Richard Tomlinson joined MI6 on 23 September 1991 and worked in Soviet, Balkan and counter-proliferation operations, including the 1992 retrieval of the Mitrokhin Archive and an undercover operation targeting Iranian arms dealers. MI6 dismissed him on 22 May 1995 at the end of an extended probationary period, citing poor teamwork, limited motivation and a personality clash with his manager. Tomlinson said the dismissal disregarded depression after his girlfriend’s death and post-traumatic stress following his Sarajevo posting. When he sought an employment tribunal, Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind issued a public-interest-immunity certificate, preventing the case from proceeding on national-security grounds.
After Tomlinson gave an Australian publisher a synopsis of his proposed memoir, The Big Breach, he pleaded guilty under the Official Secrets Act 1989 and was sentenced on 18 December 1997 to 12 months in prison, serving six months before leaving Britain. The book, published in 2001, made disputed claims about MI6 moles, covert methods and assassination planning; MI6 confirmed that a car-crash concept had been drafted for a different Eastern European official but rejected, while Tomlinson’s later link to Princess Diana’s death remained unsubstantiated. In 2008 MI6 admitted its legal actions had been disproportionate, released the book’s royalties and ended its objections; in 2009 it apologised, dropped threatened charges and allowed his return. The controversy helped precede employment tribunals for MI6 staff from 2000 and unionisation from 2008.
