A former security guard at the British embassy in Berlin who admitted leaking secret material to Russia has been sentenced to 13 years and two months in prison.
David Ballantyne Smith, 58, was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act relating to offences between October 2020 and August 2021.
Passing sentence at the Old Bailey in London, Mr Justice Mark Wall told Smith: “You committed these crimes intending to assist Russia, a state which at that time, as now, was regarded as unfriendly to the United Kingdom. Your motive in assisting them was to damage British interests.”
“It was your job to ensure the embassy was secure and its staff safe,” Wall said. “It was the most obvious breach of the trust placed in you.”
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court earlier this week that Smith held anti-UK, pro-Russian views and had written two anonymous letters to the Russian embassy in Berlin.
In November 2020, he sent sensitive details of civil servants at the British embassy to General Major Sergey Chukhurov, the military attaché at the Russian embassy in Berlin.
The court heard that Smith, who began working as a security guard at the UK embassy in 2016, had also amassed a stash of confidential material, including videos showing the building’s layout.
That material was later recovered from his home, along with a memory card containing photographs of a whiteboard with staff deployments in Berlin and the itinerary of a British military officer visiting Germany in 2021
Morgan told the court that Smith, who is married to a Ukrainian, had received substantial amounts of cash unexplained by any legitimate source of income.
Smith was caught in August 2021 in an undercover sting by British intelligence, where an operative, posing as a Russian, visited the embassy pretending to be an informant helping the UK.
Smith filmed embassy CCTV footage of the man on his phone and took an extra photocopy of his documents.
Morgan, the prosecutor, told the hearing that photographs of Smith’s flat in Potsdam showed he owned a Russian flag, as well as a dictionary of Russian obscenities and a cartoon of President Vladimir Putin holding the head of Angela Merkel, former German chancellor.
Smith disputed part of the prosecution’s case and denied receiving money or having any negative intention against the UK, claiming his actions were only intended to “embarrass” his employer.
The court heard evidence about the facts of the case to determine Smith’s motivation. Wall ruled on Thursday that Smith would be sentenced on the basis that he had an “ongoing relationship” with someone at the Russian embassy and was “paid for his treachery”.
Smith testified on Tuesday that he was “depressed” because his wife had in 2018 returned to Ukraine, adding that he felt “ignored” by embassy staff when he asked for help with mental health issues.
He said he had been “lonely” in Berlin and drank regularly, adding that his actions were intended to “show the lack of security” at the British embassy. He denied receiving cash for information and said he had earned extra money selling military memorabilia at German flea markets.
“I’m disgusted with myself . . . I had a bit of a grievance and wanted to embarrass the embassy. I did not realise I would cause as much damage as this,” he told the court.
But Wall on Friday told Smith he rejected “any suggestion that you are remorseful for your actions. Your regrets are no more than self pity.”
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