Spy case collapse 'not political move'

The British Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, today 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 North’s Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, in November.