How MI5 exposed WW1 seductress Mata Hari

An exotic dancer executed for being a traitor in the First World War was covertly watched by MI5 who helped to exposed her betrayal, it has been claimed.

Mata Hari, an internationally famous Dutch dancer on the Paris stage, was rumbled for being a double agent for the French and Germans and shot in 1917.

Now, a book claims UK secret services told the French about their concerns over the mother-of-two’s treachery two years before she was executed aged 41.

And historian Mary Craig, who has studied newly released archive papers, claims Britain helped covertly gather evidence that led to her downfall.

Fears among UK officials were first raised when she gave contradictory accounts when interrogated by MI5 after arriving by ship in Folkestone, slot Kent, in 1915.

According to a report in by Dominic Kennedy and Elizabeth Burden, records stated nothing incriminating was found after she was searched.

But the records added that she was ‘regarded by police and military to be not above suspicion and her subsequent movements should be watched’.

Hari was sent back to France and all ports were told to stop her entering Britain. She then appeared in the Netherlands in 1915, where MI5 was watching her.

Reports sent to London by British agent Richard Tinsley that year revealed she was in financial trouble and had been given 15,000 francs from the German embassy.

Hari was suspected of ‘having been to France on an important mission for the Germans’ — before ‘succeeding’ in her task and getting money from the Germans.

Six days later Britain told France that she would be arrested and sent to Scotland Yard if she arrived in Britain — and she was continually watched while in Paris.

According to The Times, Ms Craig writes in her new book: ‘Although it may seem curious for the British to tell the French that a Dutch citizen would be arrested if she set foot in Britain, it was probably the most effective way they had to alert the French to their suspicions, given the lack of hard evidence against her at that time.’

Hari was eventually arrested for espionage by the French in 1917 before being put on trial and found guilty of revealing details about the Allies’ new weapon, the tank.

The leaks by Hari, who had high-ranking military officers of different nationalities among her lovers, were said to have resulted in the deaths of thousands of soldiers.

A Tangled Web: Mata Hari, Dancer, Courtesan, Spy is by Mary W Craig and published by The History Press, costing £20