Handling of China spying case was shambolic', security committee concludes

"Parliament's security committee has criticised prosecutors for pulling their charges against two men accused of spying for Beijing, in a damning report that concluded the handling of the case was shambolic."

"MPs said that a process beset by confusion and misaligned expectations and inadequate communication between the government and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had contributed to the collapse of the trial, while several opportunities to correct course were missed."

"The CPS unexpectedly dropped its charges, which had been brought under the 1911 Official Secrets Act, on 15 September and said the government had not provided sufficient evidence that China represented a threat to the national security of the UK. In its report published on Tuesday night, the joint committee on the national security strategy (JCNSS) said the episode had exposed systemic failures that created a crisis of public confidence and fuelled allegations of conspiracy at the highest levels of government."

"The JCNSS said: The evidence we received showed a process beset by confusion and misaligned expectations. Some aspects are best described as shambolic. However, it said it found no evidence of any coordinated high-level effort to collapse the prosecution, dismissing claims by senior Conservatives that there had been political interference. The JCNSS called into question prosecutors' judgment at several stages of the processes, concluding that the CPS could have surfaced or escalated issues over misaligned expectations much earlier."

A parliamentary committee concluded prosecutors mishandled the espionage prosecution of two men accused of spying for Beijing, describing the handling as shambolic. The Crown Prosecution Service unexpectedly dropped charges under the 1911 Official Secrets Act on 15 September, saying the government had not provided sufficient evidence that China represented a national security threat. The joint committee on the national security strategy (JCNSS) identified confusion, misaligned expectations and inadequate communication between government and CPS as key contributors to the trial's collapse. The JCNSS found systemic failures that undermined public confidence, questioned CPS judgment at several stages, but found no evidence of coordinated high-level political interference.

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