Geoffrey Prime, aged 44, was jailed for 38 years in 1982 . As a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange, Geoffrey Prime would have been delighted if the vile organisation had won its campaign to legalise sex with children. It might have meant that this evil child molester — who also betrayed Britain’s secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War — would never have come to the notice of the police and subsequently been jailed for ruthless and calculated attacks on young girls. Prime was one of many paedophiles who no doubt felt their repellent activities were validated as a result of the Paedophile Information Exchange’s (PIE) affiliation to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) at a time when Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt and Jack Dromey had key jobs with the civil rights group. Indeed, after Prime was jailed for 38 years in 1982 (for passing highly-sensitive British national security secrets to the KGB over a period of 14 years while working for the RAF and GCHQ), the Old Bailey was told that several magazines issued on behalf of PIE were found by police in his garage. Yet amid all the furore at the time — with questions being asked in Parliament about whether other members of PIE posed a threat to national security or were under surveillance — there is no record of the NCCL, or the Labour trio, expressing any regret for their links with PIE and its association with perverts such as Prime. He was unmasked as a spy only after he left GCHQ, where he worked as a Russian-speaking linguist intercepting Soviet communications and was privy to the most sensitive national security secrets. While a taxi driver in Hereford, he was arrested by police investigating a series of complaints from parents that a dangerous and predatory ‘sex pest’ had been targeting young girls. He then confessed to his wife about his sex crimes and spying for Moscow. He had used skills he’d learnt from his KGB handlers to amass 2,287 index cards about schoolgirls in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Written in code on each slip of paper was the child’s address, what she wore, her number he’d found in a telephone book and the time that her parents were likely to be out. The cards, along with a collection of PIE contact magazines containing material that called for paedophiles to be given equal rights to homosexuals, were found among an array of Soviet espionage gadgetry. Scroll down for video . Prime was one of many paedophiles who no doubt felt their repellent activities were validated as a result of the Paedophile Information Exchange¿s (PIE) affiliation to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) It was in 1978 (before Prime launched his sex attacks) that Harman wrote a submission to Parliament about the Protection of Children Bill, which sought to ban child pornography . Prime’s case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, when Patricia Hewitt (right) was still the NCCL’s general secretary. Jack Dromey had sat on the NCCL executive committee for almost a decade from 1970 to 1979 . Last night, retired Detective Chief Inspector Peter Picken, now 72, who played a key role in securing Prime’s confession, told us how the paedophile had subjected his girl victims to a series of prolonged and frightening attacks in 1981. ‘They suffered a horrendous ordeal. Coming from isolated, rural locations, they would have felt very vulnerable,’ he said. Mr Picken recalled how Prime, then 44, scoured local newspapers for pictures of girls wearing their school or Brownie uniforms or photographed at an award ceremony for sporting or musical success. He would then track down his target, get their phone number from directory inquiries and call their family home, pretending to be a workman. His first victim was just 11 when, in 1980, she received a call from a breathless Prime pretending to be a plumber. Within five minutes of establishing that the girl was alone, he went to her address, knocked on the door and conned his way in. Having pulled a hood over his head, Prime threatened his young victim before sexually assaulting her. The Old Bailey heard how the girl was left ‘crying, shaking and very distressed’. The following year, Prime stalked a 13-year-old girl with phone calls before visiting her address when her parents were out. Prime was charged with spying for Moscow and with three sex offences in 1982. The court heard that he had admitted being attracted to girls aged ten to 15 . He pretended to be a decorator offering an estimate for painting work. The girl was horrified when he asked to photograph her, telling her that she had ‘grown up’ so much since her parents had employed him as a babysitter. Angered by her refusal to obey his demands, he tied a handkerchief over his face and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to flee. He flung her on the bed and threatened to hurt her if she did  not co-operate. Although the terrified girl again tried to flee, he attacked and sexually assaulted her. A year later, still untraced by police, Prime pestered a 14-year-old girl in a series of calls during which he pretended again to be a decorator wanting access to the property to give a quote for work. When he called round and finally persuaded her to let him in, he threatened her by flipping open the blade of a bottle opener, then sexually assaulted her. The girl’s screams eventually forced Prime to flee, but only after he had asked her if she knew of any other girls likely to be on their own in the area. With a huge police manhunt under way, parents around Hereford were alerted to the attacks and Prime’s distinctive two-tone Ford Cortina was spotted. It wasn’t long before police tracked him down to a cottage he shared with his wife. Geoffrey Prime at Hereford Court where he was charged with spying. Sentencing Prime to 38 years in prison, the judge condemned him as a 'calculating and rationally motivated spy' Prime's case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, a time when Patricia Hewitt was still the NCCL's general secretary and Harriet Harman had only just left the organisation . Prime, known for his arrogance, denied the allegations. However, after police left, his devout Christian wife Rhona quizzed him further, and he confessed to his predilection for under-age girls, his links with PIE and his spying