Case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry was suddenly dropped, leaving questions for CPS
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hortly before 10am on Monday, the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns received an unwelcome phone call. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” said the specialist police officer on the line. Ten minutes later the Old Bailey heard what Kearns now knew. A long-awaited trial of two men – a former parliamentary aide to Kearns, Christopher Cash, and an associate, Christopher Berry – accused of spying for China was to be abandoned. “The cops were equally disappointed,” Kearns told the Guardian.
The trial had been expected to be an extraordinary test of London’s already fraught relationship with Beijing. Scheduled to begin at Woolwich crown court on 6 October, it had been expected to hear allegations that “politically sensitive” information was passing from Westminster to a member of China’s ruling politburo.
Kearns, a key witness, had no forewarning. A week earlier, police from the Metropolitan police’s SO15 unit, which handles spy as well as terror cases, had called to arrange a familiarisation visit to the court for her. Now she has been left frustrated. “Something is very amiss. If the Crown Prosecution Service has the evidence, why not put it in front of a jury and test it?” she said.
