A man has been jailed for life for the attempted murder of a woman outside a leisure centre in Cheltenham in March this year. 

Joshua Bowles, 29, previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder on 30 August at the Central Criminal Court. 

The victim was a US national employed by the National Security Agency of the USA. At the time of the attack on 9 March 2023, she was working at GCHQ.

Bowles also previously admitted one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after he assaulted a man who intervened during the attack. 

Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “The CPS has authorised a charge of conspiracy to conduct espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.

“Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, will be charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023.

A man who trespassed within the grounds of Windsor Castle armed with a loaded crossbow - after making threats to kill Queen Elizabeth II - has pleaded guilty to all three charges against him.

Jaswant Chail, 21, was arrested in the grounds of the royal residence on Christmas Day 2021. He told an armed officer he was there to kill the late Queen and this was heard by two soldiers from the Grenadier Guards. He had recorded a video four days earlier in which he makes the same claim.

Counter-terrorism legislation should not hinder legitimate humanitarian, development and peace building organisations from operating overseas, the CPS has said today.

Specialists from the Crown Prosecution Service have produced a framework of some of the public interest considerations which would be made when considering whether or not to prosecute in a case.

The new guidance follows a recommendation from the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, who advised it be developed to cover the potential areas of proscribed terrorist groups and terrorist financing.