George Blake is dead then
died on 26 December 2020, aged 98, in Moscow
President Vladimir Putin, himself an ex-KGB agent, expressed his "deep condolences" to Blake's family and friends. In a message published on the Kremlin website, the Russian leader noted Blake's "invaluable contribution to ensuring strategic parity and maintaining peace on the planet."
Putin also said of Blake, "Colonel Blake was a brilliant professional of special vitality and courage
in May 1961 after an in camera trial at the Old Bailey, he was sentenced to the maximum term of 14 years consecutively on each of three counts of spying for a potential enemy and 14 years concurrently on both the two remaining counts – a total of 42 years imprisonment
one year for each of the agents who were killed when he betrayed them, although this is dubious. It was the longest sentence (excluding life terms) ever handed down by a British court
5 yrs into his sentence he escaped
The play Cell Mates (1995) by Simon Gray is about Blake and Sean Bourke
The original production starred Stephen Fry as Blake and Rik Mayall as Bourke
Bourke was an inmate who helped Blake escape after Bourke was released from prison
they kept in contact via walkie-talkie
In his autobiography he claimed that no one died because of his betrayal.
This is most certainly false.
Although he claims his betrayal was ideological, what many historians believe, is that he had a huge ego and was disappointed by the postings he was given.
Don't read his autobiography it's crap.
"I don't know what I handed over because it was so much."
says it all
Mi6 have never made any official statement as to how many died because of his betrayal
considering he gave up 40+ Mi6 officers as well as other agency officers and operations
we can come to our own conclusions that his betrayal at least resulted in one death of an officer/spy
British spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union
He was not one of the Cambridge Five spies, although he associated with Donald Maclean and Kim Philby after reaching the Soviet Union