COLONEL JAMES JtllHNSTON eBE, TD.FORMER COMMAN~ING eFFICER, 21sT

The

Not far from Gloucester Road tube station, at number11 Courtfield Mews, SW5, is the organising office of anundercover mercenary recruiting organisation called KMS.To its doors have come all but one of the people picturedon our cover-most of them past or present associates ofthe British Army s elite Special Air Service. For more than

PedigreeDogs Of War

Col David Stirling founded the SASduring World War 2 and continuedhis practice of setting up privatearmies for another thirty years. Hislast venture was GB75, a strike break­ing force planned in 1974. After thecollapse of GB75, he set up Truemid(Movement for True IndustrialDemocracy), a direct attempt at politicalintervention in trades unions.

Few people have heard of KMS Ltd.Fewer still know what the name means.But to soldiers and officers in eliteBritish Army regiments-like the 22ndSpecial Air Service (SAS) Regiment,based at Hereford-the company andthe individuals involved are well knownas a recruiting office. To men about toleave the army, or those still in who areenticed to leave by lucrative mercenary'contracts', KMS is wryly known as '24SAS'. There are only three official SASregiments, the 21st and 23rd beingvolunteer regiments. '24' SAS is thehighly organised network for theemployment of former SAS members-anetwork that many in the SAS itselffear is transforming the regiment into atraining ground for other people'sprivate armies.

The commanders of 24 SAS-the key

figures in KMS-are themselves formerSAS commanding officers, Brigadier WM Wingate Gray and Colonel H JJohnson (no relation to Colonel Hugh AJohnstone, identified as 'Colonel B').Mike Wingate Gray commanded theofficial 22nd SAS regiment from 1964.to 1967. Jim Johnson was the comman­der of the 2lst SAS regiment from 1960to 1962.

KMS stands for Keeni-Meeni Serviceswe have been told. Keeni-Meeni is southArabian slang, meaning 'under thecounter' or suchlike. The phrase has alsobeen used as a codeword for the SASoperations in south Arabia. At SAS HQin Hereford, they have another name forundercover operations in the desert­- 'bucket and spade jobs'.

KMS Ltd is registered in Jersey,where taxation is less burdensome, andliberal companies legislation does notrequire the public disclosure of thenames of directors or other companyofficials. From two independent sourcesin official organisations closely monitor­ing the mercenary trade, however, TimeOut has obtained lists of those who have

a decade, these and similar people have been involved in aprivate army service, supplying bodyguards, troops andinvasion parties to despotic rulers and other wealthy in­terests. Freelance writer Duncan Campbell has documentedthe operations of the mercenary marketplace which KMSrepresents-for 15 years, over four continents.

been identified as the key figures ofKMS. They are:

Brigadier MikeWingate Gray,Colonel Jim Johnson,Major David J Walker,Major Andrew MNightingale.Major Walker, to whom we spoke

last week, denied that he or the otherthree ex-SAS officers were directors,shareholders, or employees of KMS.But Time Out has obtained considerableevidence that all four are intimatelyconnected with KMS.

Time Out has photographed Johnson,Wingate Gray and other identified andas-yet unidentified ex-SAS men visitingthe Courtfield Mews office. Johnson,Wingate Gray and Walker are eachregular attenders, and park their cars inthe mews garage. Courtfield Mews resi­dents have also-observed sporadic visitsby groups of up to half a dozen youngmen (such as the two on our cover).These include ex-SAS troopers, andtheir apparent purpose is briefing or de­briefing sessions before or after jobs.

We have also received, deliveredanonymously, a bundle of letters

Brigadier Mike WingateGray, former SAS com­mander and Paris defenceattache, humps life­jackets and sea anchorsfrom his car into KMS'office.

Col Henry James Johnson, OBE, TD,Insurance Broker turned private armyorganiser.addressed to various individuals in theKMS organisation. These include officialletters to Andrew Nightingale concern­ing his government service, and otherletters to Wingate Gray and Johnson atKMS's Courtfield Mews office. Thecorrespondence-which has now beenreturned to its authors-makes clear thecontinuing semi-official contacts of theKMSnetwork.

Major Andrew Nightingale originallyjoined the Intelligence Corps as a sub­altern, and was identified last yearduring an illicit arms deal trial as secondin command of the SAS Group Intelli­gence unit at the Duke of YorkBarracks, beside Sloane Square. Lastweek, an associate of Nightingale's atthe Duke of York's, Mr Dodkin, con­firmed that he had worked there somemonths before. The Ministry of De­fence say that he has left the Army'in the last three months'. They refuseto specify the exact date.

