Espionage and the law

Espionage (or spying) concerns those who intend to help an enemy and deliberately harm the security of the nation. The Official Secrets Acts of 1911 (pdf 163 Kb - new window) and 1920 (new window) still provide the main legal protection in the UK against espionage. Official information is further protected by the Official Secrets Act 1989 (new window).

Under the 1911 Act, a person commits the offence of 'spying' if he, for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State;

(a) approaches, inspects, passes over or is in the neighbourhood of, or enters any prohibited place,

(b) makes any sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy; or

(c) obtains, collects, records, or publishes, or communicates to any other person any secret official code word, or pass word, or any sketch, plan, model, article, or note, or other document which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.

The offence of spying covers all such acts committed by any person within Her Majesty's dominions, and such acts committed elsewhere by British Officers or subjects. It is not necessary for the person concerned to have been warned beforehand that they were subject to the Official Secrets Act.

The 1920 Act creates further offences of doing any "act preparatory" to spying, or of soliciting, inciting, seeking to persuade, or aiding and abetting any other person to commit spying.

The maximum sentence for spying is 14 years' imprisonment; however, longer sentences may be passed as consecutive sentences for a series of offences. George Blake, who spied for the Soviets in the 1950s, was sentenced to 42 years' imprisonment - three consecutive 14-year terms.

Foreign intelligence officers acting in the UK under diplomatic cover may enjoy immunity from prosecution. Such persons can only be tried for spying (or, indeed, any criminal offence) if diplomatic immunity is waived beforehand. Those officers operating without diplomatic cover have no such immunity from prosecution.

There have been a number of such cases under the Official Secrets Act over the years. The most recent was that of the Czechoslovak intelligence officer known as "Erwin van Haarlem", who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 1989, only a few months before the overthrow of Czechoslovakia's communist government.