The Big Breach: From Top Secret to Maximum Security

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Camel Trophy Owners Club - Camel Trophy 1990 - Siberia USSR". Archived from the original on 25 December 2016 . Retrieved 3 December 2009. In 1999, Tomlinson enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, using a nom de guerre. He served with 3rd Company, 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment until medically discharged in 2003. Tomlinson is now believed to live in France, where he qualified and now works as an airline pilot.

Radnofsky, Louise (20 February 2008). "MI6 did not assassinate Diana, ex-chief tells inquest". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 April 2020. Neilan, Terence (8 June 1999). "World Briefing". New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 15 February 2013. 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 might have been killed by MI6 in the same way. Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6 at the time, 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. [6] verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ a b c Breen, Stephen (14 May 1999). " 'Obsessive Loner' Hurt by Dismissal". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016 . Retrieved 22 October 2012.

a b c "Breach birth". The Economist. 25 January 2001. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 18 February 2013.

In May 1999, a list of 116 alleged MI6 agents was sent to the LaRouche movement's publication Executive Intelligence Review, [42] a weekly magazine which published it online. [43] Its names included Andrew Fulton, who had recently retired, Christopher Steele, David Spedding and Richard Dearlove. [44] [45] [46] MI6 biographer Stephen Dorril explained that most of the names were "light-cover" sources who worked out of embassies or missions posing as diplomats. [47] Dorril argued, "it is well known that rival intelligence networks know who these people are and accept them." [47] MI6 claimed that Tomlinson had originated the list, which was something he had previously threatened to do, although he denied responsibility for it, and MI6 were unable to substantiate their accusation. [48] [49] Tomlinson was imprisoned under the Official Secrets Act 1989 in 1997 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. [5] In 1987 Tomlinson returned to the United Kingdom and served for five years in the Territorial Army's 21 SAS and in 23 SAS, qualifying as a military parachutist and radio operator. He also represented Britain in the 1990 Camel Trophy, competing in Siberia, USSR [6], and single-handedly crossed the Sahara desert by motorcycle. He finally joined MI6 in 1991. He completed his training with MI6 as the best recruit on his course, being awarded the rarely given "Box 1" attribute, by his instructing officers including Nicholas Langman. He then served in the "SOV/OPS" department, working during the closing phases of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, before being posted to Sarajevo as the MI6 representative in Bosnia during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. His next posting was to work as an undercover officer against Iran, where he succeeded in penetrating the Iranian Intelligence Service, presumably AVAMA. In 2008, Tomlinson was a witness for the inquest into the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Dodi al Fayed. He had suggested that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death and that "he knew for a fact" that [9]her driver on the night she died, Henri Paul, was an MI6 informant. He claimed that her death mirrored plans he saw in 1992 for the assassination of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, using a bright light to cause a traffic accident.

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On being told that no MI6 file on Henri Paul had been found, Tomlinson said that it "would be absurd after 17 years to say I can positively disagree with it, but...I do not think the fact that they did not manage to find a file rules out anything either". He said he believed MI6 had an informant at the Paris Ritz but he could not be certain, and had never claimed (despite having said so in former interviews), that that person was necessarily Henri Paul. [10] The Increment In August 1998, Tomlinson left the United Kingdom for France, and shortly afterwards moved to New Zealand. [36] Later that month he was deported from the United States, and in October 1998 he moved to Switzerland, before being expelled in June 1999 after the Swiss authorities described his presence there as "undesirable". [4] [53] He moved to Germany until he was hounded out by officials, whereupon he moved to Italy. [4] In 2001 he left Rimini in Italy, where he had been working as a waiter and a snowboarding instructor, for the south of France near Cannes where he worked as a yacht broker for BCR Yachts. [54] From 2006 to 2007, Tomlinson maintained a series of blogs detailing his treatment. [55] His Riviera home was raided by police in 2006. [56] He worked briefly in the summer of 1986 as an intern at the World Bank and then subsequent to graduation from MIT, won a further prize from the Rotary Foundation, allowing him to study in the country of his choice for a year. He enrolled in a political science course at the University of Buenos Aires, where he became a fluent Spanish speaker. [5] He continued to pursue his aeronautical interests and qualified as a glider pilot with the Fuerza Aerea Argentina. Barnett, Antony (13 June 1999). "British agents helped Iran to make killer gas". The Observer. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017 . Retrieved 23 March 2013. Intelligence agent accused of trying to publish book about service". Agence France-Presse. 3 November 1997.