The apparent involvement of servingand recently serving officers of the SASand the Special Branch in the mercen­ary trade is an alarming feature of theevidence gathered during our enquiry.The case of KMS appears to breach therule that overt public servants shouldkeep at least at arms length from those

TIME OUT 7

they are observing. Here, such armslength official observation has theappearance of a tight embrace. Night­ingale, at least, appears to have been incontact with KMS before he officiallyleft the army.

The InsuranceCoverJim Johnson is an extremely wealthyman-an insurance broker by profession,he is a Lloyd's 'Name'. The Names ofLloyds are a 14,000 strong corps whoprovide the basic capital to finance theenormous London insurance market.The minimum entry stake to be a Nameis now £75,000.

A director of a city insurance firmThomas Nelson (Insurance) Ltd,Johnson has freely used his company'sname to provide 'cover' for themercenary activities. When he startedrenting 11 Courtfield Mews in May1975, he told the owners, WaldronEstates, that he wanted a flat. But hehad then, and has now, a permanenthome at 13 Sloane Avenue, oneminute's walk from the SAS group HQ.

KMS Ltd was originally registered inJersey as 'Executives International Ltd'during June 1977. Two months later,the name was changed to KMS. Theshareholders of KMS are all apparentlyemployed by Morgan Grenfell(Jersey) Ltd, a finance house which alsoprovides KMS's registered office addressat 12 Dumaresq Street, St Helier. Theuse of such nominee shareholders is astandard technique for concealing theidentity of a company's true owners.

When Kensington and ChelseaCouncil and the owners investigated theuse of Courtfield Mews, Johnson wrotefrom the city office of Thomas Nelson(Insurance) Ltd claiming that it wasused by the firm. The telephone line at11 Courtfield Mews-number 370 3942is also, according to Post Office

records, registered in their name. So tooare two saloon cars used for KMS oper­ations in London, a 3000 cc silver FordGranada GL often driven by Johnson,and a 1600 cc blue Ford Capri GLsometimes used by Nightingale. Accord­ing to the Vehicle Licence centre atSwansea, both these vehicles areregistered for 'private' use by ThomasNelson (Insurance) Ltd, of MarinerHouse, Pepys Street, EC3.

TheCafe SocietyGangstersFor 15 years, Jim Johnson has been atthe centre of mercenary recruitmentoperations. Ironically, but perhaps notuntypically, it is doubtful whether hehas ever heard a shot fired in anger. Hejoined the Welsh guards at the very endof the Second World War, in time to bedemobbed and join the SAS territorialreserve then being formed. Johnson suc­cessfully rose through the territorialranks to become in 1960, commanderof the 2lst SAS (volunteers), a reserveregiment based at the Duke of York'sbarracks.

The Service was itself the wartimebrainchild of a Scots laird named DavidStirling, who had been asked to leavethe Scots Guards before the War. He

Courtfield Mews, SWS, the 1976-1978 operations base of the ex-SAS mercenary network. Where next? Inset: Fiona Fraser(left) and two ex-SAS troopers (right) arrive at No 11 (arrowed).

was accepted back at its start and estab­lished the 'Special Air Service' as a free­lance raiding force. Its activities, oftenrash, spectacular, and even heroic, wereresented by those in equally dangeroussituations in the ordinary front line ofbattle. Although a number of authorshave described the wartime SAS as"cafe society gangsters' the myth of anelite corps was born. It thrives todayas the SAS mystique is extended to theproblems of combatting terrorism.

The disturbing successors to these'heroes' are a group of semi-employedex-soldiers, vigorously trained in the tra­dition of the Service to interrogate,sabotage, and silently kill. Such a poolof military talent is fostered and milkedby recruiters like Johnson, who are ableto offer lucrative pay packets--£300 aweek has recently been mentioned as atypical figure for work in Arabia.

The photographs on our coverfeature former SAS officers involvedwith KMS. One is Major Russell West,ex-SAS squadron commander and onetime managing director of Thor SecuritySystems Ltd. Last July, the SundayTimes reported that Thor was offeringfor sale, in confidential brochures sentto overseas clients, secret details ofsecurity equipment. 'Most of this infor­mation is classified but can be availableto Thor Security Systems for suitablegovernment or civilian design contracts,'the firm's brochure stated.

BodyguardsAnonymousMajor David John Walker, an SASreservist living in Twickenham, left thearmy in October 1974 to join a newcompany, Control Risks Ltd. Walkerwas a director from 1974 to July 1977,when KMS became established.

