London man charged with 'leaking information to China' in complex Official Secrets Act investigation

Two men have been charged with terrorism offences today (April 22) after breaching the Official Secrets Act. Christopher Cash, 29,of Whitechapel and Christopher Berry, 32, of Witney, Oxfordshire have been accused of obtaining notes, documents or information that could be useful to an enemy and leaking them to China.

East Londoner Christopher Cash allegedly obtained, collected, recorded, published, or communicated to any other person articles, notes, documents or information, which were calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, Met Police said. He reportedly did so between 20 January 2022 and 3 February 2023.

Christopher Berry is charged with the same offence and allegedly did so between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023. Their actions are Contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911, Met Police said.

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Police have confirmed that the foreign state to which the above charges relate is China. The two men have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 26 April 2024.

Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Counter Terrorism Command, said: "This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations. We've worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service [CPS] as our investigation has progressed and this has led to the two men being charged today.

"We're aware there has been a degree of public and media interest in this case, but we would ask others to refrain from any further comment or speculation, so that the criminal justice process can now run its course."

Officers previously arrested two men on 13 March 2023 in connection with the investigation. A man in his 30s was arrested at an address in Oxfordshire and a man in his 20s was arrested at an address in Edinburgh.

Both men were subsequently released on police bail while the investigation continued and a case file was passed to the CPS for consideration in late 2023. Consent to charge was given by the Attorney General on 3 April 2024 and authorisation then subsequently given by the CPS to charge Berry and Cash with the above offences.

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