No new trial for Colin Wallace

The Court of Appeal drew a line under the Colin Wallace affair yesterday, saying the former army information officer should not face a retrial after being cleared of the manslaughter of a friend 16 years ago. SAS-trained Mr Wallace had his conviction quashed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, last week.

Lord Bingham said the court doubted whether a retrial was practicable so long after the event. Mr Wallace, who refused to join MI5's "Clockwork Orange" operation which attempted to destabilise Harold Wilson's government, claims he was the victim of a dirty-tricks campaign. Patricia Wynn Davies