| Time | Summary | |
| 16:57 | He was a close friend of Eugene de Kock and of Craig Williamson and like his two friends he now wants the Truth Commission to grant him amnesty. But before that can happen, Peter Casselton will have to do a lot of explaining. | Full Transcript |
| 17:11 | Beira, Mozambique, the city’s struggling to restore its former glory after more than 30 years of war. Hardly a place where one would expect the former South African spy master to live and work. But this is where we found former security policeman Lt Peter Casselton. During the eighties Casselton handled a network of agents all over Europe. He was involved in the bombing of the ANC headquarters in London in 1982 and broke into the offices of the ANC, the PAC and SWAPO. | Full Transcript and References |
| 17:50 | How many agents did you manage? // I suppose serious ones, about ten, and the casual ones maybe a lot more, up to 25 in total. You know I had a Spanish professor working for me who was a professor at Wits. I’m not prepared to tell you his name because it’s not the way I operate, but he worked for me for years. He was a professor at Wits and he fell afoul of the law. They made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse, either go to jail or go to Spain and work for us, so he worked for me in Spain. // What did these agents do? // Gathered information. I had no violent people, they were academics mainly and some criminals, but mainly academics. | Full Transcript |
| 18:43 | Casselton was born in the former Rhodesia and was a pilot during the Rhodesian bush war. In 1979 he came to South Africa where he was recruited by the security police. | Full Transcript |
| 18:57 | Why were you selected? // Who knows, no I had the credentials, I’m a qualified pilot, I’m a commercial pilot. I was familiar with England. I worked there for many years. I’m a British subject, I was born in England and I fitted the bill. | Full Transcript |
| 19:15 | Casselton set up his European operation with this man, Major Craig Williamson. The two men rented a luxury flat in North London from where they ran their spy network. | Full Transcript |
| 19:27 | The money came from a ‘trommel,’ that’s the Afrikaans word, with a bottomless pit. // Was a lot of money stolen, disappeared? // Stolen? Well I’m saying misappropriated. // Are we talking about millions? // Ja, I think millions. // Where did it go to? // Who knows, I don’t. | Full Transcript |
| 19:47 | It was a good life. Williamson and Casselton had a yacht called The Two Lisa’s which they sailed around Europe and the Mediterranean. | Full Transcript |
| 1958 | March, 1982. A bomb rips through the ANC offices in London. South African involvement is immediately suspected but denied by Minister of Police, Louis Le Grange. | Full Transcript |
| 20:11 | Mister Le Grange also referred to allegations that SA was involved in bombing the ANC offices. He said he would not comment on such a ridiculous allegation. | Full Transcript |
| 20:22 | Louis Le Grange lied. At the time of the bombing a group of security policemen were assembled in London, amongst them Craig Williamson, Vic McPherson, Peter Casselton, Eugene de Kock. | Full Transcript |
| 20:44 | What was your involvement? // You know I feel that … this bombing in England carries the sentence of a minimum of 25 years in prison without parole. So, we are not talking about a minor crime like stealing an old lady’s handbag, we’re talking about a person like myself spending the rest of his life in prison. So, as far as I’m concerned I didn’t have an involvement in the London bombing. | Full Transcript |
| 21:15 | Peter Casselton wouldn’t confirm his involvement on camera. Off camera however he says he was the man who had to collect the explosives from the South African Embassy in London. For 6 months the explosives lied under his bed until the bomb was built in London. He also says that before the bomb was planted false passports and fire arms including a sniper’s rifle were buried in the woods outside of London. Casselton says he still knows where the hidden goods are. | Full Transcript |
| 21:51 | Is it true that people were decorated for the London bomb? Were you decorated? // No. // Why not? // Maybe they didn’t think I had any part in it. They didn’t give me a medal, but all the rest of them got the SOE. // You were however involved in the breaking into the ANC offices in 1984. // I pleaded guilty to that. The ANC, the PAC and SWAPO. I broke into all their offices. No, it was very easy; there was no security on the premises. Any of the premises I broke into there was no security really. // What were you looking for? // I don’t know. Anything that was available. // Did you find valuable goods? // Well I never assessed them. I just basically sent them back to South Africa and they made the assessment. But the ANC were reluctant, they actually denied that there was any break in at their offices. They were actually forced by Scotland Yard to lodge an official docket of theft. They said they were never broken into. They were embarrassed. | Full Transcript |
| 22:58 | Casselton was arrested and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He never admitted working for the security police. | Full Transcript |
| 23:07 | What happened after your release? // I came back to South Africa and it would have been an embarrassment for them if I had been seen to be a policeman. This I accepted and Mister Williamson kindly negotiated a payment of a R100 000, which I was given in cash and virtually told to disappear. | Full Transcript |
| 23:32 | Casselton did not disappear. He went to live on Vlakplaas where his friend, Eugene de Kock looked after him. It was during this time, De Kock claims, that Craig Williamson wanted him to kill Casselton. | Full Transcript |
| 23:48 | Eugene de Kock rejected it. I was actually living on Vlakplaas. Williamson didn’t know I was living on Vlakplaas at that time. As soon as he left, Eugene called me and said the guy has just been here and asked me to kill you. And he told him that if he wanted to kill me he should do it. But afterwards he he’d have a lot of problems, because you know I’m very friendly with Eugene de Kock. | Full Transcript |
| 24:14 | Today Casselton struggles to survive. He says he has lost virtually everything including his yacht. | Full Transcript |
| 24:21 | Well I’m lucky because I’ve got no family, but if I had a family it would have been disastrous for me. // Do you think it was worthwhile working for them? // No it was a total waste of time. // I’m still a pilot, I’m a qualified aircraft engineer and I’m working in Bira on old airplanes. That’s how I make a living. | Full Transcript |
