"The chairs of the home affairs, foreign affairs, justice and national security committees wrote together to Stephen Parkinson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), on Thursday calling on him to give a fuller explanation for the dropping of charges. They asked Parkinson what steps did you take to make ministers aware that the case was at risk of collapse because of a change in the case law that required China to be designated a threat to the national security of the UK."
"Earlier on Thursday, MI5's director general, Ken McCallum, said he was frustrated at the decision and revealed security services had disrupted a threat from Beijing within the last week, though it was not related to parliament. Of course I am frustrated when opportunities to prosecute national security threatening activity are not followed through for what ever reason, the spy chief said, emphasising he would never back off from confronting threats to the UK."
Cross-party parliamentary committee chairs have pressed the head of the Crown Prosecution Service for a fuller explanation after the CPS dropped charges in a China-linked espionage case. Committees asked what steps were taken to alert ministers that a change in case law required China to be designated a national security threat and whether key witness Matthew Collins was warned his evidence might be insufficient. The CPS is expected to explain why charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry were discontinued a month before trial. MI5 expressed frustration and said security services recently disrupted a Beijing-linked threat unrelated to parliament.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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