Shayler could be out by Christmas

Shayler said public interest drove him

Ex-MI5 agent David Shayler could be released by Christmas from his sentence for breaking the Official Secrets Act, his lawyer said.

Shayler, 36, was found guilty on three charges of breaching the much-criticised act and sentenced and jailed for six months at the beginning of November.

The affair started when the former spy revealed secret documents to the Mail on Sunday newspaper in 1997, arguing he had a public duty to expose malpractice within the security services.

The case generated acres of coverage

He was initially held at Belmarsh high security prison in south London - where prisoners are kept before being placed - and then moved to Ford open prison in West Sussex.

After his sentencing, sources at the Home Office had suggested Shayler could be eligible for release with an electronic tag under the government's curfew scheme after about two months.

His solicitor and director of civil rights group Liberty, John Wadham, said on Saturday Shayler was expected to be released on 23 December, the day before his 37th birthday.

Home leave

Mr Wadham said: "The process of releasing people from prison early is now a virtually automatic one unless their offence relates to violence or sexual offences.

"There is nothing in the rules that suggest that David is not entitled to home leave and so he should be released on 23 December."

The Liberty director said it was expected Shayler would return to the island of Osea, off the coast of Essex, where he had been living with his partner Annie Machon.

The 36-year-old former MI5 officer was found guilty of disclosing information, documents and information from telephone taps in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

During the trial, the prosecution said he had potentially placed the lives of dozens of secret agents at risk.

Files copied

Shayler spent more than three months in prison in France while the government attempted to extradite him and this was taken into account in his sentencing at the Old Bailey.

The former spy copied numerous files including several on Libyan links with the IRA and Soviet funding of the Communist Party of Great Britain, before leaving MI5 in October 1996.

The documents were handed to the Mail on Sunday newspaper who paid Shayler £40,000.

A Prison Service spokesman said he was not able to discuss individual prisoners.

Under the tagging scheme, there is normally a 7pm-7am curfew.