352 • MENEZES, ROGEIRIO DE
factorythat resulted in the arrest of five anarchists, all members of
the Autonomy Club in Windmill Street, London, which Melville had
penetrated. All five defendants were convicted, and four received 10
years’ imprisonment.
When Melville retired in November 1903 he had served in the
Metropolitan Policefor 32 years and acted as bodyguard for Queen
Victoria and for several visiting heads of state, among them the kai-
ser and the president of France. At the time, the total strength of the
Special Branch was 15 detectives.
In January 1911 Melville joinedVernon KellatMI5, which con-
sisted only of Kell, a secretary, and a clerk. By the outbreak of World
War I in August 1914 the organization had expanded to nine officers,
three civilians, four women clerks, and three detectives, including
Melville. In 1916 Melville was transferred to theMinistry of Muni-
tionsto run a Labour Intelligence branch, but the organization was
dissolved in 1917 when its tactics, of employingagents provoca-
teurs, was raised in Parliament.MENEZES, ROGEIRIO DE.A young clerk employed by the Portu-
guese embassy in London during World War II, Rogeirio de Menezes
was aSicherheitsdienst(SD) spy who was arrested byMI5. A for-
mer law student, he arrived in London in July 1942, trained insecret
writingtechniques. However, he had been identified fromisosas an
SD agent before he ever landed. Menezes was the subject of surveil-
lance and MI5 even planted some girls on him, but he made no ad-
missions. The evidence against him was obtained throughtriplex,
in letters addressed to his sister but containing information for the
enemy, but the example presented to the Portuguese ambassador,
containing details of antiaircraft batteries in Hyde Park and a report
on public morale, was removed from Menezes before it could be
placed in the diplomatic bag. Presented with the irrefutable proof,
Ambassador Monteiro stripped Menezes of his diplomatic immunity,
thereby allowing him to be arrested as he left the building in Febru-
ary 1943.
At a preliminary interrogation conducted byEdward Hinchley-
Cooke, Menezes made a partial, written confession, admitting that
he had been paid £25 a month by the Germans, and also worked for
the Italians, paid on results. He then succumbed completely later the