formerly an employee of British spy agency GCHQ, has a charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act dropped after prosecutors offer no evidence, apparently on the advice of the Attorney General for England and Wales. Gun has admitted leaking American plans to bug UN delegates to a newspaper. 26 February – Clare Short, former Cabinet Minister, alleges on the BBC Today radio programme that British spies regularly intercept U.N communications, including those of Kofi Annan, the U.N Secretary-General. 29 February – Middlesbrough F.C. win their first trophy in their 128-year history by defeating Bolton Wanderers F.C. in the Football League Cup Final. March March – Vauxhall launches the fifth generation of its popular Astra family hatchback. It is initially just available as a five-door hatchback, with a three-door "Sporthatch" and a five-door estate due later in the year. 11 March – Support for the Conservatives and Labour is equal at 35% for the second time in nine months, raising the spectre of a hung parliament at the next general election which is expected within a year. 16 March – 15-year-old Scottish boy Kriss Donald is abducted, tortured and murdered by Pakistani gang in racially motivated attack in Glasgow. 21 March – Architect Zaha Hadid becomes the first female recipient of the Pritzker Prize. 30 March – Operation Crevice, the arrest of a group of British Islamists, 5 of whom are subsequently convicted of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life. April 19 April – In a change of government policy, Tony Blair announces there will be a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution. 28 April – Landmark office building 30 St Mary Axe ("The Gherkin") in the City of London, designed by Norman Foster, opens. May 7 May – BBC Two airs The Simpsons for the final time with "Behind the Laughter" being the final episode, having lost terrestrial rights to air the show to Channel 4. 10 May – Maxine Carr is released from prison with a new identity after serving half of her sentence for perverting the course of justice in the Soham murders case. 11 May – Stockline Plastics factory explosion: Nine people die in an explosion at a factory in Glasgow. 14 May – Piers Morgan is dismissed as editor of the Daily Mirror after the newspaper published fake pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse. 15 May – Arsenal F.C. become the first team in history