"The expert lawyers expressed surprise that the CPS thought it needed further assurance from the government that China was an enemy insofar as it posed a current threat to national security before the trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry could go ahead. The former director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald said in a BBC interview that he believed Stephen Parkinson, the current DPP, may have been over-fussy in demanding the government make a statement in open court that would be embarrassing"
"Nick Vamos, a former lawyer at the CPS and partner at Peter and Peters, said he believed prosecutors had probably messed up either when charging Cash and Berry in April 2024 or when they abandoned the case last month. I cannot fathom what about this case has changed, he said. Cash, a former parliamentary researcher to the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, and his friend Berry had been due to go on trial this month"
"Both men had denied the charge of spying in breach of the 1911 Official Secrets Act. They had been accused of spying between 2021 and early 2023, when the Conservatives were in power. The CPS abandoned the prosecution last month having failed for months to obtain the further assurances it sought when Labour was in charge. Labour and the Conservatives blamed each other. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, on a visit to India, said we were disappointed that the trial didn't proceed"
The Crown Prosecution Service abandoned charges against two Britons accused of spying for China after seeking further government assurances about whether China posed a current national security threat. Legal experts expressed surprise that the CPS required such assurances and questioned the decision-making of prosecutors. The accused, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, denied charges under the 1911 Official Secrets Act and had been due to stand trial; the alleged activity occurred between 2021 and early 2023. The abandonment followed months of unsuccessful requests for assurances while Labour led the government, and politicians from both parties traded blame.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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