The activities of Control Risks Ltdwere well known to ex-soldiers lookingfor employment. According to recruit­er John Banks, Walker ran an organis­ation called HRS- 'it is semi-official and

recruiter, John Banks, as the 'man youalways meet first' in the Special Branchif you are organising mercenaryactivities. In a sworn statement present·ed in court last year Banks describedhow his three year contact with the

is used for body-guard work for peoplelike (Sheikh) Yamani. They have apermanent contract with Argentina. Thegovernment pass money to HRS.'

The contract with Sheikh ZakiYamani-the powerful oil minister ofSaudi Arabia-is confirmed by items ofKMS correspondence addressed to HisExcellency, and seen by Time Out.

The Argentinian 'contract' is oneamong many contacts with SouthAmerican governments and business­men made by Walker. The ForeignOffice have confirmed that MajorWalker was posted 'on temporary duty'to British embassies in Chile, Argentina,Brazil and Colombia.

Two months ago, an article on thefront page of the Times announced anew company-Saladin Security Ltd­said to be specialising in 'kidnap andrans_o!11p~o~ection. From offices in the John Banks, notorious Angolan mer­familia~ terntory of Sloane Street, SWl, cenary recruiter.they will take over the overt bodyguard ---'-------------1services provided by KMS to middleEastern rulers and businessmen.Security industry sources say thatDetective Chief Inspector Ray Tuckerof the Special Branch is involved withthe new Saladin business.

Tucker refused to comment on theseand other allegations. 'You don't ask apolice officer that sort of question,' hesaid last week. But it is well known thatT~c~er is a sp~cialist on Arab aff~irs TheWarlordswithin the Special Branch, charged withthe onerous task of investigating and r Th~ SAS Officer co~ps cont~ns threemonitoring the growing tide of inter- main castes of British society: thenecine Arab violence in London. He English aristocracy and its traditionalwould also advise visiting Arabs on involvement with cavalry and guardssecurity services. regiments; the professional home

Scotland Yard admitted last week counties upper middle class, strong inthat Tucker was 'aware of KMS and 2lst SAS and typified by Jim Johnson;Saladin Security. But they added that and Scottish lairds like David Stirling,Tucker's 'official duties do not involve with a strongly rooted tradition ofhim with KMS Ltd or Saladin Security private clan armies.Ltd'. The latter caste is well represented in

Secretaries at both companies, KMS. Jim Johnson's principal assistanthowever, appeared to be very familiar in KMS, and a 'daily attender at Court­with Tucker. field Mews, is the Hon Fiona Fraser,_Detective Inspector Tucker was daughter of Lord Lovat. Lovat helped

described by the Angolan mercenary establish the Commandos during the last

then Detective Inspector Tucker hadenabled him to get his Angola-boundmercenaries through Heathrow airportwithout their passports. This statementwas never denied-nor has there beenany official investigation into Tucker'salleged role in allowing the mercen­aries (many of them wanted in court)to pass unhindered.

B TIMEOUT 21-27JULY 1978

war, and his family are strongly con·nected with the SAS.

The Honourable Fiona has beenworking with Johnson for 15 years. In1963, David Stirling recruited Johnsonto organise a mercenary force forYemen. One retired ex-SAS officerrecently recalled Johnson and Fraser'sabsurdly melodramatic method of re·cruiting: they had parked round thecorner from the target officer's house,and then hailed him from their car asthey drove slowly beside him as he left.Fiona continued to run the Londonoffice of the Yemeni royalists duringthe war. Fifteen years later, she is stillJohnson's right hand person.

MikeWingate Gray also springs fromthe Scottish caste. After service in theprestigious Black Watch regiment, hewas sent in the early '60s to a Ministryof Defence job concerned with officer'spostings. His ambition was to commandthe BlackWatch; but the job was clearlynevergoing to be his. He was posted tothe 22nd SAS at Hereford as second-in·command, and commanding officerdesignate. Officers then with the SASregard him as something of a usurperwho selected the SAS as his secondchoice since the Black Watch was un­available.

Wingate Gray is now a director ofSolaris Marine Ltd, a Southamptonbased shipyard largely owned byLichtenstein nominees.

