A former parliamentary researcher and teacher charged with spying for China have been granted conditional bail after appearing in court.
Christopher Cash, 29, from Whitechapel in east London, and Christopher Berry, 32, from Witney in Oxfordshire, are both accused of an offence under the Official Secrets Act.
The two men appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today.
Berry taught economics and English in the Hangzhou region, in eastern China near Shanghai. In a YouTube video posted two years ago, he praises a lake in the Zhejiang province.
He was arrested alongside the public school-educated son of a GP who co-founded an influential policy group with security minister Tom Tugendhat.
The offences Mr Cash is alleged to have committed are claimed to have happened between 20 January 2022 and 3 February 2023, while those against Mr Berry are alleged to have happened between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023.
UK parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London
Christopher Berry arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court ahead of a hearing over allegations of spying for China
Christopher Cash, 29 – a Tory parliamentary researcher and China specialist – had been charged for an offence under the Official Secrets Act alongside Berry
Berry, 32, from Oxfordshire (pictured right) is accused of spying between December 28, 2021 and February 3, 2023, under the Official Secrets Act 1911. He previously taught in the Hangzhou region
Berry, who now works in digital marketing, also ran a blog in which he described a day in the life of a teacher in China.
Meanwhile, Cash was director of the China Research Group, which was initially chaired by Mr Tugendhat and then Alicia Kearns, who serves as chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
Cash, who insists he is ‘completely innocent’, grew up in a wealthy suburb of Edinburgh and attended £5,000-a-term George Watson’s College – where he was head of house – before studying History at the University of St Andrews.
Colleagues said there was shock when he vanished from Westminster, where he was at the heart of a social scene and organised bi-monthly pub drinks for a ‘Whitehall crowd of quite young people interested in China’.
The charge against Berry, of Witney in Oxfordshire, is that: ‘On dates between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, 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. Contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911.’
Cash, who insists he is ‘completely innocent’, grew up in a wealthy suburb of Edinburgh and attended £5,000-a-term George Watson’s College
Cash previously issued a statement through a law firm in which he had spent his career ‘trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party’
Cash is accused of the same offence between January 2022 and February 2023.
Cash previously issued a statement through the law firm Birnberg Peirce, in which he said: ‘I feel forced to respond to the media accusations that I am a ”Chinese spy”.
‘It is wrong that I should be obliged to make any form of public comment on the misreporting that has taken place.
‘However, given what has been reported, it is vital that it is known that I am completely innocent. I have spent my career to date trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party.
‘To do what has been claimed against me in extravagant news reporting would be against everything I stand for.’
China has dismissed the charges. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said it was ‘completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander’ to suggest Beijing was suspected of ‘stealing British intelligence’.
Berry, 32, previously taught in the Hangzhou region of China
In a YouTube video posted two years ago, Berry praises a lake in the Zhejiang province
‘We firmly oppose it and urge the UK side to stop anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce,’ the spokesman said.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command, previously said: ‘This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations.
‘We’ve worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service as our investigation has progressed and this has led to the two men being charged.
‘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.’
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told MPs two people had been charged on a matter ‘relating to national security’, one of whom was a parliamentary pass holder.
