"You were prepared to betray your country for money. I sentence you on the basis you are not ideologically driven but motivated by money. You took a grave risk and didn't care what damage you caused. Through the deliberate work of the security services you were caught before providing material assistance to a foreign intelligence service so the danger was averted."
"Phillips, 66, was convicted in July after jurors heard that he had been seeking easy money when he offered his services to the undercover officers, known as Dima and Sasha. Phillips, from Harlow, in Essex, handed a USB stick containing details relating to Shapps, including his home address and the location of his private plane, to one of the officers, the trial heard."
"In court, Phillips claimed he had been attempting to expose Russian agents and had hoped to pass information about the Russian spies to Israel, as he believed this would benefit the state. The defendant's ex-wife, Amanda Phillips, told the court during the trial that he would dream about being like James Bond, and that he watched films to do with MI5 and MI6 as he was infatuated with it."
Howard Phillips, 66, was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service after giving personal details of then defence secretary Grant Shapps to two undercover officers he believed were Russian agents. Phillips handed a USB stick containing Shapps's home address and the location of his private plane, placing it in a bike seat shaft in central London. Jurors heard he had been seeking easy money and offered his services to the undercover officers known as Dima and Sasha. Phillips claimed he intended to expose Russian agents and to pass information to Israel. He was arrested in May 2024, charged under the National Security Act, and jailed for seven years. The judge said he was motivated by money and that security services prevented material assistance to a foreign intelligence service.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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