Parliamentary researcher charged with spying for China

Chris Cash, the parliamentary aide accused of spying for China, is to be charged with espionage offences, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said today. Nick Price, the head of the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division, confirmed that it has has now ‘authorised the Metropolitan police to charge two men with espionage offences’. Price said Cash, 29, and his alleged accomplice Christopher Berry, 32, would be charged with providing prejudicial information to a China. They will appear at Westminster magistrates court this Friday.

‘Criminal proceedings against the defendants are active,’ Price declared in a statement. ‘No one should report, comment or share information online which could in any way prejudice their right to a fair trial.’ Cash was closely linked with Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, and was employed as a researcher by Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee. She has already tweeted that she will not be adding any further comment to her original Sunday Times response because ‘as this matter is now sub judice it is essential that neither I, not anyone else, say anything that might prejudice a criminal trial relating to a matter of national security.