Dambuster?s records stolen by historian | News | The Times & The Sunday Times
A military historian has been found guilty of stealing a log book from the widow of an RAF airman who was in the Dambusters squadron. Alexander Bateman, 48, was convicted of theft at Wood Green crown court in London yesterday. Flight Sergeant John Fraser’s log book has never been found and Bateman has refused to tell police what happened to it.
Scotland Yard said Bateman contacted Doris Fraser in 1996 as part of his research into the Dambusters. She sent him the log book to assist with his work. Several years later Bateman also contacted her daughter, Shere Lowe. After learning he had the log book, she asked for it to be returned in January 2003, but an envelope arrived that had been carefully cut open at the bottom. A piece of card and a letter from Bateman were found stapled to the inside of the envelope but there was no log book. He initially claimed that it must have been lost but then said that he had recovered it from the Post Office.
Police said that his story then changed again and he told the family that he had been given the log book as a gift. He later produced a Christmas card with had a note written inside apparently confirming his story. Handwriting experts concluded that the card was almost certainly not written by Mrs Fraser. He then reported a burglary at his address in June 2003 and claimed intruders had stolen the log book, but the investigation at the time did not identify any suspects or forensic leads.
Bateman, of Headstone Lane, Harrow, will be sentenced on February 3.