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The recent case of two men accused of spying for China has been dropped due to the lack of evidence linking the activities to China as a national security threat, according to the UK’s top prosecutor. Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, who both maintain their innocence, had charges against them dismissed by prosecutors, leading to backlash from government officials and lawmakers.
In a rare move, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service had been attempting to acquire additional evidence from the government for months. However, the witness statements obtained did not meet the necessary threshold to proceed with the prosecution. The assessment made by the previous government, identifying China as a significant challenge, was the only basis for the government’s stance on the matter.
Although there was enough evidence to move forward with the case initially when charges were filed in April 2024, a precedent set by a previous spying case heightened the requirements for conviction under the Official Secrets Act. The necessity of labeling China as a threat to national security during the period of the alleged offenses by Cash and Berry posed a significant obstacle, according to Mr. Parkinson.
The collapse of the trial has left the government expressing frustration, with Mr. Parkinson’s intervention shedding light on the challenges faced. Efforts to obtain crucial evidence from the government were made over an extended period, but no conclusive statement identified China as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offenses. Former Intelligence and Security Committee chairman Dominic Grieve weighed in on the situation, raising questions about the handling of the case and the essential requirement of proving enemy status in court proceedings
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