China spying case: Two men deny charges at Old Bailey

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”.