"Downing Street has published three witness statements from UK's deputy national security adviser in an effort to draw as line under the row over why spying charges against two Britons accused of spying for China were dropped last month. Charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry fell away because prosecutors could not obtain evidence from Matthew Collins that Beijing represented a threat to the national security of the UK over many months."
"The third and final statement supplied by Collins in August describes China's intelligence services as highly capable and that they conduct large scale espionage operations agains the UK to advance the Chinese state's interests and harm the interests and security of the UK. It was his final effort at ending a stand off with the Stephen Parkinson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service,"
Three witness statements from the UK's deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, were published by Downing Street to explain why espionage charges were dropped. Prosecutors could not obtain evidence from Collins that Beijing posed a sustained threat to UK national security, so charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry were dropped. Collins' final August statement described China's intelligence services as highly capable and conducting large-scale espionage operations against the UK to advance Chinese state interests and harm UK security. Collins' wording was similar to prosecutorial requests but was judged insufficient by the Crown Prosecution Service. Keir Starmer authorised the statements' release at prime minister's questions, and parliamentary committee chairs met the CPS; one report said the statements were about 5% short of the evidential threshold.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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