LONDON: The UK’s chief prosecutor has blamed the government for the collapse of a high-profile spy case involving two men accused of working for China.
Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said prosecutors dropped the case because the government failed to provide evidence that Beijing represented a security threat.
In a letter to parliamentary committees, Parkinson stated prosecutors had tried “over many months” to obtain the necessary evidence but it had not been forthcoming from the government.
Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, were arrested in 2023 under the Official Secrets Act.
They were accused of collecting information that could be “directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy” between December 2021 and February 2023.
Cash was a parliamentary researcher with reported close ties to senior Conservative lawmakers.
To prove the case, prosecutors needed to show the defendants were acting for an “enemy” – a country representing a national security threat to the UK at the time of the offence.
Parkinson said they were not given sufficient evidence that China “represented a threat to national security”.
“Efforts to obtain that evidence were made over many months, but notwithstanding the fact that further witness statements were provided, none of these stated that at the time of the offence China represented a threat to national security,“ said Parkinson.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former DPP himself, said the prosecution would have to refer to the previous Conservative government’s policy regarding China’s security threat.
“As a prosecutor I know that if you’re going to prosecute a case like this, it is what was the situation at the time when the offence was committed that matters,“ Starmer told The Times.
A government spokesperson earlier stated the decision was made “entirely independent of the government” by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Starmer’s government has sought to reset ties with Beijing since coming to power in July 2024, with senior ministers visiting China. – AFP