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.

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

Lord Goldsmith said in the letter to committee chairman Sir Patrick Cormack: “The Director and I recognise the potential this decision has – particularly the limited explanation that has been given for it – to damage confidence in the new Public Prosecution Service.

“If it were possible for further explanation to be given, the Director and I would have provided it in order to avoid that very risk.

“Regrettably, to do so might be liable to give rise to the very damage the decision to discontinue was intended to avoid.

“I therefore particularly welcome your letter so that I may give you, and the Committee, my absolute assurance that there was no political interference and there was no question of the decision being taken to cover any possible embarrassment to the (British) government.”