BBC News Online: UK

Shayler faces 'closed door' trial

Mr Shayler, who returned from France during the summer, faces three charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act.

He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on 2 November.

Mr Shayler has said that when his case goes to trial he will claim protection under European human rights legislation, which became part of UK law on 2 October.

Dramatic return

He was charged following his dramatic return from a self-imposed exile in France.

On 24 August, he pleaded not guilty to two offences related to information he allegedly passed to the Mail On Sunday newspaper, which then published an article criticising British secret service operations.

At a second appearance at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London on 21 September, he was charged with a third count of breaching the Official Secrets Act.

That new charge relates to passing on material obtained through telephone-tapping - an offence against Section 4 of the Act.

However, he is not facing charges over more serious allegations he made in the media:

• That MI6 - the foreign intelligence service - was behind a bungled plot to assassinate Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi which left several civilians dead.
• That the domestic security services ignored information that might have prevented the 1994 bombing of the Israeli embassy in London.