Richard Tomlinson - The Big Breach

The Big Breach

Tomlinson went to live in Spain in early 1996. George Temple, aide-de-camp to the head of MI6, was enlisted to attempt to lure Tomlinson back on side, offering him a £15,000 loan and a "school leaver's" marketing job with Jackie Stewart's Formula One racing team, in return for a promise of silence. Tomlinson stuck with the job for a few months until his arrest.

In October 1997 Tomlinson was arrested and accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act 1989, after handing a synopsis of The Big Breach to Transworld, an Australian publisher. On 18 December 1997 Tomlinson was sentenced to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty. Tomlinson was remanded in custody at HMP Belmarsh as a Category A prisoner—- a category normally reserved for dangerous offenders. When it was announced that the trial would be held in a High Court, meaning that Tomlinson would be held on remand for as much as two years, longer than any likely sentence, he pleaded guilty to violating the Official Secrets Act 1989. At the sentencing hearing, John Scarlett, the chief prosecution witness, claimed that Tomlinson "had gravely damaged national security" and "had put agents' lives at risk". Tomlinson was not allowed to call any defence witnesses. Tomlinson received a twelve month custodial sentence. He served six months in HMP Belmarsh before being released early for good behaviour on 1 May 1998. Since 1998, foreign police services, including those of Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France and Monaco have all arrested and detained him at the request of MI6, but he has not been charged subsequently with an offence.

On completion of his three months probationary licence on 31 August 1998, Tomlinson left the United Kingdom to live in exile. He set about completing The Big Breach, which was published during 2001 in Russia. After the Court of Appeal of England and Wales subsequently ruled in his favour it was made available in the UK. However, immediately after publication, the British Government obtained a High Court Order to confiscate proceeds from the book and any newspaper serialisation rights, on the grounds that the government owned the copyright to anything written by Tomlinson. Finally, during September 2008, MI6 ended all legal objection to the publication of The Big Breach, released the proceeds from the publication to Tomlinson, and admitted that their previous legal actions against him were disproportionate. However, they still refused to reinstate Tomlinson to MI6, or compensate Tomlinson for the loss of his career and pension. Tomlinson can now travel freely to the UK.