LONDON (HRNW) – A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin collected highly sensitive information for more than three years, including “secret” government communications with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, prosecutors told a London court on Monday.
David Ballantyne Smith, 58, scanned copies of a letter from two cabinet ministers to Johnson and other documents relating to “sensitive trade matters”, prosecutor Alison Morgan told London’s Old Bailey.
Smith, who has pleaded guilty to eight charges, is alleged to have collected information from as early as March 2018 until his arrest in August 2021 – the day after meeting “Irina”, an MI5 officer posing as a member of Russia’s military intelligence service.
Morgan said a search of Smith’s home in Potsdam, Germany, after his arrest recovered a USB stick that contained several photos of embassy staff and diplomatic passports.
Smith also filmed a number of sensitive documents he found in trays – including a November 2020 letter from then-Trade Minister Liz Truss and then-Business Minister Alok Sharma to Johnson, which was classified as “secret”, she said.