China claims to have busted spy couple working for MI6 – accusing them of ‘stealing state secrets for a decade’

CHINA claims it has busted a top-level spy couple working for MI6.

It accused the husband and wife team of having stolen state secrets for almost a decade.

Alamy

China claims it has busted a top-level spy couple working for MI6 (pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping)[/caption]

Last month Matthew Trickett was found dead in unexplained circumstances after he was charged with helping Hong Kong’s intelligence service

The couple, named only as Wang and Zhou, worked in a government agency, leader Xi Jinping’s spy-hunters say.

It is the latest tit-for-tat espionage claim amid rock-bottom London– Beijing relations.

China’s Ministry of State Security accused MI6 of turning Wang when he studied in ­Britain in 2015.

UK spooks posed as graduates to befriend him and offer him money and he later recruited his wife Zhou, they say.

It was not clear whether the suspects would face charges or trial.

But in a chilling message the ministry said it had taken “decisive measures” against Wang.

It comes after a trio of Brits were accused of spying for China.

Ex-Royal Marine Matthew Trickett, 37, was found dead in unexplained circumstances last month after he was charged with helping Hong Kong’s intelligence service.

In April Christopher Cash, 29, a parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, 32, were charged with spying for China.

In January China named MI6 for the first time in a spy case.