John Ashley Berry

John Ashley Berry
ABC Are Innocent

John Ashley Berry is a former Signals Intelligence operator at GCHQ who, on 20 February 1977, was arrested with two journalists, Crispin Aubrey and Duncan Campbell, and charged with “communicating classified information to unauthorised persons” under Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911.

It was because John Berry had earlier written to the National Council for Civil Liberties, (which was under General Secretary Patricia Hewitt – future Secretary of State for Health) and had campaigned for Mark Hosenball and Philip Agee to get a fair trial for having exposed GCHQ activities, that Campbell and Aubrey decided to interview him for Time Out magazine.

Arrested

The three were arrested at John Berry’s flat and were then held without bail for 7 days, Berry was accused of passing on information to Campbell and Aubrey who were then arrested for receiving "highly classified" information. On 9 August 1977, Campbell was also charged with “…for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, collecting information concerning defence communications that might, directly or indirectly, be useful to an enemy.” The case was the adjourned until 7 November 1977 for a hearing before Magistrates.

The trial at the Old Bailey began on 5 September 1978 but was abandoned on 22 September when it was revealed that the foreman of the jury in the ABC case was an ex-SAS soldier and the defence counsel had argued that as the SAS had close links to intelligence and counter-terrorist units he may not have had an open mind on the case.

On 3 October 1978 the trial reopened at the Old Bailey and each juror now had to declare any involvement with the armed services within the last 15 years leading to one juror being asked to stand down.

Convicted

On Thursday, 16 November 1978 Duncan Campbell was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of receiving information about British Signals Intelligence from former soldier John Berry. On the previous Tuesday Crispin Aubrey had been found guilty of abetting Campbell and Berry guilty of communicating information to Campbell. They were sentenced by Mr. Justice Mars-Jones as follows:

• Aubrey: Conditionally discharged for three years and ordered to pay £2,500 towards prosecution costs and a third of his own.

• Berry: Sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to pay £250 defence costs.

• Campbell: Conditionally discharged for three years and ordered to pay £2,500 towards defence costs and £2,500 towards his own.

40 years on

In November 2017, marking the 40th anniversary of the arrests of the ABC three, John Berry and Duncan Campbell took part in a panel discussion with Statewatch Director Tony Bunyan and Sarah Kavanagh, NUJ Senior Campaigns and communications officer, looking at the events from those involved in 1977 and considering its legacy today. It was organised by Aubrey’s family as part of the Crispin Aubrey Legacy Fund set up to support aspiring journalists and in conjunction with the University of West of England’s Film and Journalism Department and Bristol Festival of Ideas.

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