MI6 spy escaped prosecution over child porn images

Intelligence officer tells sexual abuse inquiry of agency’s disappointment that charges were dropped

AN MI6 agent found with child pornography on his work computer was not prosecuted by the CPS, an intelligence official has revealed to an inquiry into child sexual abuse.

The discovery of illegal material resulted in the officer losing his job and being charged with two counts of possession of indecent images, but the charges were dropped after the prosecution offered no evidence.

MI6 were apparently frustrated at the decision and would rather have “seen the prosecution through.”

The incident, which took place in 2006, came to light as part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Speaking anonymously via a video link fed into the Inquiry’s south London hearing centre, the serving Secret Intelligence Service official described his role in the agency as “overseeing the teams that manage the compliance policies and activities for SIS operations.”

He said: “When this material was discovered, it was preserved and we conducted an internal investigation to find out which employee or employees might have been responsible… That individual was then dismissed from SIS and he was charged with two counts of possessing indecent images of children on their workplace computer.” The officer giving evidence said that necessary access was provided to the prosecution to allow other SIS officers to give evidence at the trial, but that: “Ultimately the prosecutor decided to offer no evidence against the defendant following an abuse of process application. SIS was not involved in that decision,” he said.

“That was purely made by the prosecutors at the time, and we actually wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service to explain – to express our disappointment that that was the case. Our preference would have been to see the prosecution through.”

It also emerged that MI6 had a file on former diplomat Sir Peter Hayman in which he was described as “an unpleasant and pompous man who used to like playing Father Christmas in Ottawa so that he could [have] children on his knee”.

Sir Peter, who was high commissioner in Ottawa between 1970 and 1974, had previously been named as the subject of a Home Office file concerning “unnatural sexual proclivities”. It was already known that police questioned Sir Peter in 1978 after he accidentally left a package of indecent images on a bus.

The parcel was addressed to a flat he rented in Notting Hill, west London, and it led officers to find a large collection of similar material at the property.

However, Sir Peter was never prosecuted, leading to claims that his offences were covered up due to his diplomatic role and alleged connections with MI6.