London - A British academic was unmasked last night as a spy who worked for 12years for the former East German secret police, the Stasi, the BBC reported.
The BBC said Dr Robin Pearson, an economic historian at Hull University, began working for the Stasi in 1977 under the code name "Armin". It said be betrayed friends and colleagues, some of whom worked for NATO. As a national fencing champion, he used fencing matches abroad as a cover for meetings with his Stasimasters.
The BBC is to unveil full details of the spy allegations in a television programme, Spying Game: A school for spies, to be broadcast tomorrow.