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Two men in the UK including a former parliamentary aide have been charged with spying for China.
The Crown Prosecution Service said on Monday it had authorised charges against Christopher Cash, 29, from Whitechapel in east London, and Christopher Berry, 32, from Witney in Oxfordshire. Cash had worked as a parliamentary researcher in Westminster.
The pair “will be charged with providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China” and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, said Nick Price, head of the CPS’s special crime and counterterrorism division.
Cash and Berry were arrested by the police in March last year under the Official Secrets Act and a file was passed to the CPS in late 2023. The charges were given consent by the attorney-general, Victoria Prentis, earlier this month.
The CPS alleged that between January 2022 and February 2023, Cash “obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated” information that was “calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy”. Cash was accused of acting for “a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State”.
Berry is accused of the same offence between December 2021 and February 2023.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command at the Metropolitan Police, said: “This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations.
“We’ve worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service as our investigation has progressed and this has led to the two men being charged today.”
Cash and Berry could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. Both have been bailed ahead of Friday’s court appearance.
Cash said in a statement last September released by his lawyers that he was “completely innocent”.