Shayler to come in from cold and face music

Renegade spy, David Shayler, plans to return to Britain before Christmas, he told the BBC this morning.

Shayler has been living in France after he revealed alleged wrong-doing in the British secret service.

He faces charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act after he claimed that two MI6 officers were involved in a plot to assassinate Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.

He called for a number of senior figures including the Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Home Secretary Jack Straw and the heads of MI6 and MI5 to be interviewed by Special Branch in connection with the matter.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today Programme, he said that he was coming back to Britain for "personal reasons" and that he was prepared to stand trial and clear his name.

"I think I can win any court case," he said.

Shayler spent four months in a Paris jail in 1998 while the British Government tried to have him extradited to face charges, but the case was thrown out by a French court, leading the Attorney General to begin civil proceedings for damages in the High Court.