Breaking news: Alex Bateman has been found guilty of the theft of Flt Sgt John Fraser’s wartime RCAF logbook. He has been remanded in custody for sentencing on 3 February, and told by the judge that jail is ‘inevitable’.
More to follow
See my daily court reports:
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Dambusters Blog 
I am very pleased to hear of the verdict, he is a thief and had no intention of giving the log book back to rightful owners, I enjoyed reading the daily court case, thank you.
Justice has been done, for once.
Thank you for your hard work in bringing this to our attention.
Brilliant news! Bateman should be deeply ashamed but I doubt he is.
Charlie
Bateman is a fool, he is a very experienced Dambuster Historian but has allowed his ‘interest’ to become an obsession to the point where he finds it necessary to hoard documents he has no right to possess. What on earth got into his head in trying to deprive Doris Frasier of her husband’s highly prized logbook? Given the same opportunity I would be terrified of losing such an asset and would ask for or take a photocopy, which is all you need for research purposes. To lie and then create a fairy story that Peter Pan would be proud of is unbelievable and he deserves what is coming to him.
The problem now is that others in Doris’s situation will not trust other so called historians and who can blame them.
Thanks Charles, it has been difficult to find information on the trial in the press, it has been rather spasmodic to say the least.
I wonder if anyone thought to check on the origin of the Xmas card. I.e. we’re they available in the UK?
How can anyone study such brave men and turn out to be the exact opposite themselves. A greedy, arrogant, illogical looser like Bateman has a chance to do something decent by revealing who he sold the logbook to. If he doesnt now I suspect his fellow inmates will try to find out from him!
Charles – any chance you could contact me, please, regarding the Bateman case?
Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
SAD THAT A MAN WHO HAS SPENT SO MUCH TIME ON RESEARCH , IS JUST PLAIN GREEDY AND PROVEN LIAR. HE WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH HIS ACTIONS FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
Charles, excellent reportage. I’ve only been subscribing to this blog for a few weeks but am already so impressed by the work you do.
Bateman seems one of those offenders who end up actually believing the web of lies they have spun (I’m sure there’s a psychological term for this). We have my father-in-law’s WWII flying log book and, although he was involved in nothing as dramatic as Chastise, his contribution to the war effort in teaching many young men to fly was considerable, and we’d be gutted to lose it, so I really feel for The family of John Fraser.
Thank you Charles for your unbiased ,accurate and informative reports . Let us hope Bateman recognises what the judge has said in relation to his sentence and reveals where or who has the Logbooks . We know the reports are all about John Fraser but there was Gordon Yeo’s and Ken Earnshaws also in his possession at the time and they all disappeared together .
What I don’t understand is how he got off from removing papers from the archives?