AN EX-BOND girl has launched a search for a former Nelson man who was jailed for 22 years amid fears he was working as a Soviet spy during the Cold War.

Film star Fiona Fullerton struck up a penpal relationship with Alex Alexandrowicz after he first wrote to her from his prison cell in 1976.

Alexandrowicz was convicted of aggravated burglary and grievous bodily harm, and was said to have links to Soviet spies – claims he has always denied.

Now Fiona, an actress-turned-author, hopes to include Alexandrowicz’s letters in a book she is writing about his ordeal.

But after years of correspondence, the pair lost touch in 1988 and she has been unable to trace him since.

Fiona contacted the Lancashire Telegraph in the hope that someone from his hometown may have vital information about his whereabouts.

She said: “Primarily I want to find him because I feel incredibly sad that I was unable to do more for him when I was at the peak of my fame and celebrity.

“It’s only with the passage of time that I have realised these things. I was so wrapped up in my own life that I didn’t do more.

“I want to know that he is alright because he was a huge part of my life and because if I am going to write this book I would like his blessing.”

Alexandrowicz, who was born to a Ukrainian father and an English mother, grew up in Nelson along with his sister.

But his childhood was turbulent and he spent time in care and borstal before running away to Preston.

On his first trip to London, aged 18, he met Igor Laptev at the Soviet embassy, where he had gone to trace his Ukrainian grandparents.

Unbeknown to Alexandrowicz, Laptev, who offered to help him, was a top Soviet spy.

Photographs of the pair sharing lunch in a park sparked concerns he was taking messages from the Soviet embassy to Nelson.

He was convicted after signing a burglary confession, something he later claimed he only did because police threatened to have his father deported.

But his innocence pleas have been backed up by his former prison governor, Prof David Wilson, with whom he co-wrote the book ‘The Longest Injustice’.

Now 58, and after spending time in Milton Keynes after his release in 1993, Alexandrowicz’s whereabouts are unknown.

Fiona, who played KGB agent Pola Ivanova in ‘A View To A Kill’, said: “He wrote me the most extraordinary letters and beautiful poems.

“When I got divorced in 1981 he was incredibly philosophical about the situation and offered me great support.”

Anyone with information should go to the contact section of www.fionafullerton.com or call Jon Livesey on 01254 298202.