activities. She contacted the police, who then searched his home — finding notepads with secret messages to relay to the KGB, writing paper with invisible ink and cash deposits. During three days of interviews at Gloucester prison, DCI Picken, of the West Mercia force, secured the dramatic confession that Prime was a Soviet spy. Prime was charged with spying for Moscow and with three sex offences. The court heard that he had admitted being attracted to girls aged ten to 15. PIE — with its affiliation to the NCCL — had waged a long-running campaign for paedophiles to be accepted in society as ‘child lovers’ and to abolish the age of consent. Prime’s case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, a time when Patricia Hewitt was still the NCCL’s general secretary and Harriet Harman had only just left the organisation after working for more than three years as its legal officer. Jack Dromey had sat on the NCCL executive committee for almost a decade from 1970 to 1979. It was in 1978 (before Prime launched his sex attacks) that Harman wrote a submission to Parliament about the Protection of Children Bill, which sought to ban child pornography. Harman began by saying that the NCCL ‘deplored the exploitation of children’. But she argued that the Bill should be watered down, to reduce the sentence for anyone merely in possession of offensive photographs of children. She also wanted a prosecution to be made more difficult, urging that a picture of a naked child should not be considered indecent unless it could be proven that the subject had suffered. Sentencing Prime to 38 years in prison, the judge condemned him as a ‘calculating and rationally motivated spy’. He added: ‘Your ruthlessness is demonstrated not only by what you did with this country’s secrets, but by what you did to those girls.’ Not surprisingly, the Prime case stunned the British public and led to questions in Parliament about whether other PIE members were under police surveillance. Despite this intense focus on PIE, it continued to be affiliated to the NCCL for some time. Prime was released early from his sentence, in 2001, and received £80-a-week income support and various other welfare benefits. Now 76, he lives in sheltered housing in a suburb of South London. He receives meals on wheels and is cared for by nurses. It is deeply ironic that he takes money and support from the state that he once betrayed so happily to its enemies. Neighbours told us that a few years ago he often visited a leisure centre to swim and work out. But now he rarely leaves the house. There is a children’s centre with a playground and small park just yards from the four-storey building where he lives — which acts as a haunting reminder of the time in the Seventies when Harman & Co, like it or not, were legitimising the activities of evil men such as Geoffrey Prime. Additional reporting:  Amie Keeley .
Geoffrey Prime was a member of Paedophile Information Exchange .
He was jailed for 38 years in 1982 for spying and child sex attacks .
Prime’s case was jailed at the Old Bailey .
in November 1982 .
Patricia Hewitt was still NCCL’s .
general secretary - Harriet Harman just left .
Geoffrey Prime, aged 44, was jailed for 38 years in 1982 . As a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange, Geoffrey Prime would have been delighted if the vile organisation had won its campaign to legalise sex with children. It might have meant that this evil child molester — who also betrayed Britain’s secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War — would never have come to the notice of the police and subsequently been jailed for ruthless and calculated attacks on young girls. Prime was one of many paedophiles who no doubt felt their repellent activities were validated as a result of the Paedophile Information Exchange’s (PIE) affiliation to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) at a time when Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt and Jack Dromey had key jobs with the civil rights group. Indeed, after Prime was jailed for 38 years in 1982 (for passing highly-sensitive British national security secrets to the KGB over a period of 14 years while working for the RAF and GCHQ), the Old Bailey was told that several magazines issued on behalf of PIE were found by police in his garage. Yet amid all the furore at the time — with questions being asked in Parliament about whether other members of PIE posed a threat to national security or were under surveillance — there is no record of the NCCL, or the Labour trio, expressing any regret for their links with PIE and its association with perverts such as Prime. He was unmasked as a spy only after he left GCHQ, where he worked as a Russian-speaking linguist intercepting Soviet communications and was privy to the most sensitive national security secrets. While a taxi driver in Hereford, he was arrested by police investigating a series of complaints from parents that a dangerous and predatory ‘sex pest’ had been targeting young girls. He then confessed to his wife about his sex crimes and spying for Moscow. He had used skills he’d learnt from his KGB handlers to amass 2,287 index cards about schoolgirls in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Written in code on each slip of paper was the child’s address, what she wore, her number he’d found in a telephone book and the time that her parents were likely to be out. The cards, along with a collection of PIE contact magazines containing material that called for paedophiles to be given equal rights to homosexuals, were found among an array of Soviet espionage gadgetry. Scroll down for video . Prime was one of many paedophiles who no doubt felt their repellent activities were validated as a result of the Paedophile Information Exchange¿s (PIE) affiliation to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) It was in 1978 (before Prime launched his sex attacks) that Harman wrote a submission to Parliament about the Protection of Children Bill, which sought to ban child pornography . Prime’s case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, when Patricia Hewitt (right) was still the NCCL’s general secretary. Jack Dromey had sat on the NCCL executive committee for almost a decade from 1970 to 1979 . Last night, retired Detective Chief Inspector Peter Picken, now 72, who played a key role in securing Prime’s