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TheMercenarySuccessionJohnson's recruiting for the Yemen wardid not escapeofficial attention. One ofthe officers who left the SAS to fight inYemenhad been his adjutant in the 21stSAS at Chelsea. The next adjutant,Captain Arish Turle, has also now leftthe Army to work for Control RisksLtd, with another ex-SAS colleague,Captain Simon Adams-Dale. In July1967, Captain Richard Pirie-describedby SAS colleagues as 'as straight as adie' took over the adjutant's job. Withina fewweeks, Pirie hit the headlines in aSunday newspaper. His office at theDuke of York's barracks was he said'used as a clearing ground for rnercen­aries'. He passed 'names and militaryrecords to a man at a secret address.''The mercenaries usually heard some·thing in a week or two,' he said. 'Mostof the recent volunteers have asked tofight for the Royalists in the Yemen.'

The Ministry of Defence denied thatthe recruitment was official. But thedescription of a secret organisationrecruiting mercenaries for the Yemen aswell as 'underdeveloped countries in theMiddle East and Africa' closely resem­bles the now well known mercenaryforces which were organised by JimJohnson and David Stirling.

Pirie was ordered to write a reportfor his commanding officer, and nomore was heard of the affair. In 1973,Pirie was reported killed in a car acci­dent during SAS 'escape and evasion'exercises in France.

As the Yemen war tailed off, DavidStirling set up a new organisation whichsoon became recognised as the mostprestigious private military organisationperhaps ever created-Watchguard(International) Ltd. Registered in

Guernsey, the company's Sloane Streetoffices included an operations centre forStirling's military exploits. like KMS,Watchguard's Channel Islands regis­tration concealed the names of its direc­tors. But it closely paralleled a Britishregistered company, Kulinda SecurityLtd. The original directors of Kulindawere Colonel John Woodhouse, aformer commanding officer of the 22ndSAS, Stirling, and Viscount Lumley(now the Earl of Scarborough).

Woodhouse and Lumley have bothleft, and the company was dissolved in1976. Other ex-SAS officers, includingCaptain Johnny McKay-Lewis andCaptain the Lord Beresford joinedStirling as directors during the 1970s.

Watchguard was ostensibly designedto supply private bodyguards to over·seas heads of state in Africa and theMiddle East. But, as with KMS, this wasthe 'cover' beneath which was hiddenmore explicit military operations.Watchguard's brochure offered 'Military

Security and Surveys, Head of StateSecurity, and Special Forces'. Thespecial forces, the brochure claimed,would train others to 'combat in·surgency and guerilla warfare'.

Watchguard's cover was effectivelyblown by the Sunday Times, which pub·lished in 1970 a proposal from Stirlingto King Feisal offering a 'Task Force' toinvade the Yemen and undermine itsgovernment. The force was offered tocarry out 'destruction on a massive scale

. using relatively sophisticatedsabotage techniques' on major Yemeniroads. Stirling boasted that he had'access to the Special Air Service Regi­ment of the British Army'.

Indeed he did. Stirling's 'Director ofOperations', mentioned in the literature,was a former SAS Commanding Officer,Colonel John Woodhouse.

A few months after this expose, how·ever, Stirling was once -again organisinginvasion parties. The target now was theyoung Colonel Gaddafi, the new ruler of

A more comprehensive reference tomilitary trading is made in a letter to JimJohnson from another ex·SASofficer, BrianKilty. Kilty was recruited by KMSfrom theSAS about two years ago, and left them towork for military manufacturers Saunders·Rowe early in 1978. His letter refers to anoperation called 'Taxi·Rank' in Saudi Arabia.We were unfortunately unable to obtainfurther details of the mysterious 'Taxi-Rank'.

The letter from Brian Kilty mentionsothers in the wealthy and dangerous militarytapestry of the Middle East. NevilleThomaswasan arms dealer livingin Beirut; on April 4,1978, according to the ForeignOffice, he andhis wife were shot dead. Kitty's remarkabout the 'Lads' in Beirut may refer toex-SAS mercenaries known to be with theChristians in the protracted Lebanese con·flict.

Douglas Bruce-Merrie, referred to inKitty's letter, is a 'local Lt-Col' in the 1976Army list, and is reportedly posted as an MoDadviser to the Saudi Arabian national guard­evidently a not over-arduous task. Kilty signshis letter 'Yours aye'-a quasi-masonicrecog­niticn sign of the SAS stemming from the

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Libya. Wealthy businessmen exiled byGaddafi's coup wanted to hire a militaryforce to restore the deposed and some·what corrupt monarchy. Stirling agreed,and set about planning 'The HiltonAssignment' from a specially rented flatin Montpelier Street, SW7, and anotheropposite Harrods. An SAS Major,John Brooke-Miller, had left the armyto help with the operation, and otherex-SAS officers joined Stirling's group.They planned a sudden raid on theTripoli prison, freeing 150 of Gaddafi'spolitical prisoners, and sparking off anuprising.

