Two men, including a former parliamentary researcher, no longer face prosecution over allegations that they spied for China.
Christopher Cash, 30, from Whitechapel, east London, and Christopher Berry, 33, of Witney, Oxfordshire, were each charged with the offence of spying under the Official Secrets Act.
The pair had denied allegations that they collected and communicated information which could be “useful to an enemy” between December 2021 and February 2023 and were set to face trial in October, but proceedings against them were stopped on Monday – with prosecutor Tom Little telling the Old Bailey that the “evidential stage of the case” was “no longer met”.
Outside court after the hearing, Mr Cash reportedly said: “While I am relieved that justice has been served today, the last two-and-a-half years have been a nightmare for me and my family.”
He said that he hoped “lessons are learned from this sorry episode”.
His barrister, Henry Blaxland KC, told the court that the decision to prosecute his client was “ill-judged”, adding: “Lest there be any whispering campaign that he was fortunate that the prosecution ultimately elected not to proceed, we need to make it clear that our client is entirely innocent and should never have been arrested, let alone prosecuted.
“We simply hope that he is now able to rebuild his life.”
Mr Cash worked as a parliamentary researcher and was director of the China Research Group (CRG).
He was closely linked to then-senior Tories, including former security minister Tom Tugendhat and Alicia Kearns, who served as chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr Blaxland told the Old Bailey: “In their witness statements, his colleagues at the China Research Group expressed disbelief that he could have been in some way acting as an agent of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).
“That disbelief was founded on the fact that, as they knew and had witnessed, during the two years that he worked for them, he did more than anybody to assist in informing parliamentarians of the security risks involved in doing business with China, including in contributing to the drafting of legislation designed to reduce those risks.”
Mr Berry worked in various teaching posts in China since September 2015.
Security minister Dan Jarvis is due to update MPs on the decision to drop the case when he delivers a Commons statement on Monday afternoon.
When the charges were announced, China dismissed them as “self-staged political farce”.
An embassy spokesman said at the time: “I would like to reaffirm that the claim that China is suspected of ‘stealing British intelligence’ is completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander.
“We firmly oppose it and urge the UK side to stop anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce.”
