Briton found guilty of volunteering to spy for Russia
A former City worker is facing jail after he was found guilty of volunteering to spy for the Russians when he ran out of money in retirement.
Howard Phillips, 65, from Harlow, Essex, handed over the home address and landline for Grant Shapps, his local MP and then the defence secretary, during an undercover sting by MI5.
He told two officers posing as Russian agents he wanted to work in intelligence to avoid a “nine-to-five office” job after clearing out his savings by retiring at 59.
Howard Phillips. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Phillips was found guilty of assisting what he believed to be Russian intelligence service agents, in breach of the National Security Act.
Dressed in a dark suit and dark coloured tie, he shook his head and looked around the court as he was found unanimously guilty by a jury at Winchester Crown Court after four hours of deliberation.
He now faces a lengthy jail term after offering to provide logistical support for Russian agents across the world in the increasingly desperate hope it would bail him out of his money worries.
Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting, said Phillips was “struggling financially” and seeking “interesting and exciting work for easy money”.
Phillips, who is divorced with four grown-up children, became an insolvency practitioner in 1986 and had worked for Bond Partners in the City. He had become self-employed in 2011 and then worked as a manager in the charity sector before moving to GDPR compliance in “semi-retirement” in 2018.
Phillips explained that he sent out hundreds of CVs and applied online, adding: “I was avidly seeking employment but none was forthcoming.”
He filled in an online application form for MI5 in 2014 and again in 2024, because he “wanted to act in the service of my country”, but found that they required a university degree.
Phillips began writing a series of increasingly fanciful letters to Conservative Party ministers, offering his advice on how to influence the electorate, and to Hollywood actors – including Tom Cruise and Jennifer Aniston – asking to meet and talk about how to get into the movie business.
However, his financial situation was “decreasing rapidly”. He had used up all the money he had gained from the sale of a property. He had a balance of £25,126.09 in his bank accounts on April 29 2023 but by May 20 2024 it had dropped to £374.48 after using his savings to pay off Santander credit card bills.
Phillips as he was arrested. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Phillips was filmed from multiple angles in an elaborate undercover operation which saw two MI5 agents adopting Russian accents to pose as agents of the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, even though he had never heard of the organisation.
On 15 March last year, Phillips volunteered his services to the Russians in a letter intercepted by MI5.
In messages on WhatsApp, he claimed his name was David Marshall and said he was a “fully pledged British citizen, born in the UK to British parents and British grandparents etc” and had “several situations of utmost benefit to convey and offer”.
He added that he was “semi-retired” but had “connections in high places”.
Phillips was asked if he could prepare a document on a USB stick that would explain how he could assist Russian intelligence and deliver it to London on 4 April last year.
Jurors were played a covert recording of a meeting between Phillips and “Sasha” and “Dima” – two undercover MI5 officers – at the London Bridge Hotel on 26 April in which he told the men he wanted to work for Russia in exchange for financial independence from the UK.
He was arrested by plain-clothed officers in a coffee shop near King’s Cross station on 16 May last year.
Phillips denied materially assisting a foreign intelligence service to carry out UK-related activities under the National Security Act 2023.
A member of rap trio Kneecap was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at court this morning, charged with allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Demonstrators waving flags and holding banners in support of the rapper greeted him with cheers as he made his way into Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The rapper is mobbed by fans and media as he arrives at court. Pics: PA
Supported by his Kneecap bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, it took the rapper more than a minute to enter the building as security officers worked to usher him inside through a crowd of photographers.
Fans held signs which read “Free Mo Chara”, while others waved Irish and Palestinian flags.
As the hearing got under way, O hAnnaidh confirmed his name, date of birth and address, with the court hearing an Irish language interpreter would be present.
During a previous hearing, prosecutors said the 27-year-old is “well within his rights” to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but said the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town was a “wholly different thing”.
O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain (pictured, centre) and JJ O Dochartaigh are supporting O hAnnaidh. Pic: Reuters
Who are Kneecap?
Kneecap put out their first single in 2017 and rose to wider prominence in 2024 after the release of their debut album and an eponymously titled film – a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and their fight to save the Irish language.
The film, in which the trio play themselves and co-star alongside starring Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, won the BAFTA for outstanding debut earlier this year, for director and writer Rich Peppiatt.
Last year, they won a discrimination case against the UK government after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was business secretary.
They are known for songs including H.O.O.D, Fine Art, and Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.
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A council has won its bid to temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in Essex.
Epping Forest District Council sought an interim injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.
A government attempt to delay the application was rejected by the High Court judge earlier on Tuesday.
The interim injunction now means the hotel has to be cleared of its occupants within 14 days.
Somani Hotels said it intended to appeal the decision.
Several protests have been held outside the hotel in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.
Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
At a hearing last week, barristers for the council claimed Somani Hotels breached planning rules because the site is not being used for its intended purpose as a hotel.
Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said the problem was “getting out of hand” and “causing great anxiety” to local people.
He said the hotel “is no more a hotel [to asylum seekers] than a borstal to a young offender”.
File pic: PA
Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels Limited, said a “draconian” injunction would cause “hardship” for those in the hotel, arguing “political views” were not grounds for an injunction to be granted.
He also said contracts to house asylum seekers were a “financial lifeline” for the hotel, which was only 1% full in August 2022, when it was open to paying customers.
Protesters and counter-demonstrators outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
The hotel housed migrants from May 2020 to March 2021, then from October 2022 to April 2024, with the council never instigating any formal enforcement proceedings against this use, Mr Riley-Smith said.
They were being placed there again in April 2025 and Mr Riley-Smith said a planning application was not made “having taken advice from the Home Office”.
At the end of the hearing last week, Mr Justice Eyre ordered that Somani Hotels could not “accept any new applications” from asylum seekers to stay at the site until he had made his ruling on the temporary injunction.
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