The Hilton Assignment neverhappened. Stirling and his colleagueswere just too much a part of the Britishestablishment for international observersto accept-if anything went wrong-thatthe operation was genuinely private. Forthe first time, it seems, the BritishSecret Service decided that Stirling'smilitary escapades were outliving theirusefulness. Under heavy British and

strong contingent of Scottish gentry amongits founding fathers.

An invoice from a Hereford sports shopfor 20 pairs of 'PunchballMits,Small'may beconnected with the need to help keep their'teams' fighting fit. Other papers sent to TimeOut deal with official payments to MajorAndrew Nightingale, and the pension taxreturns of other ex-SASofficers.

Another letter delivered to Time Out wassent' to Wingate Gray by Steve Callan, asergeant in the SAS' Operations ResearchSection at their Hereford base. Callan's namefeatured in the January 1977 honours listwhen he was awarded the REM.Callan'sletterfrom a sergeant to a Brigadier and former

regiment commander-makes clear thatWingate Grays's '24 SAS' is not an officialforce. Describing a radio transmitter alarmsystem being built into a watch by a Britishcompany, he writes 'obviously I can only passon information of a straight commercialnature as our interest in and intended use ofthis device are of a sensitive nature'. lnrecommending the device, he adds 'I do notwish to cast doubt on the effectiveness ofyour teams'.

)I

Supplies for the troops: 'Punchball Mitts, Small', 'Rifle Cleaning Parts'; clandestineletters from Oman- 'we will be ready to start on time 29 April'; and to thepaymaster, Sheikh Yamani.

MilitaryDispatches

- Saunders-RoeSRDL Developments Limited

Letter from ex-SAS officer Brian Kiltyto his former KMS boss Jim Johnson:'I hope you and all at KMS are well'.An assortment of letters apparently originallysent to KMSwas delivered recently for TimeOut. They provide an intriguing insight intomilitarywheelingsand dealingsin Arabia.

The letters include references to shipmentsof 'two cartons of rifle cleaning parts' to'Project Services' an agency in Muscat, thecapital of the strife-tom state of Oman. Theshipping agency, Trandex, confirmed that thefreight sent to Oman for KMSwas collectedfrom Courtfleld Mews.A letter back to 'DearFiona' from Willy Wilson of 'Lawrence ofMuscat' is written in the style of simplemilitary operations code.

The letter, addressed to Fiona Fraser, says'Many thanks your letter, also item No 15 byhand of Ben Casey •.. We managed to getBenCaseyplus the radios in with no problemsat all, very smooth it was too'. A formersenior Arrnv officer to whom we showed theletters said; 'This is not an innocent letter­communicating like this is one of the firstthings you are taught.' Certainly, BenCasey ismore likely to be a code name than a TV starphysician.

The letter continues, referring to 'itemsfour and five', an adds: 'Yes, over the periodof three years the I0 sheets each of ColouredCard will most certainly be used, but. if theSSF request some urgently I will send somedown'. 'Coloured Card' is clearly a code wordfor military supplies; SSF stands for theSultan (of Oman)'s Special Forces, one ofseveralgroups of ex-SASofficers surroundingthe Sultan and catered for by KMS.

TIMEOUT 9

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American diplomatic pressure, the oper­ation was abandoned. An attempt to useFrench mercenaries instead was success­fully headed off.

Last week, David Stirling told us 'Istopped all that sort of stuff five yearsago.' There is no reason to disbelievethis remark; indeed it seems that othershave taken over his mantle as thegrandee of British private soldiery.

There are, for instance, traces of JimJohnson's continuing involvement in ex­SAS recruitment in the RegimentalMagazine, Mars and Minerva. In theissue of December 1972, a short notelisted employment with private com­panies available to soldiers leaving theSAS. Those desiring a transport job­with 'a gratifying SAS element'-wereasked to contact Major Stuart Perry, adirector of Jarvale Ltd. Major Perry'sthen co-directors at Jarvale includeColonel Jim Johnson, and the companyshares the same city office suite as hisinsurance broking firm.

