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MI5 officer tells court of her secret date watching spy film

 

Sam Masters
Thursday 27 June 2013 18:49 BST
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Two MI5 officers disobeyed instructions to stay apart from each other and held a secret rendezvous to watch the espionage film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a court heard.

Southwark Crown Court was told that a spy accused of harassing his former girlfriend had met up with the woman, known in court by the codename 2363, after she had complained to her manager in August 2011 about his behaviour.

Six weeks after she was ordered not to see the man, who has been given the pseudonym Mark Barton, they went to watch the film based on the John le Carré novel. “In the cinema there was a lingering, not passionate, kiss. He held my head and kissed me and I did not push him off,” the woman told the court.

Afterwards Mr Barton, who was her superior, gave her a copy of a Lonely Planet guide to Madrid and said he had booked them a weekend away.

She claimed that Mr Barton later followed her home and threatened her, boasting that his father was a judge and that he was “going to ruin her life”.

She said that he was “acting crazy”, but was reluctant to report him. “I did not want to ruin his career,” she said. “He was more senior than me, would they take me seriously?”

The man denies putting his colleague in fear of violence by harassment and two counts of assault.

The trial continues.

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