​​During the escape attempt their boat capsised and Dennis, who could not swim, drowned, despite Peter’s best efforts to rescue him. When Maurice and Peter returned to shore they were met by the German Harbour Police. They were arrested and taken to prison in St Helier where they were interrogated.

​Peter and Maurice were secretly transported to Germany and seemingly vanished without a trace. Taken first to Fresnes prison, they were then interrogated and tortured at Gestapo HQ in Paris. On 12 June 1942, Peter and Maurice were sent to a German prison in Trier and then moved to Reinsfeld. From there they were marched to SS Sonderlager Hinzert where, for the next six weeks, they were tortured, beaten and strenuously worked for twelve hours a day on very low rations.

​On 24 July 1942, Peter and Maurice were relocated to the maximum-security penitentiary of Wittlich, where they were put to work in a basket factory. The beatings from Hinzert, starvation diet and damp conditions fatally weakened Maurice, who died on 1 October 1943.

​Peter was transported to Breslau in March 1944, where he faced trial. He was found guilty and given a four-year prison term. After his trial, he was returned to Breslau prison and, on 26 July 1944, he was taken on foot to Schweidnitz Prison in Silesia (now Świdnica in Poland).

​In January 1945, Peter was put on a forced march to the prison of Hirschberg (now Jelenia Góra in Poland). On 9 May 1945 the prisoners were given back their own clothes and set free. By this stage, 19-year-old Peter weighed under 38 kilograms. Peter managed to get to Eilenburg where a Soviet/United States prisoner of war exchange point was set up. He was flown to Brussels and then to London.

​In January 1997, aged 71, Peter kept his vow to Maurice and was able to repatriate his body to Jersey, where he was buried in the Allied War Cemetery of Howard Davis Park in a special ceremony. In the same year, Peter finished writing his memoirs. He passed away in 1998.​