a b Temple, Anthea (2 October 2002). "The spy who loved me". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 22 October 2012. Smith, Simon R. (1 January 2007). Diana: The Lying Game. Lulu.com. p.73. ISBN 978-1-4276-1734-7 . Retrieved 1 December 2012. Donnelly, Rachel (4 November 1997). "Ex-MI6 agent charged over planned memoirs". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020 . Retrieved 15 February 2013. Brit ex-spy to cut Mandela out of MI6 book". IOL News. 1 February 2001. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 17 February 2013. Rachman, Gideon (18 February 2008). "My friend, the renegade spy". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 4 December 2012.

During 2008, Tomlinson was a witness for the inquest into the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Dodi al Fayed. [52] He had suggested that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death and that her driver on the night she died, Henri Paul, had been an MI6 informant, and that her death resembled plans he saw during 1992 for the assassination of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, using a bright light to cause a traffic accident. [52]

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20090607230403/http://www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk/hearing_transcripts/130208pm.htm [ bare URL] Tomlinson worked in the "SOV/OPS" department, operating during the ending phases of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. [18] He was posted to a diplomatic role in Moscow, and was one of the agents responsible for the retrieval of the valuable Mitrokhin Archive in 1992. [18] From March 1992 until September 1993, he worked in the Eastern European Controllerate of MI6 under the staff designation of UKA/7. [19] [20] Whilst working there, it was discovered that the Conservative Party had been receiving donations from Serbian supporters. [20] In November 1993, he joined the Balkans Controllerate, and was posted to Sarajevo for six months as the MI6 representative in Bosnia during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. [2] There he was a "targeting officer", with a mission to identify potential informants and gather intelligence. [20] A soldier who escorted Tomlinson to Bosnia described him as a "liability", a "sulk" and "totally unprofessional", although Tomlinson has disputed this. [21] On 13 May 1994, Tomlinson resigned from MI6, suggesting in his letter of resignation that he had lost the motivation for a career with the organisation. He was later permitted to rescind his resignation. [24]West, Nigel (15 August 2017). Encyclopedia of Political Assassinations. Rowman & Littlefield. p.164. ISBN 978-1-538-10239-8. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 16 December 2020. Cochrane, Alan (9 February 2008). "Former spy in line for top Scottish Tory job". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019 . Retrieved 15 February 2013. His fellow student, historian Andrew Roberts, remembers Tomlinson as "a bright and charming undergraduate, popular with the boys for his drinking and sporting prowess, and with the girls for his dark good looks." [14] His friends included Gideon Rachman, who wrote him a reference after his tutor refused to do so. [15] Tomlinson completed flying training with Cambridge University Air Squadron and won a Half Blue for Modern Pentathlon. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a starred First Class honours degree in aeronautical engineering in 1984, and was approached by MI6 shortly afterwards, whose offer he turned down. [10] Following his graduation he took examinations to join the Royal Navy as a Fleet Air Arm Officer, but he failed the medical examination due to childhood asthma. [11] Instead he applied for and was awarded a Kennedy Scholarship, which allowed him to study technology policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with full funding during 1986–7. [11] Following this, he was awarded a prize from the Rotary Foundation, allowing him to study in the country of his choice for a year. Consequently, he enrolled in a political science course at the University of Buenos Aires, where he became a fluent Spanish speaker. [11] He continued to pursue his aeronautical interests and qualified as a glider pilot with the Fuerza Aérea Argentina. During 1988–9, Tomlinson worked in Mayfair, London, for management consultancy company Booz Allen Hamilton. [11] Military and MI6 service [ edit ] MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, London a b c d e f Mueller, Andrew (3 September 2006). "The Spy Who Was Left out in the Cold". Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 15 February 2013. Ex-MI6 chief admits agents do have a licence to kill but denies executing Diana". The Evening Standard. 20 February 2008. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 8 May 2020.