Minister Suggests Evidence was Key Factor in Dropped Spy Case
LONDON – A former Conservative minister has indicated that the lack of official designation defining a country as a threat played a role in the decision to drop espionage charges against two men. The case against Mr.Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr. Berry, collapsed last month after the director of public prosecutions determined the evidence no longer met the required evidential test for prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.
The two men were originally charged in April 2024, while the Conservatives were in power, with gathering and providing data prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023. The Official Secrets Act stipulates that a successful prosecution for spying requires proof the information passed on was useful to an enemy.
Several former Conservative ministers and advisors have now told the BBC that no official government designation existed at the time to define which countries constituted a threat. They claim a document detailing “hundreds” of examples of Chinese activity posing a threat to the UK existed and could have been presented as evidence.
Sources pointed to the 2021 hack on the Ministry of Defence,which ministers suspected China was behind,as one example among many. “I don’t think there is a sane jury in the world that would look at that evidence and conclude China was not a threat,” a source from the previous government stated.
Further supporting this claim,former ministers cite public statements from figures like Ken McCallum,the former head of MI5,who in 2023 described a “sustained campaign” of Chinese espionage on a “pretty epic scale.”
The Liberal Democrats have criticized the government’s approach to China, arguing it is “putting our national security at risk.” The party has called for the government to block the planning application for a new Chinese embassy in London, with Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum miller stating that approving the embassy’s construction “would enable Chinese espionage on an industrial scale.”
