The Big Breach: From Top Secret to Maximum Security

Product Information

a b c "Breach birth". The Economist. 25 January 2001. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 18 February 2013.

In May 1999, a list of 116 alleged MI6 agents was sent to the LaRouche movement's publication Executive Intelligence Review, [42] a weekly magazine which published it online. [43] Its names included Andrew Fulton, who had recently retired, Christopher Steele, David Spedding and Richard Dearlove. [44] [45] [46] MI6 biographer Stephen Dorril explained that most of the names were "light-cover" sources who worked out of embassies or missions posing as diplomats. [47] Dorril argued, "it is well known that rival intelligence networks know who these people are and accept them." [47] MI6 claimed that Tomlinson had originated the list, which was something he had previously threatened to do, although he denied responsibility for it, and MI6 were unable to substantiate their accusation. [48] [49] a b "Spying scandal spreads". BBC News. 20 December 1999. Archived from the original on 19 April 2003 . Retrieved 5 December 2012. On being told that no MI6 file on Henri Paul had been found, Tomlinson said that it "would be absurd after 17 years to say I can positively disagree with it, but...I do not think the fact that they did not manage to find a file rules out anything either". He said he believed MI6 had an informant at the Paris Ritz but he could not be certain, and had never claimed (despite having said so in former interviews), that that person was necessarily Henri Paul. [10] The Increment At the Coroner's Inquest into the death of the Princess, on 13 February 2008, speaking by video-link from France, Tomlinson conceded that, after the interval of 16 or 17 years, he "could not remember specifically" whether the document he had seen during 1992 had in fact proposed the use of a strobe light to cause a traffic accident as a means of assassinating Milošević, although use of lights for this purpose had been covered in his MI6 training. [52] On being told that no MI6 file on Henri Paul had been found, Tomlinson said that it "would be absurd after 17 years to say I can positively disagree with it, but... I do not think the fact that they did not manage to find a file rules out anything either". [52] He said he believed MI6 had an informant at the Paris Ritz but he could not be certain that this person was necessarily Henri Paul. [52] Post-MI6 activities [ edit ]

THE GOLDEN CHAIN

Neilan, Terence (8 June 1999). "World Briefing". New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 15 February 2013.

Rachman, Gideon (18 February 2008). "My friend, the renegade spy". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 4 December 2012. a b c d Barnett, Antony (13 June 1999). "British agents helped Iran to make killer gas". The Observer. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017 . Retrieved 15 February 2013. On 13 May 1994, Tomlinson resigned from MI6, suggesting in his letter of resignation that he had lost the motivation for a career with the organisation. He was later permitted to rescind his resignation. [24]

Intelligence agent accused of trying to publish book about service". Agence France-Presse. 3 November 1997.

During 2008, Tomlinson was a witness for the inquest into the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Dodi al Fayed. [52] He had suggested that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death and that her driver on the night she died, Henri Paul, had been an MI6 informant, and that her death resembled plans he saw during 1992 for the assassination of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, using a bright light to cause a traffic accident. [52] In 2007, government lawyers decided not to prosecute him for publishing The Big Breach. [57] The Crown Prosecution Service said there was no real prospect of conviction in a jury trial, which would reveal "sensitive matters". [57] In 2009, MI6 agreed to allow Tomlinson to return to Britain, unfreeze royalties from his book and drop the threat of charges if he agreed to stop disclosing information about MI6 and speaking to the media. [7] According to The Sunday Times, MI6 also apologised for its "unfair treatment" of him. [7] Tomlinson then attempted to assist Mohamed al-Fayed in his privately funded investigation into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and al-Fayed's son Dodi. Tomlinson claimed that MI6 had considered assassinating Slobodan Milošević, the president of Serbia, by staging a car crash using a powerful strobe light to blind the driver. He suggested that Diana and Dodi might have been killed by MI6 in the same way. Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6 at the time, admitted that plans of that nature had been drafted regarding a different Eastern European official, but that the proposal had been swiftly rejected by management. [6] In 2009, MI6 agreed to allow Tomlinson to return to Britain, unfreeze royalties from his book and drop the threat of charges. MI6 also apologised for his mistreatment. [7] Staff at MI6 have been allowed employment tribunals since 2000, and have been able to unionise since 2008. [8] Early life [ edit ] Donnelly, Rachel (4 November 1997). "Ex-MI6 agent charged over planned memoirs". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020 . Retrieved 15 February 2013.

a b "MI5 and MI6 unable to stop Secret Wars' publication". The Guardian. 15 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 3 December 2012. Norton-Taylor, Richard (29 June 2006). "Police raid Riviera home of former MI6 officer". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 3 December 2012. a b c Iashmar, Paul (23 January 2001). "Seven of Richard Tomlinson's Big Claims". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013 . Retrieved 22 February 2013. Parents of jailed former MI6 man 'very disappointed' ". Cumberland and Westmorland Herald. 20 December 1997 . Retrieved 20 August 2020.

In 1999, Tomlinson enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, using a nom de guerre. He served with 3rd Company, 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment until medically discharged in 2003. Tomlinson is now believed to live in France, where he qualified and now works as an airline pilot. In 1987 Tomlinson returned to the United Kingdom and served for five years in the Territorial Army's 21 SAS and in 23 SAS, qualifying as a military parachutist and radio operator. He also represented Britain in the 1990 Camel Trophy, competing in Siberia, USSR [6], and single-handedly crossed the Sahara desert by motorcycle. He finally joined MI6 in 1991. He completed his training with MI6 as the best recruit on his course, being awarded the rarely given "Box 1" attribute, by his instructing officers including Nicholas Langman. He then served in the "SOV/OPS" department, working during the closing phases of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, before being posted to Sarajevo as the MI6 representative in Bosnia during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. His next posting was to work as an undercover officer against Iran, where he succeeded in penetrating the Iranian Intelligence Service, presumably AVAMA.

Navigation menu

In 2008, Tomlinson was a witness for the inquest into the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Dodi al Fayed. He had suggested that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death and that "he knew for a fact" that [9]her driver on the night she died, Henri Paul, was an MI6 informant. He claimed that her death mirrored plans he saw in 1992 for the assassination of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, using a bright light to cause a traffic accident. He now lives permanently in France and has retrained as a professional pilot. [58] Personal life [ edit ] Ex-MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson tells his story - of particular interest in what he has to say about the death of Diana Pricess of Wales. The UK authorites made strenuous efforts to prevent publication of the book and Tomlinson was subjected to serious harassment and terms of imprisonment Finding his desk job unsatisfying, Tomlinson joined the Territorial Army in September 1989 and, after passing selection, served as a reservist with the SAS in the Artists Rifles, and then 23 SAS, qualifying as a military parachutist and radio operator. He represented Britain in the 1990 Camel Trophy, competing in Siberia, and crossed the Sahara desert solo on a motorcycle. [16] He enjoyed the experience, and subsequently applied to join MI6, and officially joined the Service on 23 September 1991. [17] He completed his training with MI6 and claims he was the best recruit on his course, being awarded the rarely given "Box 1" attribute by his instructing officers including Nicholas Langman.