The spy who said too much, bids goodbye!

Britain says Shayler broke the Official Secrets Act by alleging that British agents plotted to kill Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1996. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook called the allegations "pure fantasy".

Shayler, a former member of Britain’s MI5 Security Service, was intercepted by police in the ferry terminal building after clearing immigration control.

An officer approached Shayler and said: "Mr Shayler, I’m a police officer, will you come this way." Shayler, who was accompanied by family and friends, replied: "Yes, I just want to say goodbye to a few people."

Shayler’s girlfriend, Annie Machon, said his last words to her had been: "I’ll be all right".

"It’s been very, very difficult to actually come over with him today, and to say goodbye," Machon, herself a former MI5 officer, told reporters.

"Even though we’ve had three years to prepare for this moment, when it actually happened it was very upsetting," she said. "All he has done is tell the truth."

Shayler said he had been told he would be taken to Charing Cross police station, in central London, where he would be charged with offences under the Official Secrets Act and released on bail.

Minutes after his arrest, Port officials said he had already left the ferry terminal building.

Earlier, as the ferry approached the English coastline, Shayler told Reuters he had mixed feelings about his return.

"It’s emotional, there’s a sense of relief but also there is a worry for the future," he said. "I’m coming back on my own terms so that I can vindicate myself."

The former MI5 agent has said he will submit evidence to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to support his claim that MI6 was involved in an attempt to kill Gaddafi.

Shayler also says MI5 mishandled investigations into attacks in London in the 1990s by Irish Republican Army guerrillas and failed through negligence to prevent a 1994 bombing of the Israeli embassy.