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Submariner held on secrets charge
09 March 2012
Petty Officer Edward Devenney, 29, appeared before the court on 8 March charged with communicating information that could be deemed directly or indirectly useful to an enemy of the state on 28 January.
Devenney, originally from Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland, was arrested on the morning of 6 March and charged the next day.
In court, Devenney spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, and did not enter a plea. His application for bail was refused and he will be remanded in custody until his next hearing at the Old Bailey on 14 June.
A report in The Daily Mail said the court was told that Devenney, who is based at HMS Drake and was reportedly set to serve on Vanguard class submarine HMS Vigilant, first contacted an 'enemy' embassy in November 2011.
He was said to have passed on information relating to submarine electronics and periscopes to British secret service personnel carrying out a sting operation in January.
Devenney's barrister, Lord Carlile, said Devenney was likely to plead his innocence at trial, saying: "The defendant will say that the information which is the subject matter of the charge is not secret information, and is available to the public on reasonable investigation – and secondly he will say the information is not of interest to an enemy."
***PLEASE NOTE: Comments for this story have now been disabled for legal reasons***
HAVE YOUR SAY
09 March 2012
OK. How can a PO afford Lord Carlile to act in his defence? Don't think he would be eligible for legal aid either. Something's fishy I don't mean cos he's a 'Deeps'!
Firstly, Vanguard and her sisters are based at Faslane, not Devonport, so for him to be about to 'deploy' on Vanguard means he should be based in Scotland, not Devon. Secondly, how does anyone know that the first time he contacted an 'enemy' embassy was in Nov 2011 unless he was already under surveillance or had volunteered that information?Thirdly, optronic mast systems are not new and have been around for a few years. I doubt that many of the features of this system remain unknown by our 'enemies'.
There is a lot more to this event than we are being told.
AW Employee - Yeovil
09 March 2012
Further to my first post, if Devenney WAS already under surveillance, why the hell was he going to be let anywhere near Vanguard?
Perhaps Drafty was afraid of violating his human rights if he was sent to a T-boat!
AW Employee - Yeovil
09 March 2012
AW Employee.
Agree with your comments.
It occured to me in reading your post that the RN Submarine School is based at HMS Raleigh, nearby to Devonport.
Maybe he was recently trained? Do th RN take trainees straight onto V boats? I do not know. Maybe he was instructing there, and was to be posted to Faslane?
As is usual we will probably not know the true story.
Daniele Mandelli - Guildford
09 March 2012
@ AW Employee-Yeovil
Just to let you know, Vigilant has been in Plymouth, at Babcocks undergoing a major overhaul which is nearing completion, whereupon she will return to Faslane. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/The-Fleet/Submarines/Ballistic-Submarines/Vanguard-Class/HMS-Vigilant
As for his barrister, 'The Right Honourable The Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE FRSA QC' a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, noted amongst other things for defending Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, I somehow doubt that PO Devenney is paying anything for his counsel, if indeed anyone is(?)
Intriguing isn't it?
Hereman - Wirral, England