A Jewish man from Harlow, Essex, has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, after allegedly passing on a USB stick containing personal information about former defence secretary, Sir Grant Shapps, to undercover police officers he believed to be Russian spies.
Howard Phillips, 65, who is currently on trial at Winchester Crown Court, denies the charges, and claims that he was hoping to “expose Russian agents” to help the Ukrainian war effort – and create good PR for Israel.
Asked why he wrote to the Russian embassy in early 2024 claiming to have information, Phillip told jurors: “Because of events that were happening in the world, I was intending to track and expose the Russian agents.”
Quizzed by his lawyer, Jeremy Dein KC, on which events he was referring to, Phillips said: “In particular, the war between Israel and Gaza and the Ukrainian-Russian war.”
He went on: “I felt the West wasn’t doing enough to stem the flow of Russian advance.
“I was intending to expose and track a Russian agent who may be operating within the UK. It was a small part to play… it was a small part that possibly I could do.”
Explaining how he thought this could benefit Israel, Phillips explained that once he had exposed a Russian agent, he was planning to “take that to the Israelis” who in turn could reveal it to Britain and “gain credit for it”.
“Then that would benefit the Israelis by the [UK] media having to portray the way they had helped the UK, which goes on behind the scenes anyway,” he added.
Phillips said he met Shapps “about four times” through Potters Bar synagogue, where they were both members. He told the court that he and his then-wife also met Mrs Shapps and had been to the couple’s house, but were “more acquaintances than friends”.
The father-of-four told the court that he’d also written to the Chinese and Iranian embassies with the same plan: “To expose and trap a foreign agent who I perceived were the enemies.”
Asked about his feelings towards the UK, he said: “I love the UK, I have a lot of views as to what is happening and going on behind the scenes but I absolutely love this country.”
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