Spy charges were dropped Wednesday against a British intelligence translator who leaked plans of an apparent US "dirty tricks" campaign targeting UN Security Council members in the run-up to the Iraq war.
A relieved Katharine Gun, 29, walked free from the Old Bailey criminal court in London after prosecutors said - without elaboration - that they would be offering no evidence against her.
"I am absolutely overwhelmed and I am obviously delighted," she told reporters outside the court, where a supporter gave her tulips. "I am just gob-smacked, just speechless."
Gun, a Chinese speaker sacked in June from her job at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), was charged in November under the Official Secrets Act 1989 of disclosing security and intelligence information.
She was accused of disclosing a request from the US National Security Agency for help from British intelligence to eavesdrop on non-aligned UN Security Council delegations in the run-up to the Iraq war.