'Granny spy rated higher than Philby': Woman who worked as clerk for firm involved in building British atomic bomb was considered more important than infamous traitor

Melita Norwood was one of the KGB’s most prized spies

She stole secrets for decades before she was unmasked at the age of 87

Became known as ‘the spy who came in from the Co-Op’



Lived a seemingly quiet life in Bexleyheath, south east London



She was a diminutive grandmother who lived in an ordinary house in south east London and spent most of her time tending to her roses in her garden.

But Melita Norwood was one of the KGB’s most prized spies and stole secrets for decades before she was unmasked at the age of 87.

She became known as ‘the spy who came in from the Co-Op’ and the ‘granny spy’ as details of her treachery became known around the world.

Melita Norwood was one of the KGB¿s most prized spies and stole secrets for decades before she was unmasked at the age of 87

The most extraordinary spy to be unmasked by the Mitrokin files, she had lived a seemingly quiet and uneventful life in Bexleyheath, south east London.

Perhaps the only indicator of her former life was the fact that she sipped tea from a Che Guevara mug and read copies of the communist paper the Morning Star.



Yet the files show that the KGB considered her to be one of their most important assets – prizing her above Kim Philby, who was one of the Cambridge Five spies.



Codenamed ‘Hola’, Norwood and was the most important female agent ever recruited by the Soviet Union while she was a clerk at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in London.

The company carried out metallurgy research which was useful for Russian armament manufacture but, crucially, was also involved in the building of Britain’s atomic bomb, codenamed Tube Alloys.

Four members of the 'Cambridge Five': Top left, Anthony Blunt, Donald Duart Maclean, Kim Philby and Guy Burgess

Professor Andrew made Norwood’s name public after he was allowed access to the Mitrokhin files and the world’s Press descended on her doorstep.

The Archive details how Norwood, whose father was Latvian, was recruited in 1937 on an ‘ideological basis’ following a tip from the leadership of the British Communist Party.

The files describe her as ‘a loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent, sought to bring maximum benefit.



Passed on very large number of scientific and technical documentary materials that are practically applied in Soviet industry.’

The files reveal that she was awarded the Order Of The Red Banner Of Labour for her service to Soviet Union intelligence and a lifetime pension in recognition of her ‘many years of excellent work’.

Professor Andrew said that the archive suggested that while the KGB was initially sceptical about Philby, they were keen to recruit Norwood.

‘At that time, security agencies were somewhat chauvinistic, so to prefer a woman to Philby at that time, shows just how important she was to them,’ she said.

‘It is unlikely she realised the significance of much of what she was passing on - to a non-expert and stripped of its context, it would have seemed relatively mundane.

‘But there is no doubt from these documents that the information she passed on was extremely useful to the KGB.’