Josef Jakobs; the last person to be executed at the Tower of London, for commiting treachery, WWII

The Charge

Josef Jakobs was charged with "Committing treachery in that you at Ramsay in Huntingdonshire on the night of 31 January 1941/1 February 1941 descended by parachute with intent to help the enemy."
Josef Jakobs pleaded not guilty to the charge.
As the trial was held during the war, the entire trial was conducted in camera.
the rifle range that Jakobs and spies from the first world war were shot in.
He is buried in Section G 1734 grave
Josef Jakobs, a German spy, was executed. It is thought that Jakobs was shot as he was an NCO in the German Army. All other spies captured during World War 2 were hanged at either Pentonville or Wandsworth prisons in London.


Josef Jakobs

http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/treachery.htm This section deals with people who spied for Germany during the Second World War, and were convicted and subsequently executed under the Treachery Act 1940, for their activities.

 

Josef's MI5 files were declassified in 1999 and are available at the National Archives in Kew. I'm Josef's granddaughter and I've been researching his life for over 30 years. I've got a blog in which I cover different aspects of his life and short-lived espionage career in more detail (including the Tower's Rifle Range). Ipublished a book this year with The History Press that tells the story of how a German dentist came to be the last person executed at the Tower of London. It's available on Amazon in the UK. A fascinating story that also sheds some light on the process by which the other spies were tried and executed.