Spy David Smith pleaded guilty to eight counts, violating the Official Secrets Act. He faces up to 14 years in prison. (Here, portrait by Elisabeth Cook). PA Photos/PA Photos/ABACA
STORY – A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin, he ended up passing on secrets to Russia.
Correspondent in London
The former member of the Royal Air Force had come to hate his country. The resentment of this security guard at the British embassy in Berlin was such that he ended up passing on confidential information to Russia. Unmasked and arrested in August 2021, David Ballantyne Smith is now on trial in London, in the context of a new cold war with Moscow.
The leaks lasted more than three years, starting in March 2018. While stationed at the Berlin Chancellery, the 58-year-old security guard from Scotland retrieves classified documents. Among these, “secret” exchanges with the Prime Minister at the time, Boris Johnson. The spy also scanned or photographed letters from several ministers, including Liz Truss, then trade minister, and Alok Sharma, who held the business portfolio. According to the solicitor of the court of the Old Bailey, in London, Alison Morgan, David Ballantyne Smith is also sending elements
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