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We had to operate carefully, because the country is riddled with informers and secret police who spy on their own people for the ruling military junta.

Ms Gencheva was part of a team sent to Berlin to spy on Mr Dobrokhotov, and she was a member of chat groups with three of those convicted of spying in the UK case - cell leader Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzhambazov and Katrin Ivanova - which were used to co-ordinate the spying.

Ms Doncheva helped spy on the investigative journalist Christo Grozev in Vienna, occupying a flat opposite where he lived and operating a camera that took images of his home.

Indeed, in 2013, a government contractor turned whistleblower named Edward Snowden exposed the extent of mass surveillance, revealing how intelligence agencies, colluding with Big Tech, exploited legal loopholes to spy on citizens.

A teacher who attempted to spy on a girl in the toilets at a fast-food restaurant has been struck off.