High Court demands thorough investigation into MI5's provision of false evidence

The High Court has ordered a "robust and independent" investigation into how MI5 provided false evidence in a case concerning a neo-Nazi state agent who abused women, after the BBC exposed the security service's lies to the courts.

The judgment comes after MI5 admitted it had misled judges in three different legal proceedings. The BBC's investigations correspondent, Daniel De Simone, reported that a senior MI5 officer had lied to the courts about the existence of the agent, known as "agent X". The officer claimed that the service had adhered to its policy of neither confirming nor denying the agent's status, when in reality, it had disclosed his identity to the BBC during a call in 2020.

The court has criticized the two previous inquiries into the matter, one internal and one commissioned by the home secretary, saying that the "investigations carried out by MI5 to date suffer from serious procedural deficiencies." The judges have also commended the BBC for bringing the issues to light.

The head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, has offered a "full and unreserved apology for the errors made in these proceedings" and committed to a program to ensure such errors do not happen again. The new investigation will be conducted by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, Sir Brian Leveson, who has oversight of MI5's surveillance activities.

The case has raised significant concerns about the credibility of MI5's evidence in courts and the handling of sensitive information by the security service. The judges have not yet made a decision on whether to initiate contempt proceedings, pending the outcome of the new investigation.