Richard Tomlinson

Who is Richard Tomlinson?

Richard John Charles Tomlinson is a New Zealand-born British former Secret Intelligence Service officer. His career is notable because he believed he had been subject to unfair dismissal from MI6 in 1995, and attempted to take his former employer to a tribunal. MI6 refused, arguing that to do so would breach state security, although Tomlinson disputed this reasoning.

In 1997, Tomlinson was imprisoned under the Official Secrets Act 1989 after he gave a synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career with MI6 to an Australian publisher. He served five 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 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 of which was later confirmed by the head of MI6 at a public hearing.

Tomlinson then attempted to aid Mohamed al-Fayed in his privately funded investigation into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and al-Fayed's son Dodi.