Detective-Sergeant Le Clay did not like the sound of James Sowerbutt, a
thug to use the Indian Army vernacular. A dangerous but careful thug, according
to the restricted Metropolitan Police file that Le Clay had read
from cover to cover. Apart from details of suspected, but
unproven, criminal activities and former membership of the banned Blackshirts,
the slim file contained a copy of a document issued under the Government’s recent Emergency Powers Defence Act, exempting the
said person from military call-up as required by the National Service (Armed
Forces) Act 1939. The top of the document was stamped “Unsuitable, Security Risk”. Le Clay suspected the rest of Sowerbutt’s gang had forged papers and medical exemptions to
avoid the call-up. Save a lot of trouble when the invasion came, he thought, as
they were all fascists, sympathetic towards little Adolf, and not to be trusted
to fight for Britain. The peace posters appearing across
Poplar were their work, he was sure, though one of his better contacts said the
Stepney Reds had been spotted pasting some up on a row of empty shops.
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