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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Haroon Siddique and Eleni Courea

China spying case: dream job turns into nightmare for DPP Stephen Parkinson

Stephen Parkinson sitting at a computer in an office and looking at the camera
Parkinson will be hoping Keir Starmer does not hold grudges after he was said to have once described the PM as ‘an average DPP’. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Stephen Parkinson dreamed of being the most senior prosecutor in England and Wales before he even qualified as a barrister, but now finds himself in a situation more akin to a nightmare.

As the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Parkinson is facing questions over why he felt he could not proceed with the trial of two men accused of spying for China. He said the case was dropped because prosecutors had tried and failed to obtain a witness statement from the government stating that China posed a current “threat to the national security of the UK”.

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