- Contributed by听
- Isle of Wight Libraries
- People in story:听
- Margaret Whitaker; Leonard Munday; Dorothy O鈥橤rady
- Location of story:听
- Nodes Fort, Culver, Sandown, Isle of Wight
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A8002081
- Contributed on:听
- 23 December 2005
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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bernie Hawkins and has been added to the website on behalf of Margaret Whitaker with her permission and she fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.
Very early in the War, my husband-to-be, Leonard Munday, and his friend were stationed in Nodes Fort on the Isle of Wight (now a holiday camp), and as musicians went to Culver Cliff to practice with their band. They were travelling with their bike to the Barracks at the top of Culver to join fellow musicians when they heard a plane circling overhead and saw a light flashing on and off in Lake, near Sandown. This they reported and it turned out that a southern Irish woman, Dorothy O鈥橤rady was being watched by the military as she was frequently found at the foot of Culver (a banned area), saying her dog had strayed. Eventually she was detained and sentenced to death at Winchester under the Treachery Act. Here sentence was later commuted to 14 years, which she served.
It was argued in some areas that she was not a spy, just silly, but it has since been proved that she was one of three such people on the south coast, and that after all the Court and Lord Chief Justice knew the truth at Winchester.
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