confession, told us how the paedophile had subjected his girl victims to a series of prolonged and frightening attacks in 1981. ‘They suffered a horrendous ordeal. Coming from isolated, rural locations, they would have felt very vulnerable,’ he said. Mr Picken recalled how Prime, then 44, scoured local newspapers for pictures of girls wearing their school or Brownie uniforms or photographed at an award ceremony for sporting or musical success. He would then track down his target, get their phone number from directory inquiries and call their family home, pretending to be a workman. His first victim was just 11 when, in 1980, she received a call from a breathless Prime pretending to be a plumber. Within five minutes of establishing that the girl was alone, he went to her address, knocked on the door and conned his way in. Having pulled a hood over his head, Prime threatened his young victim before sexually assaulting her. The Old Bailey heard how the girl was left ‘crying, shaking and very distressed’. The following year, Prime stalked a 13-year-old girl with phone calls before visiting her address when her parents were out. Prime was charged with spying for Moscow and with three sex offences in 1982. The court heard that he had admitted being attracted to girls aged ten to 15 . He pretended to be a decorator offering an estimate for painting work. The girl was horrified when he asked to photograph her, telling her that she had ‘grown up’ so much since her parents had employed him as a babysitter. Angered by her refusal to obey his demands, he tied a handkerchief over his face and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to flee. He flung her on the bed and threatened to hurt her if she did not co-operate. Although the terrified girl again tried to flee, he attacked and sexually assaulted her. A year later, still untraced by police, Prime pestered a 14-year-old girl in a series of calls during which he pretended again to be a decorator wanting access to the property to give a quote for work. When he called round and finally persuaded her to let him in, he threatened her by flipping open the blade of a bottle opener, then sexually assaulted her. The girl’s screams eventually forced Prime to flee, but only after he had asked her if she knew of any other girls likely to be on their own in the area. With a huge police manhunt under way, parents around Hereford were alerted to the attacks and Prime’s distinctive two-tone Ford Cortina was spotted. It wasn’t long before police tracked him down to a cottage he shared with his wife. Geoffrey Prime at Hereford Court where he was charged with spying. Sentencing Prime to 38 years in prison, the judge condemned him as a 'calculating and rationally motivated spy' Prime's case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, a time when Patricia Hewitt was still the NCCL's general secretary and Harriet Harman had only just left the organisation . Prime, known for his arrogance, denied the allegations. However, after police left, his devout Christian wife Rhona quizzed him further, and he confessed to his predilection for under-age girls, his links with PIE and his spying activities. She contacted the police, who then searched his home — finding notepads with secret messages to relay to the KGB, writing paper with invisible ink and cash deposits. During three days of interviews at Gloucester prison, DCI Picken, of the West Mercia force, secured the dramatic confession that Prime was a Soviet spy. Prime was charged with spying for Moscow and with three sex offences. The court heard that he had admitted being attracted to girls aged ten to 15. PIE — with its affiliation to the NCCL — had waged a long-running campaign for paedophiles to be accepted in society as ‘child lovers’ and to abolish the age of consent. Prime’s case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, a time when Patricia Hewitt was still the NCCL’s general secretary and Harriet Harman had only just left the organisation after working for more than three years as its legal officer. Jack Dromey had sat on the NCCL executive committee for almost a decade from 1970 to 1979. It was in 1978 (before Prime launched his sex attacks) that Harman wrote a submission to Parliament about the Protection of Children Bill, which sought to ban child pornography. Harman began by saying that the NCCL ‘deplored the exploitation of children’. But she argued that the Bill should be watered down, to reduce the sentence for anyone merely in possession of offensive photographs of children. She also wanted a prosecution to be made more difficult, urging that a picture of a naked child should not be considered indecent unless it could be proven that the subject had suffered. Sentencing Prime to 38 years in prison, the judge condemned him as a ‘calculating and rationally motivated spy’. He added: ‘Your ruthlessness is demonstrated not only by what you did with this country’s secrets, but by what you did to those girls.’ Not surprisingly, the Prime case stunned the British public and led to questions in Parliament about whether other PIE members were under police surveillance. Despite this intense focus on PIE, it continued to be affiliated to the NCCL for some time. Prime was released early from his sentence, in 2001, and received £80-a-week income support and various other welfare benefits. Now 76, he lives in sheltered housing in a suburb of South London. He receives meals on wheels and is cared for by nurses. It is deeply ironic that he takes money and support from the state that he once betrayed so happily to its enemies. Neighbours told us that a few years ago he often visited a leisure centre to swim and work out. But now he rarely leaves the house. There is a children’s centre with a playground and small park just yards from the four-storey building where he lives — which acts as a haunting reminder of the time in the Seventies when Harman & Co, like it or not, were legitimising the activities of evil men such as Geoffrey Prime. Additional reporting:  Amie Keeley .
Geoffrey Prime, aged 44, was jailed for 38 years in 1982 . As a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange, Geoffrey Prime would have years in 1982 (for passing highly-sensitive Prime's case went to the Old Bailey in November 1982, a time when Patricia Hewitt was still the NCCL's general secretary and Harriet Harman had