Officer 'leaked email to save lives' [View All]

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Press Association
Thursday November 27, 2003 11:48 AM


A British intelligence officer charged with leaking a top-secret memo to the press has appeared in court.Katharine Gun, 29, is charged under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act.Mrs Gun, from Moor End Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire worked for the Government communications headquarters GCHQ as a translator at the security services main monitoring centre in Cheltenham.It is claimed she leaked an email from American spies asking British counterparts to tap telephones.Mrs Gun appeared in the dock at Bow Street Magistrates Court, central London only to confirm her name and address.

Ben Emmerson QC, representing Mrs Gun, said: "We will be entering a not guilty plea. I shall make it clear that she does not dispute she is responsible for leaking an email, the subject of this charge."Her defence will be her actions were justified by a defence of necessity. The disclosure made by her was a sincere attempt to prevent what she believed to be an unlawful war and saved the lives of British servicemen and women and Iraqi citizens."

Edward Brown, prosecuting, said the case raised some potentially very complex issues and legal questions. The court heard that there were issues over what instructions the defendant can give to her defence solicitors.Mrs Gun was sacked from GCHQ in June. She was charged on November 13.Senior district judge Timothy Workman granted unconditional bail to Mrs Gun until January 19 for a further appearance at Bow Street before the matter is transferred to Crown Court.

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From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,1271,-3436640,00.html