7/9: MI6 Knew Of Ray’s Movements In London Before Arrest, British Cable Shows
A declassified but partially redacted British diplomatic cable reveals that UK intelligence services, including MI6, were monitoring James Earl Ray’s movements in London several days before his June 1968 arrest at Heathrow Airport--contradicting longstanding FBI and Justice Department assertions that his capture was purely accidental.
While Ray’s name is redacted in the body of the message, the attached routing sheet includes the line: subject alias Ramon George Sneyd confirmed via passport cross-check.
Ray was detained at Heathrow on June 8, 1968 while attempting to board a flight to Brussels using a Canadian passport under the name Sneyd.
The official account has long claimed that Interpol had circulated an alert only hours before and that UK customs officers apprehended Ray based on that late notice.
However, the newly reviewed cable indicates British agencies had prior awareness. It refers to 3-day surveillance period and document flag originating in Montreal, not Washington.
A margin note from an unnamed British officer states: re: MK priority intercept—liaise with Ottawa if subject reroutes via Iberian sector.
This disclosure aligns with a lesser-known CIA memo dated June 6, 1968 that includes the phrase: UK partners have been notified of Sneyd vector; no US action required unless subject exits EEC.
The implication is clear: Ray’s arrest may not have been a sudden act of customs diligence, but part of a broader and previously undisclosed multinational tracking effort.
Documents from the U.S. Marshals Service at the time of Ray’s arrest also show an unexplained five-hour delay between confirmation of his identity and official logging of his warrant status. This delay is now newly suspect given the British cable’s time stamps showing prior action.
Neither MI6 nor the UK Home Office acknowledged this surveillance publicly during Ray’s extradition proceedings.
At no point in Ray’s hearing was this cable or its contents submitted as evidence, nor was it shared with his legal defense team.
FBI testimony before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978 continued to assert that Ray’s arrest was precipitated by a single customs official recognizing a photograph faxed only hours earlier.
In contrast, the British file includes a prior photo identification memo dated June 4, listing Sneyd alias and cross-referencing a facial analysis from a Canadian security archive, suggesting Ray’s facial data had already circulated across Atlantic intelligence channels.
If the British intelligence apparatus was actively monitoring Ray for days prior to his arrest, it calls into question how much coordination existed between U.S. and allied services--and whether Ray’s movements were known, managed, or manipulated prior to capture.