Security guard turned spy
14 Feb 2023
British embassy security guard admits spying for Russia at the British embassy in Berlin. Court heard that he was driven by an intense hatred for his country.
Briton David Ballantyne Smith, 58, working as a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin pleaded guilty to eight charges, including spying, last year but now he returned to court for legal argument about his motivation. Smith is alleged to have received money in exchange for information but he claimed he was not paid and was motivated by an employment grievance while suffering mental health issues.
Smith began working at the embassy in 2016. His behaviour changed after his wife moved back to her home country, Ukraine, in late 2018, from which point on he went from being “keen and polite” to expressing anti-UK and anti-German views, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC stated.
Smith began collecting secret information from the embassy from around 2018, and footage from the embassy and a draft letter to a Russian military attaché, dated 14 May 2020, were found after an examination of his devices.
In the letter he wanted anonymity as he offered a book classified as “official sensitive”. The examination of his devices also revealed “secret” classified emails and documents, pictures of staff security passes and personal information, as well as posters and whiteboards in the embassy.
An undercover operation was conducted after Smith sent a letter suggesting ongoing contact to a member of military staff at the Russian Embassy in Berlin in November 2020. During the undercover operation, Smith was offered the chance to obtain “highly sensitive information” about someone called “Dmitry” who was told to be a Russian helping the UK.
Smith was then approached by “Irina”, an undercover operative posing as an agent of Russian intelligence service. His interaction with “Irina” in August 2021 uncovered the extent of his activities in the last four years.
On the day of his arrest, Smith had left work early complaining he was feeling ill and was met by German police at his home.
In November 2021, a request was made for his extradition to the UK and Smith arrived back to the UK in April 2022.
On 17 February 2023, Smith was jailed for six years and two months for sending details of the activities, identities, addresses and telephone numbers of members of the embassy to the Russian military attaché. The judge sentenced him to another seven years, consecutively, for collecting further information, classified as “secret” or below, that was “intended to be, directly, or indirectly, useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state”. He will serve half the sentence before his release, or two-thirds if he chooses to serve it in Germany.
