Letter: Framed by MI5

Sir: The available evidence shows conclusively that Alice Wheeldon (not "Wheedon") never plotted to murder anyone and that she was framed by an MI5 offshoot called PMS2 ("Lloyd George freed his would-be assassin", 28 November).

The "testament of MI5 agent Alex Gordon" was certainly not "damning evidence" of Wheeldon's guilt. "Alex Gordon" (real name: William Rickard) was a mentally unstable journalist with a criminal record who was employed by PMS2 as an agent provocateur. His deranged imagination produced the allegation that Wheeldon and her family planned to shoot Lloyd George with a poisoned air-gun pellet while he was playing golf.

Although Rickard's evidence was central to the Wheeldon trial he never appeared in court to face cross-examination. PMS2 later packed him off to South Africa to get him out of the way and he eventually committed himself to a mental asylum.

DAVID TURNER

Borden, Kent