MI6 informant found guilty of murder in secret trial

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews |
A Chinese anti-communist dissident who worked for years as a Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) informant has been found guilty of murdering an elderly British author and attempting to steal his identity. The British external intelligence agency admitted to have hired Wang Yam as a “low-level informant” since the mid 1990s, after the well-known anticommunist campaigner moved to London from Hong Kong. MI6 gave Yam British citizenship and tasked him with gathering information about Chinese expatriates living in Britain. In addition to working for MI6, however, Yam launched a number of fraudulent schemes, including online credit card fraud networks and several shady business ventures. In 2006, after going bankrupt, he targeted his elderly neighbor, millionaire author and Royal Society of Arts Fellow Allan Chappelow, with the aim of accessing the author’s bank accounts. After Chappelow’s body was discovered in his multimillion-dollar mansion, Yam escaped to Switzerland, where he was eventually caught and extradited to Britain. Interestingly, most of Yam’s court case was held in secret, after MI6 claimed that his defense rested on his informant activity. The court’s acceptance of MI6’s claim marked the first-ever instance of a British murder trial “covered by a secrecy order on the ground of national security”. Yam’s case is the second time in recent months that a British law enforcement agency is found to be hiring lawbreakers. Last December, the London Metropolitan Police was found to be employing Mohamed Ali Harrath as an “anti-terrorism advisor”. Harrath, who lives in London, is currently wanted by the Tunisian authorities and by Interpol because of its links to the Tunisian Islamic Front (FIT).