MI5 gave 'false evidence, based on lies' to three UK courts while defending a violent neo-Nazi informant, according to a report by Sir John Goldring, the deputy investigatory powers commissioner, published this week in London.
The abuse carried out by the agent, known as 'Agent X', emerged through testimony from his former partner, Beth.
The case centres on Agent X, a foreign national and neo-Nazi informant who worked for MI5 and used that status, according to court records, to coerce and intimidate his British partner, known by the alias Beth.
He attacked her with a machete, tried to scare her into silence by invoking his links to the security service, and was later helped by MI5 to leave the UK to continue intelligence work while under police investigation.
How MI5's False Account Reached The Courts
In 2022 the government went to court to try to stop publication of reporting on Agent X. It failed to block publication but won him legal anonymity.
Beth then brought a case against MI5 at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, and later sought a High Court review in 2024, arguing the agency had enabled her abuse and covered for him.
In each of those three proceedings, MI5 insisted it had strictly followed its 'neither confirm nor deny' secrecy policy, or NCND, about whether X was an agent, and judges accepted sworn evidence to that effect from a senior MI5 deputy director, Witness A.
Goldring has concluded that the NCND account was not true. MI5 had already breached the policy in 2020, when a senior officer, Officer 2, confirmed X's agent status in calls with a journalist and tried to talk him out of publishing, at one point describing X as 'not a real extremist'.
When further questions were asked, armed with Beth's testimony that X was a violent abuser, Officer 2 later told his successor, Officer 3, that he 'thought he had not' confirmed X's status. Officer 3 then reassured colleagues, and ultimately the courts, that NCND had been maintained.
Inside The 'Cascade Of Dishonesty'
Goldring describes what followed as a 'cascade of dishonesty' and group self-deception. He finds Officer 2 'repeatedly told lies' and put forward a 'wholly fictitious account', while Officer 3 'misled' colleagues and 'did not act in good faith'.
A contemporaneous email cited in the report shows Officer 3 accepted that misleading the court this way could amount to perjury, yet he is said to have 'effectively shut down' the MI5 team that actually handled Agent X when they tried to flag that NCND had been broken.
Witness A is criticised for having 'overstated' what he knew in an internal legal meeting, helping entrench the false narrative. Even MI6 and a foreign intelligence partner were told the truth internally, yet the false account 'was allowed to take hold and persist'.
Oversight Breakdown And Official Response
Two earlier internal reviews had cleared MI5, attributing the false evidence to muddle and poor memory, but in July 2025 senior High Court judges ruled those investigations suffered from 'serious procedural deficiencies'.
The prime minister then ordered Goldring's fresh inquiry, which ran for 10 months and found MI5 gave 'false evidence, based on lies' to three courts, describing the failings as 'serious and systemic'.
Beth, who has already received compensation from MI5, said 'our authorities should have zero tolerance for male violence against women'.
MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum said the service 'recognises without hesitation the seriousness of our failings', apologising to both the courts and to Beth. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called the report 'stark' and promised 'urgent action' and tighter oversight.
The High Court and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal must now decide whether to pursue contempt of court proceedings against individual MI5 officers or the service as a whole, with Goldring's findings also leaving open the possibility of a criminal inquiry.
