Josef Jakobs Josef Jakobs ( 30 June 1898 – 15 August 1941 ) was a German spy who became the last person to be executed at the Tower of London . He was captured shortly after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War . Convicted of espionage under the Treachery Act 1940 , Jakobs was shot by a military firing squad . He was not hanged because he was captured as an enemy combatant and not by the civilian police service . Early life . Jakobs , who was a German citizen , was born in Luxembourg in 1898 . During the First World War he served in the German infantry , rising to the rank of " Leutnant " , in the 4th Foot Guards . Jakobs then went to Germany and trained as dentist and married another one with whom he had three children . In the recession that hit Germany in the 1930s , Jakobs lost his job as dentist and discovered alternatives sources of income in crime and then spying . In June 1940 , ten months after the outbreak of the Second World War , Jakobs was drafted into the " Wehrmacht " as an " Oberleutnant " . However , when it was discovered that he had been gaoled in a Swiss prison from 1935 - 37 for several criminal offences , he was forced to resign his commission in the Wehrmacht . Jakobs also was involved in helping Jews escape , but for payment ; this proved to be the final straw for his German handlers . Jakobs was demoted to a " feldwebel " ( NCO ) and placed in the " Meteorologischen Dienst " ( meteorological service ) of the " Heer " . Shortly afterwards he also began working for the Abwehr , the intelligence department of the German Army . As with other spies such the Dutchman Johannes Dronkers , it in unclear when Jakobs was recruited and he may have been an undercover agent for some years as part of his cover . Dronkers was a Dutch spy who had spied on his country for years prior to war , and was recognized by a Dutch intelligence officer who had fled at the start of the war . It was common for the Abehwar to spend years preparing spies , which even involved them working at mundane jobs to give them some degree of cover . Other spies worked as waiters , post office clerks or even chauffeurs until they seemed ready for the mission . The German secret services had a habit of recruiting hard - up people with specific skills , for example in World War One they wanted shipping experts , such as Carl Hans Lody . On 31 January 1941 , Jakobs was flown from Schipol Airport in the Netherlands to Ramsey in Huntingdonshire . However his parachute was seen descending by the local Home Guard . They quickly reached his landing point because Jakobs had broken his ankle in the jump ( it had struck the fuselage as he left the plane ) ; he had also been firing his pistol into the air to summon help . The German spy was caught still wearing his flying suit and carrying £500 in British currency , forged papers , a radio , and a German sausage . He was taken to Ramsey police station before being transferred to Wandsworth Prison in London . During his interrogation by SIS in the UK it became apparent that Jakobs was a hardcore member of the Nazi Party and that like another Czech spy who had parachuted in , Karl Richter ; he would not co - operate or help himself , but became confrontational under questioning and unwilling to pass information which might have spared him . Other agents like ' Tate ' confessed everything and helped save their lives , but Jakobs would not , perhaps because he was worried about what would happen to his family in Germany . Interrogation by SIS was extremely tough , and it involved being stood infront of senior officers and warned of the consequences of not answering questions in full , and then being shown obituaries of hanged spies . Military trial and execution . Jakobs ' court martial took place in front of a military tribunal at Duke of York ' s Headquarters in Chelsea , London SW3 , now the Saatchi Gallery , on 4 – 5 August 1941 . The trial held was " in camera " because the German agent had been apprehended in a highly - classified intelligence operation known as the Double Cross System . The British were aware Jakobs was coming because his arrival information had been passed on to MI5 by the Welsh nationalist and " Abwehr " double agent Arthur Owens . After a two - day trial which involved hearing the testimonies of eight witnesses , Jakobs was found guilty of spying and sentenced to death . Jakobs wrote a letter to the British authorities begging for clemency and saying that he meant Britain no harm , and that he had a wife and children back home to look after . A final letter to his family went undelivered for 50 years as his family had been bombed out back home in Germany . It was eventually delivered to his granddaughters . Jakobs ' s execution took place within the miniature rifle range in the grounds of the Tower of London on 15 August 1941 . He refused to see a priest beforehand , and had to be assisted into the seat to be shot . Jakobs was executed while seated blindfolded in a brown Windsor chair due to his broken ankle . Eight soldiers from the Holding battalion of the Scots Guards , armed with . 303 Lee Enfield s , took aim at a white cotton target ( the approximate size of a matchbook ) pinned over Jakobs ' heart , his last words were " Now shoot straight , you tommies " . The squad fired in unison at 7 . 12 after being given a silent signal from Lieutenant - Colonel C . R . Gerard ( Deputy Provost Marshal for London District ) . Jakobs died instantly . A subsequent postmortem examination found that one bullet had hit Jakobs in the head and the other seven had been on or around the marked target area . Following the execution , Jakobs ' body was buried in an unmarked grave at St . Mary ’ s Roman Catholic Cemetery , Kensal Green , London . The location used for Jakobs ' grave has since been re - used so the original grave site is difficult to find . All other German spies condemned to death in the UK during the Second World War were executed by hanging at HMP Wandsworth in south London .