Stephen Parkinson called on to give ‘fuller explanation’ as MI5 expresses frustration over charges being dropped
The director of public prosecutions has come under intense cross-party pressure to explain why the China spy trial collapsed as MI5 expressed frustration at the decision and MPs launched a series of inquiries into how it was taken.
The chairs of the home affairs, foreign affairs, justice and national security committees wrote together to Stephen Parkinson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), on Thursday calling on him to give “a fuller explanation for the dropping of charges”.
They asked Parkinson “what steps did you take to make ministers aware” that the case was at risk of collapse because of a change in the case law that required China to be designated a “threat to the national security of the UK”.
The committee chairs also asked if a key government witness, one of the UK’s deputy national security advisers, Matthew Collins, was warned his evidence may be insufficient and “what consideration was given to seeking evidence from other sources” as to the level of security threats posed by China.
