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HomeNewsDavid Smith: British spy caught selling secrets to Russia

David Smith: British spy caught selling secrets to Russia

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A British embassy guard has been jailed for 13 years after selling secrets to the Kremlin.

David Smith, 58, spent three years collecting classified information at the Berlin embassy motivated by a hatred for the West.

A judge at the Old Bailey said Smith had copied “a significant amount” of material and was “paid by Russia for your treachery”.

Judge Mark Wall also said Smith’s motive had been to “damage British interests”.

He was caught after an MI5 sting operation in 2021.

Cops found a copy of a letter to the Prime Minister from two senior government ministers.

Smith had also passed on details of workers’ identities and activities.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said he had “an extreme hatred of where he works and the United Kingdom in general”.

Scot Smith, from Scotland, claimed he had ­mental health issues and just wanted to embarrass the embassy.

Smith pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Official Secrets Act, including one charge relating to passing information to Russian Military General Major Sergey Chukhrov attached to Berlin, in November 2020.

The seven other charges involved collecting information, which might have been useful to Russia.

Four of which related to an MI5 officer posing as “Dmitry”, a Russian national who was supposedly providing assistance to Britain.

Earlier this week, Smith told the court he was “disgusted with myself and ashamed of what I’ve done” and had started collecting the confidential information during a dispute with colleagues while suffering depression.

He said he filmed the documents after drinking “seven pints of beer”.

He further added: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

But Smith said he did not pass the documents on to anyone as “it would be knowingly damaging the UK”.

During sentencing, judge Wall said: “Your mitigation lies solely in your previous good character.

“The credit for that must be limited, as the offending here was so extensive and so serious.

“Your regrets are no more than self pity.”

Smith was sentenced to 13 years and two months in jail.

Prior to the MI5 sting, Smith was dumped by his Ukrainian wife just months before his arrest.

Svetlana Makogonova walked out on the embassy worker after almost 20 years of marriage.

A life-long collector of military memorabilia, Smith’s Russian fetish appeared to be on show in his home in Potsdam.

His living room was stuffed with pro-Kremlin books and ornaments including a Russian Federation flag.

He even had a sick life-sized Russian toy Rottweiler donning a Soviet military hat and a Communist toy Lada car.

Furthermore, inside the disgraced man’s work locker, investigators found a cartoon of Putin with his hands around former German chancellor Angela Merkel in Nazi uniform espousing the false rhetoric used to invade Ukraine.

Story Credit: news.com.au

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