Difference between revisions of "ABC Trial"

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Revision as of 13:41, 26 July 2016

Event.png ABC Trial  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
ABC Trial.jpg
Date5 September 1978 - 17 November 1978
Type criminal trial

The ABC Trial was an official secrets case of 1977-78, when a Labour government prosecuted two journalists and a former soldier for holding an interview, using the Official Secrets Act 1911, a law they had promised to repeal years before. The ABC case (named after the three defendants: Crispin Aubrey, John Berry and Duncan Campbell) ended in November 1978, causing grave embarrassment for James Callaghan's Labour government.[1]

Aubrey was a journalist for Time Out magazine, Berry a former corporal in Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and Campbell an investigative journalist. One of the prosecution witnesses, an anonymous SIGINT officer referred to as Colonel B, was in fact Hugh Johnstone.[2]

Timeline

  • 18 February 1977: Aubrey and Campbell (the two journalists) interviewed Berry
  • 20 February 1977: All three men were arrested and charged under Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Berry was charged with "communicating classified information to unauthorised persons", and Campbell and Aubrey with "unauthorised receipt of classified information")
  • 24 May 1977: Further charges were added under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911
  • 9 August 1977: Additional charge under Section 1 against Duncan Campbell, for collecting information
  • November 1977: Committal hearing at Tottenham Magistrates Court. First appearance of Colonel B as a prosecution witness.
  • 5 September 1978: Trial opens at the Old Bailey in front of Mr Justice Willis
  • 18 September 1978: Trial stopped after jury foreman exposed as a former SAS officer
  • 3 October 1978: Second trial opens in front of Mr Justice Mars-Jones
  • 24 October 1978: All Section 1 charges dropped
  • 17 November 1978: Aubrey, Berry and Campbell receive non-custodial sentences

References

  • Campbell, Duncan (1979). Official Secrecy and British Libertarianism
  • Aubrey, Crispin (1981). Who's Watching You? Britain's Security Services & the Official Secrets Act (1st ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-022283-9.
  • Robertson, Geoffrey (1999). The Justice Game, Vintage Books. ISBN 0-09-958191-4

External links

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