Dropping of spy case ‘not a political decision’

BRITISH Attorney General Peter Goldsmith yesterday denied there was any political interference in the decision by prosecutors in Northern Ireland to drop charges against three men accused of spying at Stormont.

In a reply to the House of Commons' Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, the Attorney General said the decision to drop charges last month against Denis Donaldson, Ciaran Kearney and William Mackessy was informed by facts and information provided by the province's Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, in November.

And while he admitted consulting Cabinet colleagues a year ago about whether they had any information relating to the case, Goldsmith said it formed no part of the Public Prosecution Service's move to collapse the case.