Pair found guilty of breaching secrets act

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - A civil servant and a political aide were convicted of breaching the Official Secrets Act on Wednesday for leaking a classified memo of a meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush.

David Keogh, a code specialist at a top security government communications centre, was found guilty of making a copy of the memo of talks held in the White House in April 2004 and handing it to Leo O'Connor, a political researcher.

Both Keogh, 50, and O'Connor, 44, had pleaded not guilty to the charges of making a "damaging disclosure". They are due to be sentenced on Thursday.

Key parts of the three-week trial were held behind closed doors. The judge ruled that the contents of the memo could not be revealed, referred to or reported in any way other than as they were discussed in open court.

High-level government witnesses characterised the contents as "extremely sensitive" to both U.S and British foreign policy and said the memo referred to operations by MI6 in Iraq.

One witness, Blair's chief foreign policy adviser Nigel Sheinwald, who is now in line to become Britain's next ambassador to Washington, said the memo had a "direct bearing" on Britain's military presence in Iraq.

During the trial, the court heard how Keogh, who was strongly against the war in Iraq, met O'Connor at a dining club in Northampton, where they both live.

When the memo crossed his desk in mid-April, 2004, Keogh, who was charged with distributing it among the very small number of people who were allowed to read it, made a copy.