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Gazette reveals spy story was a spoof

Middlesbrough journalist Peter Harris landed a scoop on the David Shayler spy story – thanks to Shayler’s strong links with his home town and the local paper.

The exiled secret agent – who fears arrest if he returns to England from France – claimed in a Middlesbrough Football Club fanzine that he had smuggled himself into England using a borrowed passport. He said he then travelled to the Riverside Stadium for Middlesbrough’s game against Coventry, disguising himself with red and white face paint.

“This was picked up by one of the local freelances and it appeared in one of the nationals as a fact,” said Mr Harris, chief reporter with the Evening Gazette.

“But when I rang Shayler in Paris to check if this was true, he said: ‘No, I made it up’.”

Mr Harris (29) was able to tell Gazette readers how Shayler’s spoof was intended to embarrass the Government.

“It was written as a joke and I wondered if anybody would take it seriously,” Shayler told him.

The ex-MI5 officer caused uproar by claiming in 1997 that MI5 kept thousands of files on individuals. He later alleged that MI6 had plotted to kill Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. The British Government has threatened to sue him for breach of confidence.

Despite his notoriety, Middlesbrough fan Shayler is happy to keep in contact with the Gazette, which has previously sent staff to Paris to interview him. He also sends regular articles by e-mail to the fanzine, Fly Me To The Moon.

Mr Harris said: “We are in touch with him and we speak to him from time to time.”

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