The Jarvale Ltd ad is oddly remi­niscent of a similar advertisement placedin the Regimental Orders of 2lst SASby ex-trooper Philip Carte, for 'MiddleEast long distance drivers'. According tothe June 1973 edition of Mars andMinerva, many who read the order tookthe ad as an 'intro to clandestine ops

Johnson'sSecret WarIn a series of Daily Telegraph articles inFebruary 1970, the Yemen mercenary 'forceleader, Colonel James Johnson' described howhe had recruited ex-SAS officers to fightagainst the republican regime in the Yemen.The conservative Islamic regime of the Imamof Yemen had ended suddenly with his deathin 1962. Egypt poured in financial andmilitary support to a new republican regime,eventually including tanks and thousands ofmen.

A Conservative MP with close SAS links,Neil Maclean, made several trips to the Royal·ist forces which were holding the mountain­ous regions of Yemen. With the assistance ofDavid Stirling and the 'cover' of his corn·mercial television company, Television Inter­national Enterprises Ltd, Johnson and othersrecruited a force of French and Britishmercenaries.

Maclean soon visited the Yemen againwith Colonel David Smiley, who had been inoverall charge of SAS operations in Omanduring a guerilla struggle in the late 1950s,which flared up again in 1965. Johnson, whoretired from his job as a Lloyd's broker andhis command of 21 SAS. ran the Londonrecruiting office, while Smiley eventuallybecame the field commander. A group of sixex-SAS officers, some recruited direct fromthe serving regiment, flew initially to Yemenvia the British base in Aden.

Early in 1964, the Sunday Times publish·ed documents captured by the Egyptianswhich revealed the use of Stirling's SloaneStreet offices for military organisation-andthe involvement of a young RAF officer,Flight Lieutenant Anthony Boyle. Boyle had,it seemed, been seconded for the job by SIS,the secret service. It was entirely unclearwhether he was intended to assist or toprovide an official eye to monitor Johnson'sactivities.

Up to 100 British and French mcrcei::•rieshad been involved in the war. During it John­son became acquainted with well knownFrench mercenary recruiters, Bob Denard andRoger Falques, both of whom ran separateparts of the Ycmen operation. The Frenchmercenaries, whose origins as an internationalforce had been in Katanga and the Congo,were for the most part brutal men, often fromthe OAS-the right wing French army groupwhich had planned to assassinate De Gaulle.

TheLegacyOfTerrorBut although Johnson and his colleaguesmay now have superseded Stirling as themain mercenary entrepreneur, thehistory of Stirling's Watchguardmachine continues to haunt internation­al soldiers of fortune. like the previousKatanga mercenary 'commandos', theWatchguard operators and their opera·tions were to leave scars on intemation­al affairs for at least a decade.

Among Watchguard's employeeswere, at one time or another, JohnBanks, Sgt 'Darkie' Davidson, and ChrisDempster. Banks, now notorious as theAngola recruiter, was dishonourably dis­charged from the Parachute Regiment,and claims to have been hired byStirling for the 'Hilton Assignment'.'Darkie' Davidson is a 22nd SAS veteranof Malaya and Oman. Dempster isanother ex-SAS trooper, now, accordingto colleagues a member of its 'R' squad­ron. R Squadron is groups of volunteersattached to the regular SAS regiment.

Last November, Davidson was a keyfigure in organising an assassinationattempt against the President of the

Falques is reputedly one of the most brutaltorturers to serve in the French forces.Denaro has recently been involved in severalmercenary operations in the Indian Ocean. Afew months ago he and 50 men invaded thetiny Comoros Islands, near Madagascar, andinstalled Denard as temporary 'President', TheSeychelles government fear they may be hisnext target, and have appealed for inter·national help. Denard and his men alsoappeared in Biafra, and again in Angola on alucrative CIA payroll, fighting for the FNLA.

Johnson and Smiley made frequent tripsto Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to see the Saudiprinces and ministers who were financing themercenaries. Smiley later described theYemen war in his book 'Arabian Assignment'.The mercenaries did well financially and wereworth their pay, he wrote, 'but one fairlysenior officer, in particular, was strictly onthe make'. Colonel Johnson neverwent near the battle area itself. His statuswith the mercenaries sunk considerably lowerafter three British and two French men werekilled in the closing stages of the campaign in1967. All were married, with children, andJohnson had to be forced to pay compensation.

But the Yemen war paid off handsomelyfor Johnson: to the tune of an estimated£250,000. The Saudi defence minister, PrinceSultan had partially financed it by sendinggold bullion to Johnson in London. Formercolleagues recall absurd moments when theLondon office became almost penniless,whilst a stock of Saudi gold bullion stoodaround waiting to be converted.

