Lord Leveson confirmed that courts will now demand strict evidential backing from the security service after an inquiry exposed systemic dishonesty. The investigation by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office found that MI5 actively protected a violent informant known as Agent X, even assisting his travel abroad while he faced a police investigation for attacking his partner with a machete. In response to the scandal, the agency issued an unreserved apology and introduced strict new policies on domestic abuse and court evidence preparation.
Key points
British judges will no longer accept intelligence service statements on trust and will re…: British judges will no longer accept intelligence service statements on trust and will require verifiable evidential proof.
An official review uncovered serious and systemic failures inside MI5 regarding the manag…: An official review uncovered serious and systemic failures inside MI5 regarding the management of violent extremist informants.
MI5 has accepted all investigative findings and established new operational rules address…: MI5 has accepted all investigative findings and established new operational rules addressing coercive control and court evidence procedures.
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The man responsible for overseeing the conduct of MI5 has said it will now have to provide proof to be believed by judges, after a BBC News investigation exposed how the security service lied to three courts.
Lord Leveson, the investigatory powers commissioner and a former Court of Appeal justice, said that as a judge "if the security service said something to me, then I would accept it".
But he said courts would now be "far more reluctant to accept, without evidential proof, things that are said in the future".
Lord Leveson praised the impact of the BBC's investigation into an abusive MI5 agent, which he said had led to changes in how informants are managed.
He spoke to the BBC during the first annual conference of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (Ipco).
The BBC's investigation had "hit the intelligence community hard", including security services around the world, he said.
The BBC investigation exposed how a neo-Nazi informant - known as Agent X - used his state role as a tool of abuse. He coercively controlled his partner,…
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