MI6 agent faces jail for leaking secrets

An MI6 officer yesterday admitted he had unlawfully disclosed secrets about the security agency. But, says Jason Bennetto, Crime Corresponden t, the agent insists that nothing he revealed put officers at risk or damaged national security.

Richard Tomlinson faces up to two years in jail after he became the first MI6 agent to be successfully prosecuted under official secrets legislation for 36 years.

Mr Tomlinson, 34, admitted that last year he had sent a a seven-page synopsis to a publisher in Australia outlining the first seven chapters of a proposed book about his experiences in the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Mr Tomlinson joined MI6 in 1991 and was dismissed in 1995.

Analysis by MI6 staff showed the synopsis disclosed details of the "training, operations, sources and methods" of SIS, Bow Street magistrates' court in London was told.

But in a statement, Mr Tomlinson, who remains in police custody, argued that he had become a victim of the "draconian" Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989 which prevents the disclosure of any information about MI6 by employees. The former agent argued that nothing he intended to publish would have put anyone at risk.

He said: "I wanted to plead not guilty to expose this hypocrisy, but the draconian nature of the Official Secrets Act makes this impossible - there is no public interest defence. I would have been guilty even if I had disclosed the colour of the carpets in the office."

Colin Gibbs, for the prosecution, argued that the information in the proposed book would have been damaging to the national interest.

Mr Gibbs said that during his time with the service he was active operationally and had access to a wide range of sensitive information. He is understood to have worked in Moscow, Bosnia, and the Middle East.

When he was dismissed from from the service in August 1995. He said he no longer felt bound by the Official Secrets Act and that he had no moral obligation to SIS because of the "disgraceful" manner of his dismissal, the court was told.

Earlier this year Tomlinson signed an agreement to terminate a claim for unfair dismissal and to return the information in his possession in exchange for financial support.

However, last spring he went to Australia to discuss publication of his book. Mr Tomlinson returned to Britain and was arrested last month.

The case was committed for sentencing at the Old Bailey. He is the first MI6 agent to be prosecuted under official secrets legislation since the Soviet spy George Blake, 36 years ago.