MI5 court evidence based on lies, report says

Image caption, Agent X had used his status to coercively control his then girlfriend, including attacking her with a machete By Daniel De Simone Investigations correspondent Published 5 minutes ago MI5 gave evidence based on "lies" to three courts while defending a violent neo-Nazi spy whose abuse was uncovered by the BBC, a damning official report has found. The report, by the deputy investigatory powers commissioner Sir John Goldring, heavily criticises a series of senior MI5 figures and their organisation. He finds that one senior MI5 officer lied repeatedly, while another misled his own colleagues and lied about what he was told. The conclusions confirm the BBC's revelation in February last year that MI5 lied to the courts , something the security service vehemently denied. Sir John's investigation was ordered by the prime minister in September after MI5's explanations about what happened were rejected as deficient and unreliable by the High Court. His new report will plunge MI5 into crisis and could result in contempt of court proceedings or even a criminal prosecution. "MI5 recognises without hesitation the seriousness of our failings in these proceedings," said MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum. "I repeat my previous apologies to both courts for the incorrect evidence that was provided, and for our slowness in recognising what had happened." The investigation examined how MI5 gave false evidence to three courts about having kept to its core secrecy policy - known as 'neither confirm nor deny' (NCND) - about the agent status of the violent neo-Nazi informant. MI5 claimed it had maintained NCND and, consequently, the courts allowed it to keep information secret from a woman who was abused by the informant. But what MI5 said was untrue. MI5 had in fact disclosed the man's agent status in phone calls to me, as it tried to persuade me not to investigate him in 2020. A senior MI5 officer, known as Officer 2, had tried to cover up for the man, falsely saying he was not an abusive misogynist nor a real extremist. He even wanted me to meet the agent. In doing so, he repeatedly departed from the NCND policy. The new report finds: The senior MI5 officer, Officer 2, repeatedly told "lies" and these "formed the foundation of MI5's false account" to the three courts. He "put forward a wholly fictitious account" in which he denied ever telling me that X was an MI5 agent. A separate senior MI5 officer, Officer 3, "misled" his own colleagues and did not act in good faith. The report concludes that he "bears considerable responsibility for the continuation of MI5's falsehood" because he "misrepresented" what Officer 2 had said to him. He was not "truthful" about warnings he received from colleagues. An MI5 deputy director, Witness A, who gave his organisation's witness statements to the courts "overstated" matters during a key internal meeting and a note of his comments was "misleading". He therefore "contributed to MI5's continued reliance on the false