Two men deny spying for China

Two men accused of spying for China pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Christopher Berry, 32, and Christopher Cash, a 29-year-old former parliamentary researcher, have been charged under the Official Secrets Act.

Mr Cash, from Whitechapel, east London, and Mr Berry, of Witney, Oxfordshire, are alleged to have "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".

Beijing has previously called the allegations "malicious slander".

The prosecution says the alleged spying took place between between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023.

The Sunday Times previously reported that Mr Cash had access to Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat and the former foreign affairs committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns, among others.

A further case management hearing will be scheduled in January or February next year.

That will come ahead of a trial, which is expected to last between five and seven weeks, at Woolwich Crown Court.

A provisional date of 6 October next year has been set for the trial.