England and Wales’s chief prosecutor has said no “outside pressure” played a part in his organisation’s decision to drop charges against two British men accused of spying for China.
Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions who leads the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said his team had considered “alternative offences” but concluded “none were suitable”.
The case against Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher, was dropped on Monday prompting fury from the UK government, opposition parties and Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.
Cash and Berry had denied the allegations. Beijing called the claims “malicious slander”.
The two men were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023.
But on Monday at the Old Bailey, the court heard that the CPS had determined the evidence it had gathered did not meet the threshold to go to trial. The pair were due to appear at Woolwich Crown Court from 6 October.
Mr Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), said the independence of his team was “completely respected within Whitehall and government” and he could give his “own assurance” that there had been no outside pressure.
Parkinson’s comments came in a letter to shadow home secretary Chris Philp who had asked whether the CPS had been “politically pressured directly or indirectly by any representative of the government”.
Parkinson indicated that one factor in securing a conviction would have entailed proving that China was an “enemy” as stated in the Official Secrets Act 1911.
“To secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove that a person, for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, communicated information to another person which is calculated to be, might be, or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an “enemy”,” he said.
The law has since been changed with the National Security Act 2023 which Mr Parkinson said contained “more extensive provisions to deal with espionage and those who are acting on behalf of foreign powers”.
The CPS decision was criticised by the Home Office and the prime minister’s official spokesman who said it was “extremely disappointing” the individuals would not face trial.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle told the Commons: “I am a very unhappy speaker with what has happened. The fact that it has taken two years, until today, for somebody to withdraw this case is not good enough.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis said he was “extremely disappointed” that there would be no trial and the government remained “gravely concerned about the threat of Chinese espionage”.
