Anthony Sawoniuk Anthony Sawoniuk , formerly Andrei Andreeovich Sawoniuk ( ; 7 March 1921 – 6 November 2005 ) was a Belorussian Nazi collaborator from the town of Domaczewo in pre - war Poland ( now Damachava , Belarus ) . After taking part in the murder of Jews in his home town , he served in the SS until November 1944 when deserted and joined to the Polish II Corps in the Eighth Army ( United Kingdom ) . After the war he settled in Britain , became a British citizen and subsequently became the first person to be convicted under the UK ' s War Crimes Act 1991 . He died in prison in Norwich , England . Early life . Andrei Sawoniuk was born in Domaczewo , Poland ( now Damachava , Belarus ) , a spa town on the Bug River . At that time 90 % of the town ' s population was Jewish , with the remainder being Poles , Ukrainians , Belorussians and German Volksdeutsche . Sawoniuk , nicknamed " Andrusha " ( a Russian and Belarusian diminutive of Andrey ) , has been described as Belorussian , some newspaper reports say that his mother was Polish , Sawoniuk never knew the identity of his father , although townspeople believed him to be Josef Jakubiak , the town ' s Jewish schoolmaster , because his mother Pelagia had been working as a cleaner at Jakubiak ' s school and home during the months when Sawoniuk was conceived . Sawoniuk ' s half - brother Nikolai said to the Daily Mail , a British newspaper : " People in the village said that my brother was the son of the schoolmaster . I think the same . " Andrei used the patronymic " Andreeovich " , which does not appear in the Polish language . His mother ' s former husband had also had the name Andrei . The family were poor : his mother worked washing clothes while Sawoniuk and his half - brother collected firewood to sell . Sawonuik also worked as a sabbath goy : a gentile employed by Orthodox Jews to carry out Sabbath tasks that were forbidden to them , such as lighting fires or chopping wood . He learnt basic Yiddish from his employers . Actions during and after WWII . During World War II Sawonuik was a member of the local Nazi - supported Belorussian Auxiliary Police and rose to the rank of Commandant . While serving in the police he participated in the murdering of Jews . In 1944 Sawoniuk fled westwards when the Red Army advanced towards Domaczewo and in July 1944 joined the German armed forces , serving in the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( 2nd Russian ) . He deserted from the SS in November 1944 and changed sides , using his Polish birth certificate to join the 10th Hussar Regiment of the Polish II Corps . After the war Sawoniuk settled in England in 1946 , " posing as a Polish patriot " . In 1951 he wrote a letter to his half - brother , Nikolai . The KGB , who already suspected him of being a war criminal , intercepted the letter and noted that he was now living in the UK . It was not until the 1980s that the KGB started sharing such information with the UK . However , even then , due to a misspelling of his name , it took until 1993 for authorities to realise that Sawoniuk , then working for British Rail , was one of the people on the KGB list and was duly arrested . Trial . Sawoniuk had by that time become a British citizen . He was tried at the Old Bailey in London in 1999 on two specimen charges of murder with regard to the murder of Jews in his German - occupied hometown during World War II . The jury found him guilty of one charge by unanimous decision and of the other by a ten to one majority . A further two charges of murder were withdrawn by the prosecution due to procedural errors with evidence . However , both of the murders of which Sawoniuk was convicted were individual elements of two group murders : in the first Sawoniuk , according to eyewitnesses , shot 15 Jews ; in the second he shot three Jews . At his trial Sawoniuk said of his accusers " They are professional liars . They have criminal records . Some of the witnesses at the magistrates court have done 25 years , alcoholics . I was the best friend of the Jews . " He also stated that " Everyone is telling lies . They have been told by the Russian KGB to say there was a ghetto . These devils came here with their lies against me . " and " I have done no crime whatsoever . My conscience is clear . I killed no one . I would not dream of doing it . I am not a monster I am an ordinary working - class poor man . " He also denied having been a member of the German armed forces , stating " I have never been in the German army . I have been accused of being in the SS by Scotland Yard , headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police . But it is not true . " He was given two life sentences and trial judge Mr Justice Potts recommended that Sawoniuk should spend the rest of his life in prison . He was the first and the only person in United Kingdom to be convicted under the War Crimes Act 1991 . From a legal perspective this case is interesting as it was also the first time that a British jury had travelled overseas to view the scene of a crime . In 2000 the House of Lords refused him permission to appeal . Sawoniuk died in Norwich Prison of natural causes aged 84 . Former war crimes investigator Lord Greville Janner said " Sawoniuk was a vile , Nazi murderer who will not be missed . "