A security guard who worked for the British embassy in Berlin has pleaded guilty to passing secret material to a Russian military attache in a rare espionage prosecution.
David Smith, 58, faces up to 14 years in jail after admitting to passing on information about the staff and layout of the British embassy, and other secret material between May 2020 and August last year.
The guard was caught in a sting operation and extradited back to the UK from Germany in April to be prosecuted at the Old Bailey under the Official Secrets Act. He pleaded guilty to eight counts a week ago, but it can only be reported on now after a ninth charge was dropped by prosecutors.
A joint investigation by German and British security services concluded that he had been selling information to Russia since spring 2020 after MI5 and its European counterparts trailed him for months.
The prosecution said Smith shared with General Major Sergey Chukhurov, the Russian military attache, the identities, addresses and telephone numbers of British civil servants between October and December 2020.
A police raid on Smith’s flat revealed he had taken photographs of staff security passes, organizational charts, posters and whiteboards in the embassy, and had filmed a walkthrough video revealing some of the building’s layout.
Officers also discovered e-mails and documents marked “secret” — apparently prepared for passing to his Russian contacts — and 800 euros (US$830) in cash which could not be accounted for.
Police said that Smith was living beyond his means.
Smith had been employed at the embassy in Berlin as a security guard for about eight years.
At some point, he had become disillusioned with the West and become a supporter of Russia, prosecutors said.
At his apartment in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, police found a Russian flag in the corner of the living room, a Russian navy crest on the wall and a Soviet military cap carrying the hammer and sickle emblem.
Officers also found a draft letter addressed to Colonel Sivov, a previous Russian military attache, dated 14 May 2020, in which Smith said he worked at the embassy and wanted to remain anonymous.
The guard then offered to provide a book from the embassy’s defense section marked “official sensitive,” and said that the Russian “might be able to make use of it.”
Smith’s lawyer Matthew Ryder said prosecutors had exaggerated his motivations, and that his actions were of a disgruntled employee, not a spy.
Ryder told the hearing on Nov. 4 that “the seriousness of the allegations are disputed by Mr Smith,” and that the security guard did not have any “negative intention against the UK.”
However, prosecutors said that Smith could have acted differently if he was unhappy in his job.
“If Mr Smith had merely wanted to lash out and express his frustrations, he could have provided different information,” prosecutors said.
They accused him of trying to damage the British embassy and the UK.
A trial of the facts to determine the length of Smith’s sentence is expected to take place in February next year. Smith is to be remanded in custody until that hearing is concluded.
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