The two men were charged on Monday 22 April with the following offences:
Christopher Berry, 32 of Witney, Oxfordshire on dates between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, obtained, collected, recorded, published, or communicated to any other person articles, notes, documents or information, which were calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy. Contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Christopher Cash, 29 of Whitechapel, London on dates between 20 January 2022 and 3 February 2023, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, obtained, collected, recorded, published, or communicated to any other person articles, notes, documents or information, which were calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy. Contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911.
The foreign state to which the above charges relate is China. The two men have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 26 April 2024.
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Counter Terrorism Command, 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.
“We’re aware there has been a degree of public and media interest in this case, but we would ask others to refrain from any further comment or speculation so that the criminal justice process can now run its course.”
Officers previously arrested two men on 13 March 2023 in connection with the investigation. A man in his 30s was arrested at an address in Oxfordshire and a man in his 20s was arrested at an address in Edinburgh.
Both men were subsequently released on police bail while the investigation continued and a case file was passed to the CPS for consideration in late 2023. Consent to charge was given by the Attorney General on 3 April 2024 and authorisation then subsequently given by the CPS to charge Berry and Cash with the above offences.
