Security experts praise the Mail for doing a 'national service' by revealing new MI6 chief's granddad was a Nazi spy chief - before the Russians could
Security experts have praised the Mail for doing a 'national service' by disclosing that the next head of MI6 is the granddaughter of a Nazi spy chief.
Our investigation found incoming Secret Intelligence Service boss Blaise Metreweli is descended from notorious Ukrainian traitor Constantine Dobrowolski.
Known as 'Agent No 30' by Wehrmacht commanders, he had vowed revenge against the Russians after they slaughtered his family and seized his country following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
He requested to be sent to the front when Germany invaded the Soviet Union – and immediately switched sides, initially serving with an SS Panzer division in August 1941.
Then, as the Soviets moved in to 'liberate' Ukraine in 1943, Dobrowolski got safe passage from the Nazis for his wife Barbara and their two-month-old son, also named Constantine, to flee west towards Germany.
While Dobrowolski's fate is unknown, his wife and their son made it to Britain, where she married a new partner, Georgian-born David Metreweli, in Yorkshire in 1947.
Perhaps wanting to suppress their dark family history, his son took his stepfather's surname – a name which passed to his daughter, Blaise Metreweli, who from September will head up the very same intelligence service that was fighting against her grandfather in the Second World War.
The Mail unearthed hundreds of pages of documents held in Germany detailing the extraordinary – and blood-soaked – life and times of Dobrowolski that are worthy of a spy thriller.
Known as 'Agent No 30' by Wehrmacht commanders, Dobrowolski had vowed revenge against the Russians ever since they slaughtered his noble land-owning family
They detail how the Soviets put a 50,000-rouble bounty – £200,000 in today's money – on the head of the man they dubbed 'the executioner' and 'a fascist cannibal' .
Dobrowolski boasted to German commanders of 'personally' taking part 'in the extermination of the Jews'.
Professor Anthony Glees, who specialises in intelligence, said the Kremlin likely knew 'from the moment' Blaise Metreweli was appointed about her family's past.
He said: 'It is very important that the Mail told the British nation and that they did not discover it from a Russian source.
'I suspect the moment the Russian intelligence service saw the appointment that they could well have been waiting for their moment to embarrass us.
'What the Mail has done has very much been in our national security interest, and it is to be applauded.'
Giorgi Badridze, former Georgian ambassador to the UK, said: 'It was incredibly important that the story was published by the British media before Russian propaganda could run amok.'
A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesman said: 'Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather.
'Blaise's ancestry is characterised by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood.
'It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today's hostile states, as the next chief of MI6.'
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We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Adam and his team set about searching the flat for any trace of Suzanne. What they found would haunt them forever. Recalling how he could hear everything his team were saying over the radio, Damien said: "One of them opened the microwave and immediately shut the door again. "He said the flat was like something out of [horror film] Seven, blood smeared everywhere and crossbow bolts embedded in the walls. The smell was horrific - sweet and rotten. It was the smell of death.' Adam went to investigate the bathroom - which the killer had proudly dubbed 'The Slaughterhouse.' Blood was splattered over the surfaces and a charred quilt covered the remnants of a rucksack in the bathtub. Griffiths was trying to dispose of DNA evidence from Suzanne's body parts, which he'd stashed inside the bag to dump in the nearby River Aire. Adam said: "There was a sizable portion of a brain in the microwave. "And there was another portion of brain on a plate, on a coffee table in the front room, next to a pair of amputated breasts." Officers also recovered Griffiths' laptop and digital camera, which had a stash of disturbing images and footage. Shelley Armitage, a 31-year-old woman who had gone missing a month previously on April 26, 2010, was seen lying dead in his bath. She had the words 'My sex slave' carved into her chest. Griffiths had shot her with his crossbow, cut up her remains and cannibalised part of her body. 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'He had rehearsed his fantasies, studied serial killers at PhD level, and created a mythologised version of himself online. Being caught destroyed that performance and he found that intolerable. Griffiths wanted to be a serial killer. "He only just achieved that definition - three murders - before the brave Suzanne Blamires ensured he was caught when she escaped his flat and his crime was recorded on CCTV. For a man who saw himself as untouchable and the ultimate predator, this would have severely hurt his ego – as would the fact that he 'underperformed' in comparison to his serial killer idols.' After his conviction in 2010, Griffiths was handed a rare whole-life order for the murders of Susan, Shelley and Suzanne, meaning he will die behind bars without ever being released. The judge described him as 'wicked and monstrous'. He has since been linked to the murders of three other women, but has refused to cooperate with police in subsequent interviews.
