Richard Tomlinson

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For the Canadian philanthropist, see Richard H. Tomlinson.

Richard Tomlinson (born 1963) is a New Zealand-born former British MI6 officer who was famously imprisoned in 1997 for breaking the 1989 Official Secrets Act[1] by attempting to publish a book detailing his career in the SIS.[citation needed]

He was first approached by MI6 in 1984 after graduating from Cambridge University with a First Class Honours Degree in aeronautical engineering. Not interested in joining the organisation at this point, he instead applied for and won a Kennedy Scholarship to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA and subsequent to graduation from MIT, won a further prize from the Rotary Foundation, allowing him to study in the country of his choice for a year. He enrolled in a political science course at the University of Buenos Aires.[citation needed]

Tomlinson also served in the Territorial Army's SAS before officially joining MI6 in 1991. MI6 sacked him in 1995.[1]

He was born in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand and grew up in England. He is fluent in Spanish, German, French and Italian.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] "The Big Breach"

The book was finally published in 2001 after the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled in his favour.

The Big Breach: From Top Secret to Maximum Security. Coauthor Nick Fielding, Mainstream Publishing (February 1, 2001) ISBN 1-903813-01-8

The book may be downloaded free in zipped .doc, .txt and .pdf formats from here

[edit] The second book, "The Golden Chain"

In September 2006, Tomlinson announced on his blog that he had been working on a novel The Golden Chain.

[edit] The list

It is alleged that he published a list of 116 alleged MI6 agents on one of Lyndon LaRouche's web sites. Tomlinson has always denied being responsible for its publication. In the book he states "If MI6 had set out to produce a list that caused me the maximum incrimination, but caused them the minimum damage, they could not have done a better job."

Tomlinson had his own website at the time, hosted by GeoCities, which apparently contained nine names. The site was subsequently taken down by the host due to a complaint by a "third party". A copy of this website in a zipped format is available for download here.

No definitive proof has ever been provided to link him with the original list. Although today he openly carries a link to a copy of the list on his own website, upon which he comments on the accuracy of individual entries, he makes clear that he does this in order to demonstrate the inaccuracy of the list, and thereby to show that he could not have been its author.

[edit] Death of Princess Diana

Tomlinson claims that MI6 may have been responsible for the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. He has claimed that Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was monitoring Princess Diana before her death, that her driver on the night she died, Henri Paul, was an MI6 informant, and that her death mirrored plans he saw in 1992 for the assassination of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Tomlinson was arrested by French Authorities in July 2006 after a European Arrest Warrant, requested by Great Britain, was issued. The warrant claimed Tomlinson was involved in the publication of two lists containing the names of MI6 officers in 2005. The police seized computers, personal papers and other items from his home in Cannes. It was mistakenly reported by some quarters that this arrest was linked to the inquiries into the death of Princess Diana.

During an interview in "Hardtalk", televised around the globe on BBC World, Tomlinson raises a pertinent question to the interviewer, Tim Sebastian. He asks why, considering the historical importance of the death of the Princess of Wales, he is constantly hassled by the secret services for simply pointing out the bizarre similarity of the active plan MI6 had poised to assassinate Milosevic in 1992, and all the details of the crash which resulted in the Princess's death in 1997.

Richard Tomlinson has now been effectively gagged by the injunction imposed on him by Lord Goldsmith; prior to the judicial inquiry into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and her companions. His reserve Word Press blog is up and running though unfortunately without any control from a moderator

[edit] See also

  • David Shayler, former MI5 employee who was prosecuted for passing documents to the media.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Former spy Richard Tomlinson quizzed BBC

[edit] External links

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