Prosecutors dropped the investigation last month over a lack of evidence
Top UK security officials will face a probe over a dropped case over two “Chinese spies”, Bloomberg wrote on Tuesday. British newspapers have attributed the move to an attempt to not sour relations with Beijing, one of London’s biggest trade partners.
Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher, were charged with sharing “prejudicial information” with China in April of last year. They have repeatedly denied all allegations since their arrest in 2023. Beijing has consistently branded London’s accusations of alleged spying as a “groundless and unacceptable smear.”
Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped charges against the two men just weeks before trial. Despite the prosecutors citing a lack of evidence, the decision sparked outrage among MPs.
Top security officials are expected to be grilled on the collapsed case at an upcoming parliamentary committee meeting, Bloomberg cited its anonymous source as saying.
According to UK Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, the case was dropped due to a lack of testimony.
None of the witness statements provided stated that China “represented a threat to national security,” and by August of this year, the prosecution realized that “this evidence would not be forthcoming,” he wrote in a letter to MPs on Tuesday.
Parkinson cited a case from earlier this year, in which the CPS convicted six Bulgarian nationals of feeding information to Russia, which was ruled an “enemy” for the purposes of the Official Secrets Act.
Moscow at the time denied the spying allegations, accusing London of trying to stir up anti-Russian hysteria.
The British government has said it was not to blame for torpedoing the investigation, adding it was a decision made by prosecutors who relied on language used by the previous government in its China policy.
London has recently moved to rebuild trade ties with Beijing, resuming Joint Economic and Trade Commission talks last month after a seven-year freeze.