At one stage, an astonishing secret alliancebetween Israel and Saudi Arabia was used tosolve the perennial problem of parachutingsupplies to the entrenched Royalist forces.The supply planes took off from Israel(known by the code name 'Mango') and flewsecretly across Saudi Arabia to the Yemen.Johnson, in the Daily Telegrap'i 'exclusive',was at pains to describe this route as a 'cover'story given to the mercenaries in Yemen.

The secret Ycmen war and the Israeliairdrops were, however, frequent topics ofdiscussion amongst ex-SAS officers inLondon. One group met regularly to dis­cuss SAS policy at Thursday lunches at theHyde Park Hotel, where former SAS COColBrian Franks had a private suite. Membersofthis group recall Johnson's boasts aboutthe secret Israeli arrangements.

The advantage to Israel was clear. Whenthe Six Day War with Egypt eventuallycame, many of their troops and tanks werestill pinned down in the Yemen.

West African state of Togo. He wasobserved recruiting several times in theHereford area. This (ultimately un­successful) venture also included anassociate of John Banks, DavidTompkins, in its organisation. Dempsterwas among the youthful shambles of amercenary army that John Banks dis­patched to Angola.

When John Banks set up his SecurityAdvisory Services (SAS!) recruitingorganisation above a laundrette inCamberley, he issued a brochure whichwas probably a better description ofWatchguard than of his own organis­ation. In a recently published accountof his mercenary career, 'The Wages ofWar', Banks mentions how he and hiscolleagues referred to Watchguard as'Plan-A-War'.

Banks is still in the mercenarybusiness; neighbours in Camberleyreport a constant stream of 'militarytypes' visitinghis flat opposite the Sand­hurst Royal Military Academy.

The mercenaries roll up to theworld's uglier conflicts like flies toa corpse. They are active now inZaire and Angola, East Africa,Lebanon. Oman, Rhodesia, Sahara,and a host of other places. Among theirnumber are many 'gentleman adven­turers of the John Buchan type, but therest arc generally right wing thugs. Theruthless machismo of the mercenarycreed does not easily lend itself to ideasof democracy, socialism or racialequality.

I.at

KMS have several clandestine radioequipped operations cars, includingthis 3000 cc silver Ford Granada.The cars are used for such jobs asbodyguarding Sultan Qaboos ofOman, on his recent informal visitto Britain last March.

The KMSoperation in Kensington isclosely connected with the 'SpecialForces' ex-SAS mercenaries who havegreatly assisted Sultan Quaboos · ofOman in repressing the generallyMarxistliberation movement in Oman'ssouthern province of Dhofar. But KMS-as '24 SAS'-are known to handlerecruitment for much other work inKuwait, Bahrein, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,and South America states such asArgentina.

TheBanksConnectionBanks' shabby disreputability is a farcry from the elegant mercenaryorganisersin the Kensington Mews. Butastonishing evidence of the closelinks between the ex-SAS corps and thegrubbier Banks group is contained in astatement sworn to a London solicitorlast year, later presented in an allegedIRA arms. procurement trial.

Officials and 'provisionals';the Duke of York's barracks,near Sloane Square, SWI,is now the home of the official SAS Regimental HQ_Inset: David Stirling's Mayfairoffices, one time headquarters of the Watchguard private military organisation. Theinitials of his address, curiously, abbreviate to '22 SAS'.

In different parts of his lengthy state­ment, Banks talks about his three yearlong contact with Ray Tucker of theSpecial Branch. He refers to hisacquaintanceship with David Walker.And he explains how he 'worked inclose ·harmony with Major AndrewNightingale', of SAS Group Intelli­gence. SAS Group Intelligence, heclaimed, 'employs, controls and runsintelligence gathering and activities inalien paramilitary organisations in theUK. It runs assassination teams, snatchteams, infiltration teams and was run byDare Newell, retired SAS officer.'

Banks is most likely confusingofficial SAS activities with those oftheir paramilitary associates. But hehad, according to other sources,correctly identified the SAS GroupIntelligence Unit as a lynchpin in thelinks between the official SAS and para­military groups. There is little doubtthat the Duke of York's barracks­where retired Major Clarence 'Dare:Newell has notes on every ex-SAS man'sarmy record-must be an Aladdin's caveof useful information for anyone inter­ested in recruiting mercenaries.

Banks is admittedly a self-confessedliar, killer and cheat. But much of hisstatement is corroborated by othersources-not least the remarkable waythat three of five key alleged KMSassociates feature prominently in Banks'eight year tale of mercenary work.

The TelegraphLineThe true story of the secret war inYemen was nearly told by the SundayTimes Insight team in 1970. But adetermined and unfortunately successfulattempt was made to prevent the storyappearing. Last week identical tacticswere attempted against Time Out. Thistime the manouevre has backfired.

