David Cameron said ‘MI5 agents should not be prosecuted for crimes’ in secret letter, tribunal hears
The former PM wrote there was a ‘long-standing’ secret policy to let security service agents break the law, according to reports
DAVID Cameron secretly gave MI5 agents 'licence to kill' on British soil without fear of prosecution, a tribunal has heard.
The former Prime Minister wrote there was a ‘long-standing’ secret policy to let security service agents break the law, The Daily Mail reports.
According to the paper the bombshell document - made public on Thursday - reveals how Cameron told retired judge Sir Mark Waller not to rule on whether it was legal.
Cameron said Sir Mark, who was charged with overseeing the conduct of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, need not express any views as to whether any cases should be referred to prosecutors.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London heard no police officer or prosecutor has ever been told of their criminal activities.
The letter was made public during a legal challenge by campaigners, who want know what crimes have been committed in the name of MI5 since the 1990s and whether they were lawful.
They say it effectively gave MI5 agents a licence to break the law with immunity.
The team representing the intelligence agencies, the Home Office and the Foreign Office, told the tribunal that details of MI5’s conduct had to be kept secret.
Sir James Eadie QC asked that the hearing be held in private to hear why.
Two weeks after the letter was written the Tory PM admitted there was ‘state collusion’ in the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane.
No one has been prosecuted for the murder.
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