THE TIMES.
29th OCT , 1985.
THE PAPERS
A call for an investigation follows the collapse of the case against the accused in the Old Bailey spy case.
The Mirror calls it "the most wasteful spy trial in history." It collapsed, the paper says, " because it had been built on a quicksand of clumsiness, incompetence and inefficiency. For 119 days, at the instigation of the Ministry of Defence , seven young servicemen faced an Old Bailey jury, accused of passing 1,000 secrets to the Russians. All were found not guilty. Those who ought to be on trial today are those who put the servicemen in the dock, the blunderers. Those who brainwashed the men by lengthy interrogation and solitary confinement until they were forced to confess. Those who assembled a case riddled with holes. Such as alleging that orgies had taken place in a building which did not even exist at the time. For a cost of £5 million, the taxpayers have a right to expect something better than that."
The Star says "Inspector Clouseau at his blundering worst would have been hard pressed to match the official incompetence now on public display. Would that it could be laughed out of the Old Bailey as a bit of a joke - albeit in pretty poor taste. But it cannot. A nasty looking hornets' nest has been exposed by the seven men and five women who served in the jury box for the last five months. The usual Downing Street diet of flim-flam, whitewash and cover-up simply will not do this time.”
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