Threat assessment of China led to spy case collapse, says CPS

BBC:

The UK’s most senior prosecutor has said a case involving two men accused of spying for China collapsed because he could not obtain evidence from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has said the government could only draw on the previous, Conservative government’s assessment of China, which only went as far as calling the country an “epoch-defining challenge”.

Charges against Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33 – who both deny the allegations – were dropped by prosecutors in September, prompting criticism from ministers and MPs.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson, said there had been sufficient evidence to prosecute at the time charges were brought in April 2024, but a precedent set by another spying case had raised the threshold needed to convict people under the Official Secrets Act.