MI5 chief frustrated' at failure to put men accused of spying for China on trial

"The MI5 director general, Ken McCallum, has acknowledged his frustration at the failure to put on trial two Britons who had been accused of spying for China, in an apparent rebuke to prosecutors who dropped the high-profile case last month. The domestic spy chief insisted he would never back off from confronting threats from Beijing, which he said posed a national security threat every day, although the wider UK-China relationship was a matter for the government."

"Clearly when we believe there has been activity threatening UK, national security convictions are great. We work very hard with our police colleagues to make those possible. And so, it's frustrating when they don't happen. But I would invite everyone to just not miss the fact this was a strong disruption in the interests in UK national security, McCallum said in a question-and-answer session with journalists that came after he gave a speech."

MI5 director general Ken McCallum expressed frustration at the failure to prosecute two Britons accused of spying for China while stressing continued action against Beijing-linked threats. MI5 disrupted a recent China-related spy plot and halted the alleged activities linked to the dropped case. The number of individuals under investigation for state-based threats rose 35% in the past year. The Crown Prosecution Service abandoned the prosecution of parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and researcher Christopher Berry, who denied the charges. The accusations involved passing parliamentary information to a Chinese agent identified as Alex and to Cai Qi, a member of China's politburo.

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