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Former British embassy security guard leaked ‘secret’ information to Russia

A former British embassy employee in Berlin, extradited to Britain for spying for Russia, passed “secret” information to his military attache there, a London court heard today.

David Smith, 57, who was returned to Britain on Wednesday after being arrested in Germany last August, denied nine charges under the Official Secrets Act before Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The former security guard is accused of collecting information from the embassy and passing it on to a person he believed to be a representative of the Russian state, as well as other alleged offences.

Smith, who lived in Potsdam, is said to have tried to communicate by letter with Sergei Chuhurov, the military attache at the Russian embassy in the German capital.

The classified material “contained details of the activities, identities, addresses and telephone numbers” of various British officials, according to the court.

He allegedly “collected material on the operation and establishment of the British Embassy in Berlin” which was considered or intended to be “useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state”.

Smith is also accused of making unauthorized photocopies of documents, videotaping the embassy’s CCTV system and “kept SIM card packaging” that he was supposed to “dispose of”.

His arrest was the result of a joint operation by British and German police.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear in London’s Old Bailey Court on April 13.