The intelligence agency MI5 lied to three courts in order to protect an undercover agent, a neo-Nazi who attacked his girlfriend with a machete.

The BBC has revealed that the agency lied in court to block them from reporting on the agent’s wrongdoing, successfully banning the BBC from naming him. After the agent’s girlfriend, named in court only by an alias, Beth, sought answers first in a specialist court then via Judicial Review of that decision about MI5’s handling of the agent, it repeated the lie again.

The head of MI5 phoned the BBC’s Director General in late 2021 to cast doubt on the news corporation’s original reporting on the agent, describing it as ‘inaccurate’ and ‘reckless’. MI5 have now issued an apology to the BBC, and to the three courts, calling the incident a ‘serious error’. The original reporting revealed that the agent was a violent neo-Nazi who had been filmed threatening to kill his girlfriend. He then moved abroad to continue working in intelligence.

Beth will now be able to return to court to find out if her human rights were breached by MI5’s behaviour in relation to the agent. Her lawyer, Kate Ellis from the Centre for Women’s Justice, told the BBC: ‘I think this raises real concerns about MI5’s transparency, about whether we can trust MI5’s evidence to courts.’

In a written parliamentary statement, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was ‘clearly a very serious matter to provide incorrect information to the court’ but that the government ‘maintains and supports the principle of neither confirming nor denying allegations about whether individuals may or may not be operating on behalf of the UK intelligence agencies.’