His mother died in the torpedoing and sinking of the British ocean liner SS City of Benares in September 1940, along with 257 others including 81 children.
Following the end of the war, Hesketh was sent to Germany, alongside his brother, to search through the files of German intelligence, and question officers.
Sefton Delmer's 1971 book, The Counterfeit Spy, appeared to be copied from Hesketh's earlier unpublished report.
[6] Hesketh's report was eventually published posthumously in 1999, with a foreword by "Nigel West" (the pseudonym of Rupert Allason).
[8] In 1970, he was appointed Officer (Civil Division) of the Order of the British Empire, at the time he was chairman of the Lancashire Agricultural Executive Committee.