Haw Haw

To London's Chief Magistrate, Sir Bertrand Watson, it was Case No. 24 on his Bow Street Police Court docket. To Britons it was the first step in bringing to justice Britain's No. i traitor, William ("Lord Haw Haw of Hamburg") Joyce, 39. For the purpose, a British statute nearly six centuries old was dusted off. Joyce, charged the Court, "adhered to the King's enemies elsewhere than in the King's realm, to wit, in the German realm contrary to the Treason Act of 1351."

With his shaved head showing only grey fuzz, his scarred face pale, Joyce stood stiffly erect in the dock, murmured: "I have heard the charge and take cognizance of it." He was also cognizant that the penalty for treason is death. Joyce had been poorly paid by the Nazis for his treasonable broadcasts, was now penniless. Under the Poor Prisoners' Defence Act, he was certified as entitled to free defense counsel. Then he was whisked to Brixton Prison in a Black Maria. On arrival, he had said: "So this is Brixton." "Yes," snapped his guard, "not Belsen."

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