The statement added: “The use of agents is fundamental to MI5’s ability to keep the UK safe. It is difficult, human work that is governed by legislation and tightly overseen by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO).
“MI5 has procedures to address the risks involved in working with Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS), particularly where there might be individuals at risk of harm, and these have been improved in response to learnings.”
Earlier this year, MI5 paid compensation to Beth to settle a human rights claim she brought against them. It did so without admission of legal liability.
In her first interview since then, Beth told the BBC that she had been “gaslit” by MI5.
“They can’t be trusted because they’ve already lied in court and painted me out to look a certain way and made me feel like I didn’t have a voice or a valid story, but they have now done a 360-degree turn and paid compensation.”
When the organisation paid her compensation, MI5’s director general Sir Ken McCallum apologised for any distress caused by “mistakes in the litigation” but said it related to “record keeping” and stopped short of apologising directly for how she was portrayed.
Beth’s solicitor Kate Ellis, from the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “The findings of IPCO’s 2024 report are nothing short of devastating for MI5. They show, beyond doubt, that MI5 knew of the warning signs that Agent X posed a serious risk to the public – and to women in particular – but continued deploying him, without managing those risks.”
“We have seen no evidence that the safety of women was even a consideration that MI5 weighed in the balance, when they chose to recruit this man in spite of his history.”
Beth said fighting the case had been “absolutely debilitating at times with the level of trauma and flashbacks it’s caused”.
She added: “I’d like to see a full apology from MI5 for the ways in which they portrayed me.”
Additional reporting by Lorna Acquah