DISGRACED spy David Shayler will be out of jail before Christmas, according to unconfirmed reports last night.

If the reports are true, Middlesbrough-born Shayler will have spent only six-and-a-half weeks in prison.

Last month, the former MI5 officer was found guilty of disclosing information, documents and information from telephone taps in breach of the Official Secrets Act. He was jailed for six months.

He was told by the judge, Mr Justice Moses, that "blinkered arrogance'' led him to disclose security service secrets.

It was thought at the time of the trial at the Old Bailey, in London, that the Boro supporter would be released, but wearing an electronic tag, after two months.

Shayler's girlfriend, former MI5 officer Annie Machon, told The Northern Echo last week that Shayler was hoping to be freed from Belmarsh Prison to celebrate his 37th birthday on Christmas Eve, with his family.