A high-profile case involving two men accused of spying for China was dropped because the UK government failed to provide evidence Beijing was a security threat, the chief prosecutor has said.
Prosecutors have come under fire from lawmakers and government officials after charges against two men, including a former parliamentary researcher, were dismissed last month.
But Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, in a letter to parliamentary committees on Tuesday, said prosecutors had tried “over many months” to get the evidence needed to proceed with the trial, but it had not been forthcoming from the government.
Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, were arrested in 2023, accused of collecting information which could be “directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy” between December 2021 and February 2023.
The arrests sparked concerns of a major security breach as Cash was revealed to be a parliamentary researcher reportedly sharing close ties with senior Conservative lawmakers.
To prove the case under the UK’s Official Secrets Act, prosecutors needed to show that the defendants were acting for an “enemy” — a country which represents a national security threat to the UK at the time of the offence.
But Parkinson, who is the most senior public prosecutor in England and Wales, said they were not given sufficient evidence that China “represented a threat to national security”.
“Efforts to obtain that evidence were made over many months, but notwithstanding the fact that further witness statements were provided, none of these stated that at the time of the offence China represented a threat to national security,” said Parkinson.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer — a former DPP himself — said since the alleged offence took place under the previous Conservative government, the prosecution would have to refer to the previous administration’s policy regarding China’s security threat.
“As a prosecutor I know that if you’re going to prosecute a case like this, it is what was the situation at the time when the offence was committed that matters,” The Times newspaper reported Starmer saying.
Earlier this week, a government spokesperson said: “The decision not to proceed the prosecution under the Official Secrets Act was made by the Crown Prosecution Service, entirely independent of the government.”
Starmer’s government has endeavoured to reset ties with Beijing — which reached historic lows under the previous Tory government — since coming into power in July 2024, with senior ministers making visits to China.
