Pair found guilty for leaking Bush/Blair memo

[align=left]Daily Mail

Wednesday May 09, 2007 [/align]
A civil servant and an MP's researcher were today found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act after leaking an 'extremely sensitive' memo detailing talks on Iraq between Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush.


The four-page document was passed by Cabinet Office communications officer David Keogh to Leo O'Connor, who worked for anti-war Labour MP Anthony Clarke.


Its contents were considered so explosive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors so the public could not hear them.


Keogh, who believed it exposed Mr Bush as a "madman", hoped it could be used to raise questions in the House of Commons and also wanted it to be passed on to US presidential candidate John Kerry.

O'Connor placed it in Mr Clarke's constituency papers but the Northampton South MP handed it in to Downing Street and an investigation was launched, leading to an Old Bailey trial.

During legal argument it emerged that Mr Blair wrote a letter personally thanking Mr Clarke for the return of the memo.

Keogh, O'Connor and Mr Clarke had all been members of a now-defunct political dining club in Northampton, where they all lived.

A jury today found both Keogh, 50, and O'Connor, 44, guilty of making a damaging disclosure under the Official Secrets Act.

The pair will be sentenced on Thursday.

Apparently this took place some time ago, but yesterday (Thursday) was the court date. Here's the full story and the outcome of yesterday:

Civil servant David Keogh and parliamentary researcher Leo O'Connor, both of Northampton, England, were charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act in the United Kingdom.
They then appeared in Bow Street Magistrates' Court on November 29, 2005 in London. They were remanded on bail, to return to the court on January 10 for a committal hearing.
The charges against them relate to the alleged leak of a document containing what purports to be a discussion between Tony Blair and George W. Bush at one point. It is alleged this document shows that Blair had to dissuade Bush from bombing Al Jazeera in Qatar.
On 10 January, their defence lawyer was shown the secret Al Jazeera bombing memo and declared it posed no threat to national security. He vowed to have it made public by the court. The case would return to court on January 24. (The Guardian) (San Francisco Chronicle)
The trial was due to begin on October 9 2006, however on that date, the judge ruled the hearing should be in secret. It is now reported that the trial itself will begin on April 18 2007. (BBC) (Guardian).
In arguing for the trial to remain secret, the government claimed the memo "could have a serious impact upon the international relations" of the UK. and that the "risk is of such magnitude to outweigh the interest of open public justice."
The trial began on April 18 2007 in the Old Bailey court. Elaborate procedures were imposed to ensure secrecy, including asking barristers to remove their wigs when restricted information was being discussed. (TheTimes) Few details have been published in the press.
On the 10 May 2007, Keogh was found guilty on two counts of making a "damaging disclosure" by revealing the memo and was sentenced to 6 months in jail. He was also ordered to pay £5000 in costs to the to the prosecution. O'Connor was sentenced to 3 months in jail.

Ha - last time i drove past the old baily i was smoking a joint with my cousin and we smiled at a copper with the joint in full view - probably one of my not so good ideas - breaking the law outside the number 1 court in England is never a smart move - still, didnt get nicked.

Now, back on topic. - No comment.

I think they only got 6 months - or at least one of them did. They'll be out in 2 months.