http://www.sundayherald.com/news/newsi.hts?section=News&story_id=8838

Sunday Herald - Issue 68, May 21st, 2000

INVESTIGATION

Publication Date: May 21 2000

A Glasgow University law professor employed to brief the world's press on the Lockerbie trial was one of Britain's most powerful MI6 officers.

Professor Andrew Fulton, who is deputy director of the university's Lockerbie trial briefing unit, now faces being removed from his prestigious job following an investigation by the Sunday Herald into his spying past.

Fulton joined Glasgow University last year after officially retiring from the Foreign Office. His last known position with MI6 was as its head of station in Washington DC. When he moved to the university, after stepping down from a 30-year career, he offered his services to the briefing unit.

The university set up the unit to inform the world's press about developments in the trial of the two Libyans accused of killing 270 people when PanAm Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie in December 1988.

The revelations that Fulton, who was at one stage involved in an MI6 plot to assassinate Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, was one of the most high-ranking spies in the UK will seriously undermine claims by the Lockerbie trial briefing unit that it has been giving independent and impartial advice. It will also further erode public confidence in the trial.

Last night, Fulton's boss, Professor John Grant, who is head of the briefing unit, said if allegations that Fulton was an MI6 agent were proved true he would have no option but to ask him to step down. Fulton works as co-ordinator of the unit, controlling its day-to-day briefings. His work with the unit, and as a visiting professor, is unpaid.

When the Sunday Herald con fronted him, Fulton said: "This is not something I can either confirm or deny. I cannot give a yes or a no. What I will say is I had an adventurous 30-year career in Her Majesty's diplomatic service, and did a variety of things. But all government servants are bound not to speak about any duties or tasks they may have undertaken."

The defence team for the two accused Libyans are horrified by Fulton's involvement in the briefing unit. A number of news organisations who have been informed about Fulton's past have said unofficially that they will no longer use the unit as a source of information. During the first week of the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in Holland, Fulton led a lengthy briefing session for more than 50 foreign journalists at a hotel near the courthouse, detailing aspects of Scottish law and explaining the background to the case.

The Scottish Executive also gave the unit, including Fulton, accreditation to enter the strictly-controlled media centre at Camp Zeist. A Glasgow University spokesman said: "There was a limit to what the Executive was able to do when they were at Zeist. I think they were glad we were able to fill in for them and speak to the press when their liaison people were too busy." At least one representative of the unit will be at Camp Zeist throughout the trial. Grant will return to Holland on Monday, when the trial recommences.

Until today, senior academics were delighted with the exposure the unit's work had given the university. "We were in all the international papers," a spokesman said. "You can't pay for that kind of coverage." However, revelations about Fulton's past will destroy any PR gains.

The Scottish Executive said the Glasgow unit "did nothing for or with" the Executive, claiming any accreditation given to the unit to attend the trial was meant for organisations not individuals. A spokesman refused to comment on Fulton's spying career, as did the Crown Office.

Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP's shadow justice minister, said: "There are serious issues at stake here if a former member of the intelligence service is being used as a talking head to explain the Lockerbie trial to the world's press. If the unit is meant to be impartial, then it should be open about its members' activities."

The US Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime said its officials had met Fulton but were unaware of his background. The office added that his previous career was not relevant to its work.