23 June to seven years' imprisonment.

[2] Having heard the prosecutor describe Dorschel as a probably a "little fish" and amateurish, the sentencing judge recorded that This case, I am satisfied, is by no means as serious as some which have happened in recent years [in England].

One instance giving rise to this was a statement regarding Dorschel's naivety: he had been asked to supply photographs of Hythe and Poole to his spymasters and had instead sent picture postcards.

[13] MacAffer faced further charges in October 1967, relating to alleged avoidance of customs duty and illegal off-course bookmaking that had been discovered in May.