Britain's failed attempt to bring criminal charges against two alleged Chinese spies was “shambolic”, “riddled with confusion” and suffered from “systemic failures”, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has concluded.
The high-profile espionage case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry collapsed in 2024 when the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was insufficient evidence that China posed a threat to UK national security at the time of the alleged crimes.
The CPS abandoned the case despite witness testimony from the UK government's Deputy National Security Adviser (DNSA), who called China “the biggest state-led threat to the UK's economic security” and pointed to state-linked cyber attacks on government and commercial targets, according to a report by MPs.
The prosecution's main witness in the case, DNSA Matthew Collins, wrote in a witness statement that “China's espionage operations threaten the UK's economic prosperity and resilience, as well as the integrity of democratic institutions,” and that China is behind “malicious cyber activity… targeting democratic institutions and parliamentarians in large-scale espionage campaigns.”
The two defendants – Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Berry, a teacher – were charged in April 2020 with espionage under the Official Secrets Act 1911. They were accused of passing information about UK politics, MPs and UK government policies to a Chinese intelligence agent, before being acquitted after the government dropped the case.
According to Report released today by the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy (JCNSS)However, it was “not immediately apparent” that the director of public prosecutions did not have evidence that China posed a national security threat at the time of the alleged crimes, given the strength of Collins' testimony.
According to the report, prosecutors raised questions about the case against Cash and Berry following the court's decision following the May 2025 conviction of a Bulgarian spy ring working for the Russian state led by Cash and Berry. The ruling considered the meaning of the word “enemy” under the Official Secrets Act 1911.
The Court of Appeal found that “there is no reason why the term 'enemy' should not include a country that poses a current threat to the UK.” It further stated that the jury would have every opportunity to evaluate the evidence and facts.
However, Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson told the committee that Roussev's decision meant prosecutors needed to show that the “cumulus of threats posed by China” when the alleged crimes took place “made China a national security threat.”
Parkinson went on to tell MPs that prosecutors had failed to obtain evidence that China posed an “active” and “current” threat to UK national security at the time of the alleged crimes.
The committee said developments in the case were “surprising”, particularly following the decision to drop prosecution two days after a meeting between UK National Security Adviser (NSA) Jonathan Powell and other officials to “discuss the management of the UK's bilateral relationship with China”.
The committee said it found no evidence of a high-level coordinated effort to derail the prosecution or any deliberate attempt to thwart it. But he found evidence that the process was “riddled with confusion and misaligned expectations.”
Constitutional guarantees meant to protect the independence of the criminal justice system have instead “catalyzed a crisis of public confidence and fueled accusations of conspiracy at the highest levels of government,” the lawmakers said.
MP Matt Western, chairman of the joint committee that made recommendations to improve the handling of future cases, said he hoped the committee's investigation would draw a line in the matter.
“As the global security situation worsens, sensitive national security matters will arise more frequently. The government must show the public that it has the confidence to confront adversaries when necessary. Failure to do so will undermine public confidence in our institutions,” he added.
