A civil servant is facing a possible jail sentence after he "acted out of conscience" to expose "abhorrent" comments by US President George Bush.
David Keogh leaked an "extremely sensitive" memo detailing talks on Iraq between Mr Bush and Tony Blair after he read it while copying it out for top officials. Mr Blair later personally thanked anti-war Labour MP Anthony Clarke for handing it in to Downing Street after he found it amongst his papers.
On Wednesday Keogh, 50, and Leo O'Connor, 44, a political researcher who worked for Mr Clarke, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
The court heard that the four-page document, which is so sensitive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors, exposed Mr Bush as a "madman".
Keogh, who is originally from Northern Ireland, hoped that it could be used to raise questions in the House of Commons and also wanted it to be passed on to US presidential candidate John Kerry.
His barrister, Rex Tedd QC, told the judge there was no motive of financial gain or personal advantage for himself. "He acted out of conscience," he said, but acknowledged that Keogh was facing the possibility of an immediate custodial sentence.
Keogh, O'Connor, and Mr Clarke had all been members of a political dining club in Northampton, where they lived. Keogh, a civil servant with 25 years' experience, decided to leak the memo after he came across it while copying it out for highly-placed Government officials. He told the jury it preyed on his mind and over a drink at Northampton Labour club he offered it to O'Connor in a bid to give it wider circulation.
The political researcher passed it on to his boss, Mr Clarke, who then handed it in to Downing Street. O'Connor first claimed he did not have a "scooby" (clue) where it came from but later told police he gave it to the MP, who was also a special constable and member of the Northern Ireland select committee, so he could turn it in.
According to O'Connor's statements to officers, Keogh believed the contents of the memo exposed Mr Bush as a "madman". Details about the US President's comments were later leaked to a newspaper and then widely reported around the world but reporting restrictions put in place by trial judge Mr Justice Aikens have banned them from being repeated. At the end of the trial he warned the jury, who saw the memo during parts of proceedings held behind closed doors, that it must remain secret.
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Keogh was found guilty of two counts of making a damaging disclosure, O'Connor of a similar single count. Both looked grim-faced after the verdicts. They were granted bail and made no comment as they left the court but Keogh's solicitor, Stuart Jeffery, said he would be "shell-shocked". Sentencing was adjourned until Thursday.
