"Shortly before 10am on Monday, the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns received an unwelcome phone call. I don't know how to tell you this, said the specialist police officer on the line. Ten minutes later the Old Bailey heard what Kearns now knew. A long-awaited trial of two men a former parliamentary aide to Kearns, Christopher Cash, and an associate, Christopher Berry accused of spying for China was to be abandoned."
"The CPS said the case had been kept under continuous review. Prosecutors said on Monday that the evidential standard was no longer met, though the same standard applied when the two men were charged in April 2024 for allegedly breaching the Official Secrets Act, a decision to prosecute that required the consent of the then attorney general, the Conservative Victoria Prentis. Cash and Berry, who had always maintained their innocence, now had no case to answer."
Shortly before 10am on Monday, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns was informed by a specialist police officer that a long-awaited espionage trial would be abandoned. The trial had accused her former aide Christopher Cash and associate Christopher Berry of spying for China and was expected to examine allegations that politically sensitive information passed from Westminster to a member of China's politburo. The case had been scheduled for Woolwich crown court on 6 October and had required the previous attorney general's consent to charge under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024. Prosecutors said the evidential standard was no longer met, leaving the defendants without a case.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]