BRITAIN: David Shayler, the former MI5 officer who disclosed British government secrets to the media, was facing a prison sentence last night after being convicted of breach the Official Secrets Act.
Shayler (36) was found guilty at the Old Bailey of activities which the prosecution said placed the lives of secret agents potentially at risk. He looked grim as the jury returned its verdict, and was remanded on bail for sentencing until today. He could face up to two years' imprisonment on each of the three counts.
Shayler copied 28 files on seven topics - including several on Libyan links with the IRA and Soviet funding of the Communist Party of Great Britain - before leaving MI5 in October 1996. The documents, some marked "top secret", were said to be "chock-a-block" with agents' names and other highly sensitive information. The prosecution said it would apply later for £40,000 - the sum Shayler received from the Mail on Sunday newspaper in 1997 - to be confiscated.
Outside the court, Shayler's girlfriend, Ms Annie Machon, also a former MI5 officer, said: "David is a whistle-blower, pure and simple. I'm shocked at the verdict. He deserves to be protected, not prosecuted.
"David revealed malpractice, crime and incompetence on behalf of the intelligence service and he did it in the public interest ... We believe judges in Europe will be more sceptical about the Official Secrets Act." - (PA)