Deciding to blow the whistle on your employers is always a high risk enterprise, but it doesn't usually result in a prison sentence.

Gavin Havery talks to a woman who is standing by a man branded a traitor to his country.

WHEN a person stands up for what they believe is right they do not expect to become entangled in a terrifying ordeal that will destroy their career, life and freedom. But when they are standing up against the power of the state, that is exactly what can happen.

Annie Machon's nightmare began when she and her boyfriend decided to take on the British Government.

Things were going well when the 23-year-old joined MI5's counter-subversive section in 1991; she had an exciting new career working for the secret service and had just met a nice man from Middlesbrough called David.

Eleven years later her dreams have turned sour and that nice young man, David Shayler, has been branded a traitor and is being held at Her Majesty's pleasure at Belmarsh Prison.

Instead of living the glamorous spy lifestyle they envisaged when they joined the country's most secret organisation, David is being served his three square meals a day alongside murderers and rapists.

"The conditions are pretty grim and they keep on locking him up for 24-hour periods because they are so short staffed," says Annie, who spent an hour-and-a-half with David on a supervised visit on Tuesday.

"It is crazy because they can't let the prisoners out to exercise - there would be an outcry if animals were treated like this but it is OK to do it to people. Prisoners are supposed to be let out so they can stretch their legs and mingle with other people but this is not happening.

"He is bored with being in a cell all day with no exercise and, as you can imagine it is very claustrophobic - especially when you remember he has to share with one or two other prisoners."

Despite living in an eight foot by ten foot cell for the last three weeks, Shayler is reportedly upbeat, especially when he talks to the only person who can empathise about what he has experienced in the last five years.

"He was in remarkably high spirits when you consider what he has gone through but he is obviously desperate to get out," says Annie, 34. "Dave is resigned to serving another two months of his sentence but hopes he will be released with a tag as soon as possible."

Shayler has found the prisoners and guards quite friendly and they are helping him learn the ropes inside, while his passion for football and Boro have helped him bond with other inmates.

"He was kind of prepared for it because he had spent time inside in Paris before he had to come back to the country but he was still surprised when he was eventually jailed," Annie says. "The only reason he came back was because he thought he would get a fair trial, but that didn't happen."

Shayler was jailed for six months earlier this month after he was convicted of breaching the Official Secrets Act by disclosing documents and information from telephone taps. He argued his actions were in the public interest, but was prevented from disclosing full details because of the alleged threat to national security.

In 1995, Shayler discovered that MI6 had paid an agent who was involved in a plot to assassinate the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi.

Uncovering murky dealings was nothing new for the two agents. When Shayler and Annie first joined the intelligence operation they were given files on politicians including Jack Straw and Peter Mandelson. But it was the Gadaffi plot - a plan to pay al Qaida £100,000 to get rid of the Libyan leader - which made them start thinking about doing something.

And the discovery that a journalist's phone was being tapped tipped the balance into convincing Shayler that he had to make his concerns public.

They knew their actions meant they were going to have to 'go away', and they secured a £20,000 deal with the Mail on Sunday for their story. Both of them knew they were no longer safe in Britain, and fled the day before the article appeared.

They flew to Utrecht in Holland, convinced every time they boarded a train or coach it would be stopped and they would be deported. Weaving their way down Europe they holed up in a farmhouse in Bayonne, south-west France, for ten months. Shayler would pass the time by working on his novel but every day they were expecting a knock at the door. Isolated and on edge, it is easy to see how paranoia set in.

"Looking back I can't believe we did it - living with that level of fear is something that is very hard to describe," says Annie. "We knew it was going to be frightening and hectic but we didn't have any other choice, even though we didn't know where we were going to go or what we were going to do.

"We tried to negotiate with the Government regarding what we knew about the Gadaffi plot but it was no use, so we had to organise our escape behind closed doors to make sure we could get out of the country without being arrested."

During a stay in Paris after watching Middlesbrough on television, Shayler was arrested by French police in the hotel lobby. He spent two months in La Sante, a top security prison, which houses Carlos the Jackal. A French judge ruled extradition demands were politically motivated and let him go, allowing the renegade spy to rent a flat in the capital for a year.

By August 2000, three years after they left Britain, Shayler though he could present his case to his peers in an open court and accepted £40,000 from the Mail on Sunday for his story.

Annie returned to Britain via Barcelona with her lawyer and was promptly arrested on suspicion of leaking official secrets and money laundering because she and Shayler had a joint account. His brother and two of their friends were also picked up by the authorities, but Shayler was the only one to face charges amid a trial that generated a media frenzy.

Annie feels that after they handed themselves in they were systematically smashed by the machinery of the state.

"It was so unfair because he had his words vetted by the prosecution so he couldn't explain what he was trying to do," Annie says. "Some of the jury were in tears when they gave the verdict and I think they knew there was something funny going on, as they had already been told to convict him because he had worked for MI5 and had talked to a newspaper.

"I am angry and frustrated by the whole thing. Dave was trying to do what he thought was good and honourable by exposing crime in the security services but instead of being rewarded he has been persecuted for it." But the couple have not given up the fight and though still bloodied they are surprisingly up for another round - this time by appealing to the European Court to quash Shayler's conviction.

Their experiences would be enough to put any relationship under strain but the couple are still very much together.

Shayler will be released in nearly two months but is hoping he might be freed early to celebrate his 37th birthday on Christmas Eve with his family on Teesside - even if it means living with his tag. Even then, there is no hiding from the state.