Kerry Bagshaw
British Royal Marine and Special Boat Service officer who went on to work for the Secret Intelligence Service, then in corporate security for the diamond industry (1943–2015)
Kerry Bagshaw (Charles Kerry Bagshaw, 5 October 1943 – 11 November 2015) was a Royal Marines and Special Boat Service officer who went on to work for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6). From 1974 he held posts with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After leaving government service he worked in corporate security for De Beers and Rio Tinto, and advised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on security in the diamond trade.[1]
Early life
Bagshaw was born in Gloucester on 5 October 1943 and brought up in Buxton. He was educated by the White Fathers at Saint Columba's College, a Catholic seminary near Melrose.[1]
Royal Marines and Special Boat Service
Bagshaw joined the Royal Marines as a recruit in 1961. He saw action in the Radfan Campaign in the Aden hinterland, and in 1964 he was selected for officer training. He served twice with 45 Commando, and was injured both times. He then served with 40 Commando in Singapore during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (Konfrontasi).[1]
After qualifying as a swimmer-canoeist in 1967, he joined the Special Boat Section. In 1970 he took command of 3 Special Boat Detachment in Bahrain, where his duties included training Iranian personnel in special forces techniques. Back from the Gulf, he selected and trained Royal Marines volunteers for the Special Boat Service. One of his last missions was in the plain-clothes security guard aboard the Cunard liner QE2 when she was chartered to visit Israel in 1973.[1]
Foreign Office posts and SIS
Bagshaw joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1974. He was sent to posts in Central and South America, the UK Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Libya, Egypt and South Africa. From 1977 to 1979 he was first secretary at the British High Commission in Gaborone, Botswana. There, according to the Telegraph, he first learned about conflict diamonds.[1]
The Telegraph obituary describes him as a Royal Marine officer "who went on to work for the Secret Intelligence Service". In 1988 he became first secretary at the British Embassy in Moscow, where he reported on political and military developments in the Soviet Union. He then returned to London to help prepare Stella Rimington, later Director General of MI5, for her meeting with the KGB at its headquarters in the Lubyanka. The stated purpose of the meeting was to help the Russians adjust to working in a democracy. Rimington later recalled that the KGB officers were "like wild animals suddenly presented with their prey in circumstances where they couldn't eat it".[1]
From 1993 to 1995 Bagshaw managed security operations throughout Western Europe. From 1995 to 1998 he headed a group responsible for building new relationships with Russia, central and eastern Europe and the Balkans. In 1998 he became special representative to the Caspian region.[1]
Diamond industry
In 1999 De Beers recruited Bagshaw, and he moved to Johannesburg to develop and implement the company's worldwide corporate security strategy. In 2005 he became a consultant to Rio Tinto. From 2006 to 2010 he ran his own consultancy, advising the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on all aspects of security in the diamond trade.[1]
Honours
Bagshaw was appointed CMG in 1990 and OBE in 1992.[1]
Family
Bagshaw was married to Janet Bond from 1965 to 1969. In 1970 he married Pamela Slater, who survived him. He had one daughter from his first marriage and two daughters from his second.[1]
Cryptome listing
The anonymous list of alleged MI6 officers published by Cryptome on 13 May 1999 includes the entry "Kerry Charles Bagshaw: 82 Geneva, 88 Moscow; dob 1943; OBE."[2] The postings listed match those in the Telegraph obituary. See Cryptome MI6 lists.