Jet expert accused of spying for China
Father-of-five delivered lectures on aeronautics at Chinese university
The former chief combustion technologist at Rolls-royce in Derby been arrested under the Official Secrets Act on suspicion of spying for the Chinese. Police moved in after MI5 reportedly received information that classified details about the RAF’S new £100million F-35 Lightning II jet – key parts of which were made by Rollsroyce – may have been passed to Beijing by Bryn Jones, 73, a frequent visitor to China in his capacity as a visiting professor.
TO HIS family and friends in Derbyshire’s Amber Vale, Bryn Jones was a devout churchgoer and devoted family man with a respected career in the aeronautics industry.
But yesterday they woke to news that the cheerful and polite man who made a point of greeting his neighbours every day had been arrested under the Official Secrets Act, on suspicion of spying for the Chinese.
Mr Jones, the former chief combustion technologist at Rolls-royce’s aeronautical division in Derby, was arrested at his home on Tuesday by officers from Scotland Yard’s SO15 counter-terrorism command. Police moved in after MI5 reportedly received information that classified details about the RAF’S new £100million F-35 Lightning II jet – key parts of which were made by Rollsroyce – had been passed to Beijing. A search warrant was also executed at an office in the West Midlands linked to the father-of-five. Mr Jones, 73, who denies any wrongdoing, is a frequent visitor to China in his capacity as visiting professor in gas turbine combustion at the Aeronautical University of Xian. It emerged last night that in May 2016 and 2017, he delivered lectures at the university on the future development of civilian aircraft engines.
A press release from Xian University, which was issued after the May 2016 lecture, stated that Mr Jones had “supplied detailed explanation and valued comments in response to inquiries from students and teachers on issues such as aircraft design, engine selection, new aero engine fuel, as well as new technologies on the engine combustion chamber”.
It added: “The content of his lecture was vivid, the theory was explained in a simple way. His lecture has won applause from students and teachers. Professor Bryn also praised China’s progress in aerospace and its future development potential.”
A relative of Mr Jones told The Daily Telegraph that he regularly visited China and would frequently host Chinese colleagues at his home. “I know he had Chinese people visiting him and his wife Dorothy and sometimes staying over. I think they were people he knew from his work. Bryn goes to China pretty regularly as part of his job as visiting professor and sometimes Dorothy goes with him. All this must have come as a massive shock to her.”
For two days, plain-clothes detectives and uniformed officers scoured Mr Jones’s house on the edge of the historic mill town of Belper, leaving neighbours wondering at the turn of events. This was, after all, a man who attended church every Sunday and had made a point of taking all the pictures at his daughter Jean’s wedding to save them the cost of a photographer.
Matt Clarke, 24, whose home overlooks the couple’s, said: “Mr Jones and his wife seem like utterly normal people. They are friendly, they say hello when they see you in the street. He goes to church every Sunday.”
A young woman walking her dogs past the detached house, which overlooks one of the town’s imposing industrial mills, said: “They are lovely, lovely people.”
Mr Jones was last night back at home after being released under investigation. He emerged briefly to pick up some shopping delivered by a friend before going back inside without speaking. His wife Dorothy, 75, was understood to be with him.
Experts yesterday told The Daily Telegraph that China was desperate to acquire the type of technology behind the F-35 Lightning II. Prof Anthony Glees, head of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, warned that any attempt to steal the secrets behind the new F-35 jet underlined “the threat China poses to national security”.
‘Mr Jones and his wife seem like utterly normal people. They are friendly, and he goes to church every Sunday’