ABC Trial
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This page imported content from Wikipedia on 4 August 2015.
Wikipedia is not affiliated with Wikispooks. Original page source here
 | |
| Date | 5 September 1978 - 17 November 1978 |
|---|---|
| Type | criminal trial |
| Description | An official secrets case of 1977-78 during which the UK Labour government prosecuted 3 people for holding an interview, using the Official Secrets Act 1911, a law they earlier had promised to repeal. |
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
- The ABC Trial via archive.org
- Ferrets or Skunks - Chapter Five from Robertson (1999)
This page imported content from Wikipedia on 4 August 2015.Wikipedia is not affiliated with Wikispooks. Original page source here
