 At an Old Bailey trial on 23 July he was found guilty of running an operation which sent secret naval intelligence to France—a country which supported the rebellious American colonists, and with which Great Britain had been at war since 1778.Specifically, the intelligence concerned British fleet dispositions at Portsmouth and other British ports.In July 1781 the War of American Independence was not over (though it would be within a few months) and the navies of Great Britain and France were still fighting each other not only in the North Atlantic but as far afield as the Indian Ocean.