Ex-rolls-royce engineer is ‘not the kind to give secrets away’

THE wife of a former Rolls-royce engineer arrested on suspicion of passing secrets to the Chinese has told of her distress that he is suspected of being a traitor.

Dorothy Jones, 75, told her children she was in a state of shock after detectives raided their Derbyshire home and arrested her husband of 56 years, taking with them his files and computer.

Bryn Jones was held on Tuesday afternoon by officers from Scotland Yard after MI5 received information that top secret details of the RAF’S £100million F-35b stealth fighter jet – whose engine is made by Rolls-royce – had been passed to the Chinese.

After being questioned at a Derbyshire police station, the 73-year-old was released under investigation that evening and returned to his home in Belper.

One of the couple’s five children yesterday told The Daily Telegraph that her mother had been left stunned, but had no doubts about Mr Jones’s innocence.

Jean Harlow, 47, said: “My mother is very upset about what’s happened. She doesn’t really know what’s going on. But she knows he’s not the kind of person who would give any secrets away.

Mrs Harlow, a care worker, added: “I don’t think for one minute he has done anything wrong. He was very proud of what he did for Rolls-royce.”

Yesterday the elderly couple left their home to travel nearly 200 miles to Yeovil to stay with their son Michael, in the hope of lying low.

But as Mr Jones reversed out of his drive, he accidentally hit a friend’s car nearby, leaving a number of dents and scrapes. Mr Jones could be seen grim faced behind the wheel as he left.

The former chief combustion technologist for Rolls-royce’s aeronautical division told friends he was confident police would find nothing incriminating and that he would soon be cleared.

Mr Jones is a frequent visitor to China as a visiting professor in gas turbine combustion at the Aeronautical University of Xi’an. He has also worked as a senior combustion engineer at Bladon Jets for the past four years.

Paul Barrett, its CEO, said: “The allegations made against Bryn Jones relate to his work outside of Bladon Jets. Our Company has no involvement in any military applications. Bryn is a highly valued member and we hope that he will quickly be exonerated in full.”

Scotland Yard said the investigation was continuing.