Richard Tomlinson
| Richard Tomlinson | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | Britain |
| Service | MI6 |
| Active | 1991–1995 |
| Rank | Intelligence officer |
| Operation(s) | Russia • Bosnia • Iran |
| Codename(s) | D/813317 (staff number) |
| T (press anonymity) | |
|
|
|
| Born | 13 January 1963 |
| Height | 1.9m |
| Nationality | British/New Zealand |
| Residence | France |
| Occupation | Pilot |
| Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
Richard John Charles Tomlinson (born 13 January 1963) is a former officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He believes he was subject to unfair dismissal from MI6 in 1995, and attempted to take his former employer to a tribunal. MI6 refused, arguing that to do so would breach state security, although Tomlinson disputed this reasoning.
In 1997, Tomlinson was imprisoned under the Official Secrets Act 1989 after he gave a synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career with MI6 to an Australian publisher. He served six months of a twelve-month sentence before being given parole, whereupon he left the country. The book, named The Big Breach, was published in Moscow in 2001 (and later in Edinburgh), and was subsequently serialised by The Sunday Times. The book detailed various aspects of MI6 operations, alleging that it employed a mole in the German Bundesbank and that it had a "licence to kill", the latter later confirmed by the head of MI6 at a public hearing.
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 may have been killed by MI6 in the same way, although that claim was dismissed at their inquest in 2007. MI6 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.
...
Wikipedia