ALLEGED spy Ursula Beurton will not be prosecuted over her book,

Sonya's Story, Attorney General Sir Patrick Mayhew announced last night.

He said in a Commons written reply that acting Director of Public

Prosecutions David

Gandy had decided it ''would not be in the public interest'' to take

action against her.

The announcement came soon after Mrs Beurton, 84, announced that she

would not be coming to London as planned to promote the book.

Mrs Beurton, who fled Britain 41 years ago to East Germany, had been

due to give newspaper, radio and television interviews to mark Monday's

launch.

Sir Patrick had been asked by Tory Graham Riddick (Colne Valley) what

action he would take ''to stop the self-confessed spy Ursula Beurton

from profiteering from the sale of her book''.

He called for the matter to be referred to the DPP ''to decide what

case there is to be answered in light of Mrs Beurton's admission in the

book that she and her husband were Soviet intelligence officers''.

Sir Patrick replied: ''Taking into account all the circumstances, in

particular their ages, the lapse of some 50 years since any Official

Secrets Act offences may have been committed and the context in which

they were then operating, the acting director has decided it would not

be in the public interest to take any action against them in respect of

these offences.''

The Attorney General added: ''There does not at present appear to be

any basis for civil proceedings in respect of the publication of this

book.''

Mrs Beurton, in a statement issued yesterday by her publishers Chatto

and Windus, said: ''although I agreed to a wide range of newspaper,

radio and TV interviews in London, a camera team of ITN ignored this and

forced entry into my home in Germany.

''When newspapers repeat the lie that I worked for the KGB, I can deny

it again, but at 84 years of age I cannot hold a door against ruthless

younger people.

''I am sorry not to see England again, but at least an old socialist

has been introduced to the famous freedom of the press.''

German-born Mrs Beurton, whose code-name in her earlier days was

Sonya, was alleged to have passed British atomic bomb secrets from Klaus

Fuchs, a scientist at the Harwell research centre, to Stalin's regime.

However, in her book, written under the pen-name Ruth Werner, she has

denied that she ever worked for the KGB.