Campaign to pardon gay war hero

Published on 26/07/2012 01:31

A PARLIAMENTARY campaign has been launched to secure a pardon for celebrated Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing.

The wartime genius, whose work at Bletchley Park helped crack the Nazi Enigma cipher, was convicted of homosexual behaviour in 1952 and took his own life two years later.

Liberal Democrat Lord Sharkey has begun the process of taking a bill through Parliament which would grant a posthumous pardon to Turing.

The Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill was given a formal first reading in the House of Lords yesterday.

Afterwards, Lord Sharkey said: “Alan Turing helped save this country.

“His work on cracking the Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War Two undoubtedly changed the course of the war and saved many thousands of lives.

“Instead of being rewarded by his country, he was cruelly punished and convicted simply for being gay.

“If my bill becomes law, as I hope it will, then this will finally go some way towards acknowledging the debt we all owe to Alan Turing and grant him the pardon he so clearly deserves.”

Liberal Democrat MP John Leech said: “We have been negotiating hard with the government on granting a posthumous pardon to Alan Turing.

“Lord Sharkey will take through the Lords and I will take it through the Commons, and we are fully expecting Lords and MPs to back us.”