One of the suspects in the China spy case allegedly had secure communication apps used only by Beijing agents installed on ‘burner phones’, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The trial of Christopher Berry and Chris Cash, on charges of passing secrets to China between 2021 and 2023, collapsed last month.
It has since emerged that the Crown Prosecution Service asked repeatedly for the Government to state that ‘at the time of the offence China represented a threat to national security’, but it failed to do so. Both men were formally declared not guilty and deny any wrongdoing.
The suspicious apps, which are not available to the Chinese public, were allegedly found on Mr Berry’s mobiles after he returned to Britain from China in February 2023.
On his arrival at a UK airport, he was stopped under terrorism powers and all his electronic devices seized.
The alleged discovery was instrumental in the decision to build a case against the two men that they had been passing intelligence to Chinese spies.
Mr Berry, 33, a former teacher in China, was accused of handing about 34 files to his Chinese handler which contained sensitive information apparently gleaned by his friend, Mr Cash, who was working in Parliament at the time.
Mr Cash was working for the China Research Group, which was a Parliamentary group consisting of China-sceptic MPs, originally founded by Tom Tugendhat, the former Tory security minister.
Christopher Berry and Chris Cash (pictured right) were set to face trial this month, but proceedings against them were stopped after the Crown Prosecution Service said it could ‘no longer proceed to trial’ due to a lack of evidence
Parliamentary aide Cash, 30, (pictured) and British teacher Berry, 33, were each charged with the offence of spying under the Official Secrets Act
He was also a Commons researcher to Tory MP Alicia Kearns, who was chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the time.
Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported that Ms Kearns, now the shadow national security minister, was told she had been targeted by the alleged spying operation.
Ms Kearns, 37, revealed how she feared she might have been bugged during a 2022 trip to Taiwan on a fact-finding trip.
She said: ‘They could have got in that room at any time. You can’t be sure that the room hasn’t got a bug or a camera somewhere.
‘There could be photos of you walking around your hotel room naked.’
Both Mr Berry and Mr Cash were arrested at their homes in March 2023 and charged under the Official Secrets Act for passing data to China which was ‘prejudicial to the safety and interests’ of the UK and was ‘directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy’.
Both men strenuously denied the charges. The pair allegedly spied for China between 2021 and early 2023, by which time the China Research Group was headed by Ms Kearns.
Mr Cash allegedly passed sensitive information to Mr Berry in China, who in turn sent 34 ‘reports’ to an individual identified as a Chinese ‘intelligence agent’ – who was said to have then sent the reports to Cai Qi, the fifth-ranking member of Communist Party’s ruling Politburo.
A source familiar with the investigation said British spies first became aware of UK-related intelligence circulating in the ‘Chinese intelligence system’, which led them to identifying Mr Berry first, and through him Mr Cash.
Tory MP Alicia Kearns, 37, revealed how she feared she might have been bugged during a 2022 trip to Taiwan on a fact-finding trip
The source said: ‘They found intelligence about British stuff in the Chinese system, and they worked from there, and that took them to Chris Berry.
‘And once they found Chris Berry, that’s how they found Chris Cash. Chris Berry was the entry point into the Chinese intelligence system.’
The MoS understands Mr Berry sent details of the row within government on the Newport Wafer Fab semiconductor factory, which was initially sold to a Chinese company called Nexperia, but which was then blocked by the Conservative government in 2021 over national security fears.
Mr Berry is also suspected of sending details of the hotel and even rooms MPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee were going to stay in during their visit to Taiwan in November 2022.
The delegation was headed by Ms Kearns.
Tim Law, a former British defence attaché to Beijing who now works at the UK-China Transparency group, said: ‘There was a very good prospect of a very successful prosecution based upon the hard evidence that was there.’
Charles Parton, a former British diplomat to China and an expert at the Council on Geostrategy research institute, said that the trial was a ‘missed opportunity to demonstrate clearly China’s espionage efforts’.
He added: ‘It would appear this is another example of the British government being unwilling to stand up to bullying.’
Mr Berry did not respond to requests for comment.
