Guard admits spying for Russia at UK embassy

A DISGRUNTLED security guard has admitted spying for Russia while working at the British embassy in Berlin.

Briton David Ballantyne Smith, 58, is said to have been driven by an intense hatred for his own country and wanted to live in Russia or Ukraine at the time he passed on secret intelligence from May 2020.

Despite living beyond his means, 800 euro in cash was found at his home in Potsdam in Germany when he was arrested in August last year.

Prosecutors alleged he had wanted to hurt the UK and the British Embassy where he had worked for eight years.

He was also said to have been angered at the flying of the Rainbow flag in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Photographs of his living room subsequently published by the Mail Online displayed Russian memorabilia, including a flag.

On his bookshelf were volumes on history and a novel by the late John le Carre, who is best known for his Cold War spy thrillers.

At a plea hearing at the Old Bailey, Smith, now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

The extent of Smith’s activities were set out in the charges laid against him. Among them was that he had communicated with General Major Sergey Chukhurov, the Russian military attache based out of the Russian Embassy, Berlin in 2020.

Following a probe by British counter-terrorism police, a request was made for his extradition in November last year and he was brought back to the UK in April.