The WWII pilot who betrayed his country, and his newly wed wife in Sunderland

A new book telling the true story of a World War II pilot who betrayed three countries as well as his Sunderland wife is on the shelves.

Titled The Hurricane Pilot Who Became a Gestapo Agent, it tells the tale of Augustin Přeučil, an airman who was from what was then Czechoslovakia, then part of Hitler's "Greater Germany". He was a real scoundrel.

Serving with the RAF at Usworth, he fled to the Nazis in a stolen Hurricane fighter and became Gestapo agent in Prague. He left behind his new bride, Muriel Graham Kirby, a girl from Sunderland he had married just a few weeks earlier.

He had previously fled Czechoslovakia for Britain via Poland and France.

He married Muriel in July 1941. But on September 18 he was posted missing, believed killed during a training flight off the coast of Sunderland and Hartlepool.

Přeučil’s body was not recovered and nothing more was heard of him. Muriel was given a war widow’s pension.

He had actually landed the Hurricane in Belgium, where he was sheltered by the local Resistance group. He repaid this by telling everything he knew to the Gestapo.

He was eventually found guilty of treason by the Czech authorities and hanged in April 1947. Muriel's widow's pension cancelled.

The author is Michael Morgan, 58, who lives near Gravesend in Kent. He took up writing after retiring from the police with the Met and Kent forces, rising to detective chief inspector.

Michael's wife of 31 years, Kim, is from Roker.

Michael said: "Kim is one of the reasons I started the research into it and found the story. I know Sunderland and the Usworth Airfield, as was. It was one of those things that struck a chord.

"I've always been interested in military history, especially aviation. Before I joined the police I wanted to be a pilot. I passed all the tests, but was stopped from doing it because I had hay fever.

Michael is not a fan of Přeučil, adding: "Back in Prague where he was based he had about another three women. He left Muriel, with no correspondence whatsoever; never told her what he was doing.

"The first she knew that he was even still alive was after the war. It's a very sad story from her point of view.

"I believe she became a teacher, but then got TB and had to give it up. She did remarry and had a couple of kids and I've spoken to them. They want to preserve their anonymity. She lived in Bainbridge Avenue in Sunderland."

The Hurricane Pilot Who Became a Gestapo Agent is available online, including Waterstone's.