The Big Breach: From Top Secret to Maximum Security

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At the Coroner's Inquest into the death of the Princess, on 13 February 2008, speaking by video-link from France, Tomlinson conceded that, after the interval of 16 or 17 years, he "could not remember specifically" whether the document he had seen during 1992 had in fact proposed the use of a strobe light to cause a traffic accident as a means of assassinating Milošević, although use of lights for this purpose had been covered in his MI6 training. [52] 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". [52] He said he believed MI6 had an informant at the Paris Ritz but he could not be certain that this person was necessarily Henri Paul. [52] Post-MI6 activities [ edit ] 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] a b c d Du Chateau, Carroll (31 May 2000). "Outcast: the spy who wants to spill the beans". The New Zealand Herald.

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. 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] Intelligence agent accused of trying to publish book about service". Agence France-Presse. 3 November 1997. 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.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. Neilan, Terence (8 June 1999). "World Briefing". New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 15 February 2013.

a b "I fear for my life, says renegade MI6 spy". The Guardian. 16 May 1999. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 4 December 2012. Speaking by video-link from France on 13 February 2008, Tomlinson conceded that after the interval of 16 or 17 years, he "could not remember specifically" whether the document he had seen in 1992 had in fact proposed the use of a strobe light to cause a traffic accident as a means of assassinating Milosevic, although use of lights for this purpose had been covered in his MI6 training.

THE GOLDEN CHAIN

Smith, Simon R. (1 January 2007). Diana: The Lying Game. Lulu.com. p.73. ISBN 978-1-4276-1734-7 . Retrieved 1 December 2012. Richard John Charles Tomlinson was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, and raised in the nearby town of Ngāruawāhia. [2] [9] He was the middle child in a family of three brothers. [10] His father came from a Lancashire farming family and he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, and had met his wife whilst studying agriculture at Newcastle University. [11] The family moved to the village of Armathwaite [12] in Cumbria, England, in 1968. [10] The young Tomlinson won a scholarship for the independent Barnard Castle School in County Durham, where he was a contemporary of Rory Underwood and Rob Andrew, who went on to become England rugby internationals. [13] He excelled at mathematics and physics, and won a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in 1981. [11] 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]