A military aide to the commander of British forces in Afghanistan appeared in court yesterday accused of spying.Cpl Daniel James, 44, is charged under the 1911 Official Secrets Act with "prejudicing the safety of the state" by passing information "calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy". It was said he had communicated with a "foreign power" in the incident on Nov 2, believed to be Iran.
Most of the hearing at Westminster magistrates' court yesterday was held in secret and no mention was made of James's job or his address.
But The Daily Telegraph has learned that he acts as an interpreter for Gen David Richards, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and one of the most senior officers in the Army.
If the trial goes ahead, it will be the first espionage prosecution under Section 1 of the 1911 Act for a generation. The last involved Michael Bettany, an MI5 officer who was jailed for 23 years in 1984 for passing information to the Soviet Union.