The Big Breach - Index of

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comobligations under the Madrid agreement by finding your currentemployment and we are therefore not minded to help you further.'The arrogant reply added to my anger. It would have been easy for themto use their contacts to help find something. `Stuff their lifelongduty of confidentiality then,' I thought to myself. A book contractcould be my ticket out of Milton Keynes. I wrote to MI6 to ask how tosubmit a draft manuscript with a view to potential publication. Byreturn post, they sent a strongly worded letter saying that it would beillegal even for me to write a draft and demanded an assurance that Ihad not started work on it. If they were not going to be reasonable,then it would have to be done secretly.MI6 would be listening to my telephone at home, even though they hadpromised in their `agreement' not to intercept my communications. Butmy work PC had an internet connection and it was unlikely that theycould get a warrant for that. One afternoon in early September, I firedoff a two-line e-mail to Shona Martyn, asking her to get in touch ifshe was interested in pursuing the project. After two weeks she had notreplied, so presuming that her answer was no, I thought no further ofit.A few days later, on 8 September, my landlady rang me at work in anagitated state. `I'm afraid your flat's been burgled this morning. Inoticed the upstairs window was broken and when I checked through yourkitchen window I saw the place had been ransacked.'I rushed home immediately. A token attempt had been made to disguisethe theft as a normal burglary; the contents of the fridge were strewnacross the floor and and my bookcase had been overturned. But theidentity of the culprits was not hard to guess as the only item ofvalue that had gone was the laptop containing the draft. The TV,stereo, video-recorder and even small valuables had not been touched.The police arrived to have a poke around but they were not interestedin taking any forensic evidence.Contrary to their promise, MI6 intercepted my e-mail and my brief lapsein security sparked not only the burglary but much more significantevents thousands of kilometres away. After intercepting the note toMartyn, it wasn't difficult for them to find out who she was. The e-mail address gave them the name of her Australian internet serviceprovider, which in turn gave MI6 her name and street address.On Friday 24 October 1997, Agent Jackson of the Australian FederalPolice arrived at Transworld asking to speak to Shona Martyn. Sheagreed, granting him a two-hour interview during which she provided afull and detailed account of our meeting, handed over my synopsis andthen signed a witness statement.On Friday, 30 October, having a lunchtime appointment for a haircut inWavenden, I popped home from work for a quick bite to eat first. As Iwas putting the kettle on, there was a knock on the door. It was theyoung constable from Buckinghamshire police, PC Ellis, who hadinvestigated the mysterious theft of my laptop. With him was a burlyplainclothes inspector. `Hello, Mr Tomlinson, there have been some newdevelopments concerning your burglary and we want to ask you a few morequestions about it.' Ellis seemed friendly enough, and introduced hispage- 163 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com