Trident Whisteblower William McNeilly in custody after sharing his nuclear concerns on Facebook while on the run
A Royal Navy whistleblower who released documents stating that the UK’s Trident system is a “nuclear catastrophe” which “almost certainly will happen” has handed himself into police after evading authorities.
Nuclear weapons systems engineer William McNeilly, who published an 18-page document dubbed ‘The Secret Nuclear Threat’ while on the run, was picked up by Royal Navy Police at Edinburgh Airport on Monday night.
McNeilly broke cover on Facebook during the weekend, stating that he did not have “the resources to remain undetected” after several days evading authorities. During his time on the run, he claimed to cross several borders, use fake aliases and even bought a plane ticket he had no intention of using to mislead those trying to apprehend him.
In the document, the engineer outlined issues with Trident's security and safety – from muted alarms to unseaworthy vessels. While composing the documents, McNeilly informed family and friends on Facebook of his plan – right up to his incarceration.
In a Facebook post on Sunday he said: “I’ve been working covertly to eliminate the biggest threat to the UK for about a year. My real intentions along with more than enough information to eliminate the Trident programme are contained in a report that was released on the 05-05-15.
“I don’t know how many laws I’ve broken along the way; I doubt men live long enough to serve the sentence they’ll give me. There’s still a small chance of a pardon one day.”
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A Navy spokesman said: "The Royal Navy takes security and nuclear safety extremely seriously and we are fully investigating both the issue of the unauthorised release of this document and its contents.
"The naval service operates its submarine fleet under the most stringent safety regime and submarines do not go to sea unless they are completely safe to do so."
The spokesman added that the Navy "completely disagreed" with McNeilly's report, stating it featured "a number of subjective and unsubstantiated personal views, made by a very junior sailor," adding that the claims will be investigated in full.
Before his apprehension on Monday evening, McNeilly shared one last post on the social network, stating that he “finally achieved what I set out to do”.
His report can be viewed on Wikileaks here.