Two men charged with spying for China under Official Secrets Act

submitted by tardigrada@beehaw.org

www.bbc.com/news/uk-68874822

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/13328418

Christopher Cash, 29, the researcher, and Christopher Berry, 32, were charged under the Official Secrets Act.

They are accused of giving "articles, notes, documents or information" to a foreign state, the Met Police in the UK said.

Mr Berry, from Witney in Oxfordshire, and Mr Cash, of Whitechapel, London, were arrested last March in connection with the investigation.

It was previously reported that one of the men - Mr Cash - was a parliamentary researcher involved with the China Research Group, and who is understood to have had access to several Conservative MPs.

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'China has called the allegations "malicious slander".

Counter-terrorism police have described the allegations as "very serious".' They would do though wouldn't they?

Why has it taken over a year to charge them?

Presumably it has taken over a year because:

Cdr Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command, said it had been an "extremely complex investigation"

Fair enough - but a year? That seems a bit excessive - I hope they've been locked away for the duration.

Or fed false information, or used to uncover the broader network