A few days before the Yemen storywas to be published, David Stirling wasasked to reply to allegations that he andassociates had organised the Royalist

mercenary force. Stirling did not reply,but managed to delay the article for aweek. In the intervening few days,Johnson created his own version for theDaily Telegraph, carefully providing acover story for each of the points in theunprinted article.

A week later, the Sunday Times-­having lost their scoop and under severepressure-could not use the story.

Two weeks ago, Time Out's finalenquiries to various government depart­ments about the activities of KMSinevitably alerted the group to an im­pending article. Last Tuesday, the DailyMail published a 'Worldwide Exclusive'on 'The Bodyguards'. This piece claim­ed that ex-SAS 'hired armed bodyguards'from a Jersey based company with aKensington 'interview centre' weresupplied on a secret Foreign Office con­tract to protect British Ambassadorsand other diplomatic staff abroad.Prominent in the article was a some­what overstated apparent reference toJim Johnson: 'A Lloyds underwriter­whose distinguished military recordenables him to have continuing linkswith the SAS-(is) playing a leading rolein the company.'

The story was dismissed the next dayby the Foreign Office as largely untrue.No armed bodyguards are ever hiredfrom private companies to protectDiplomatic Service staff-they are em­ployed directly by either the British orthe host governments .. There were nosuch 'secret' contracts,' said the FO­only a 'normally budgeted' arrangementfor a specialist British company to sendvisiting teams to a small handful ofembassies to train locally based staff insecurity practices.

The collection of unrelated facts,half truths and untruths in last week'sDaily Mail article paralleled the articlesplanted in the Telegraph in 1970. Butthe bottom quickly fell out of the storythis time-and the Foreign Office arejustifiably annoyed at the deliberateleaking of details of confidentialarrangements concerning the security ofBritish staff abroad, in a clumsy attempt

to cover up KMS's other activities.A reference in the article to a small

arms training centre in Jersey used bythe company even triggered off aChannel Islands search for the site ofthe secret shooting range. Such a rangewould•. be illegal, according to localauthorities.

Last Wednesday, David Walkeragreed to see two Time Out reporters totalk about military activities and body­guard work. During a 25-minute state­ment in which he ignored any questionsput to him, he presented a storydesigned to account for most of theinformation likely to be known to TimeOut. He claimed that he, Johnson,Wingate Gray and Nightingale were all'employed, in different roles' by ThosNelson (Insurance) Ltd, and that nonehad any relationship with KMS exceptto sell it insurance. The Courtfield Mewsaddress had, he said, been intended as a'pied-a-terre' for west of Londondirectors because it was close toGloucester Road underground station.But it had become used as an office forthe company, and had handled some ofthe insurance work for KMS.

Unfortunately this cover story direct·ly clashes with the cover story plantedin the Mail. This identified the Kensing­ton office as the Jersey firm's 'interviewcentre' and remarked on the Lloyd'sunderwriter's 'leading role' in thecompany.

Walker acknowledged that he and theother ex-SAS officers had 'severalbusiness interests, separately and jointly',and that Saladin Security was initiallyset up by them from Courtfield Mews.

He then accused Time Out of 'pro­moting spurious ideologies'. This too isan intriguing echo of their response toSunday Times articles on Yemen, whichfalsely accused the paper of being thetool of Egyptian intelligence agents.

The Pack Moves OnWithin a week of this article's publi­cation, KMS will have left CourtfieldMews for good. Johnson has been servedwith notice to quit by the owners,because of their improper use of theMews for the mercenary business.According to David Walker, the staffwill move back to Thomas Nelson(Insurance), or to Saladin Security.Their cover may be a little better then,but their work is unlikely to change.

The Special Air Service Regiment hasgrown enormously in military prestigeand reputation over the last 20 years.Now its specialised, commercially valu­able and entirely deadly skills arebecoming an unsavoury internationalcommodity, a process clearly fosteredby a sizeable minority of former seniorofficers. Not least, they are offering thesecrets and skills of the latest Britishmilitary training to the highest bidder.Many officials view the process withalarm, but it continues to thrive amongthe nebulous crowd of secret agents, ex­SAS officers, and mercenary thugs whohave.cropped up in this account.

The SAS have a swashbuckling mottosurrounding the winged dagger on theircrest: 'Who Dares, Wins'. In Yemen, themercenaries employed by KMS' JimJohnson coined an apt replacement:'Who Pays, Wins'.

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