The head of Government Communications HQ has spoken with regret of the treatment of Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker and mathematical genius, who killed himself in 1954, two years after being convicted of homosexuality, which was then a criminal offence.

In a rare speech to mark the centenary of Turing’s birth, Iain Lobban said the unique people the country needed were often mavericks, and it was his job to set them to work in the world of secret intelligence, ‘not to tell them how to live their lives’.

GCHQ chief expresses regret at treatment of Alan Turing »