FORMER Central Intelligence Agency software engineer Joshua Schulte has been convicted of leaking classified information to the WikiLeaks website in the so-called Vault 7 case. 

Jurors in a Manhattan federal court found him guilty on eight charges of espionage and one of obstruction over what has been described as the biggest theft of classified material in the spy agency’s history. 

Mr Schulte, who represented himself in court, faces decades behind bars for leaking 8,761 documents, an action which prosecutors said was a deliberate attempt to harm the CIA by a disgruntled employee.