A former MP's aide accused of being a Russian spy has won her appeal against deportation, after arguing that she was not sending state secrets to Moscow.
Katia Zatuliveter, 26, had been accused by British intelligence of using her position as an aide to Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock to spy for the Kremlin.
She was arrested at Gatwick airport in December 2010 but appealed the move to expel her to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
Today her lawyer Tessa Gregory said she had been living a "Kafkaesque" nightmare: "If the Security Service, like the court, had rigorously analysed the available evidence, they would never have concluded that she was a Russian spy and we would not be here today. Their case was built entirely on speculation, prejudice and conjecture. It was amateur, poorly researched and compared very unfavourably to the counter-espionage work conducted by the FBI in recent years."
The Russian national revealed she had had a four year affair with Hancock during her appeal against deportation, but denied spying.
“I didn’t know about his private life until recently. I thought he was divorced and only found out he was married in 2010," she said.
SIAC deals with appeals against decisions made by the Home Office to deport, or exclude, someone from the UK on national security grounds.
Zatuliveter began working for Hancock in November 2006 after coming to Britain to study at the University of Bradford. The security services have alleged she used her position to access sensitive information.
Hancock is the MP for Portsmouth South, the home of the Royal Navy. He also sat on the Commons defence committee but quit the position following the allegations made against Zatuliveter.
Following her arrest Hancock said she had been "an excellent and conscientious employee".