Euro
British Pound
Product Description
The author's detailed account of how, virtually single-handed, he planned and engineered George Blake's escape from prison; of how he spirited him out of England and then to Moscow; and of how, a few weeks later he followed him to Moscow by way of Paris. It is also an account of the two extraordinary years Bourke spent in Russia until his return to Ireland on the second anniversary of the jail-break.
Seán Bourke was a Limerick man who was imprisoned ( for different causes) with superspy Blake in Wormwood Scrubs.
Sean Aloyisious Bourke (1934–1982) was a petty criminal, who became internationally famous when he sprung George Blake, a fellow inmate, from the Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1966. Blake was a notorius spy for the Soviet Union.
Sean Bourke was born in Limerick and in 1947 at the age of 12 years he was sent to Daingean Reformatory for stealing. On his release he went into the building industry and worked as an assistant to a bricklayer. Tiring of that, he emigrated to Britain in 1961 and again found himself in trouble with the law. Incidents involving police happened frequently because of his heavy drinking but when he was caught sending explosives through the post to an English bobby he faced seven years in jail.It is during this time in jail that he became friendly with George Blake, who was serving life for spying for the Soviet Union.
When Bourke was released from jail he worked on plans to spring George Blake. He smuggled a walkie-talkie into Wormwood Scrubs so he could make contact with Blake about escape plans. While the guards were distracted Blake broke a window, escped out to the yard and then climbed a rope ladder which Bourke had thrown over the prison wall. They then drove to safe hiding place until the police searches died down after which they travelled to East Germany hidden in a van.
Once in Soviet territory it was comparatively easy to get to Moscow where both Bouke and Blake were treated royally, given accommodation and a pension. Bourke did not like the Soviet Union with it bureaucratic institutions and society so after a couple of years he returned to Ireland. George Blake lived in Moscow until his death and had a dacha in the country.
On his return to Ireland, Sean Bourke faced an extradition charge from the United kingdom authorities but the Irish Supreme Court rejected the application on the grounds that the jail-break was a political offence and therefore exempted from extradition law. During this time he wrote an account of the jail-break – The Springing of George Blake which was a best seller. The proceeds from the book were soon spent as alcohol had taken over a lot of his life. He ended up penniless, living in a caravan in Kilkee.
Sean Bouke moved to Kilkee in 1981 and lived in a caravan in Percy French Estate. He said he was writing a book as a follow up to his original, titled The Scrubbers. This book would detail his life in Moscow and his conversation with George Blake. He was regularly seen with typewriter on the sea front in Kilkee, in fine weather. At this time his uncle ”Feathery’ Bourke died in Limerick. Feathery was well-know scrap-dealer and miser who lived in apalling conditions in his house in the centre of the city. He had quite a bit of property in the city and when his nephew Sean was on the ‘dry’ he used to help collect the rents. On his death Feathery left everything he owned to Sean. Because of the convoluted nature of the estate and because there are a number of other relations, taking out probate took years and Sean used to complain loudly that his solicitors got more out of it than he did. In 1983 while out on his regular walk around Kilkee he collapsed and died. His caravan was mysteriously broken into after his death and the manuscript vanished.
