Airey Neave

But, you know, look, wh-when I first started, you know, reporting at Westminster, it was a time of IRA activity.

Um, and there was a very strong mood at certain times after an IRA atrocity, the, you know, the murder of Ian Gow or whatever it happened to be, you know, Airey Neave, uh, these politicians that would have been close to Thatcher, who were taken out by the IRA, that there sh- you, you, the, the perpetrators.

And then, uh, and you're absolutely right, Lewis, there is a very strong support, and at the time, there was a majority support for a return of capital punishment.

Uh-

One early escape in nineteen forty involved a young officer who used a disguised uniform and forged documents to slip into a transport train bound for Switzerland.

Later, Captain Airey Neave crafted a tunnel out of the stone walls of the castle itself, tunneling through years of careful digging while feigning illness.

The escape routes were varied.

Some relied on physical tunnels dug into earth.