Guard for British embassy, spy for Russia: David Smith sentenced to 13 years in jail for leaking secrets to Russia

The commander of the SO15 counterterrorism unit of the Metropolitan Police has commented on the sting operation that netted David Smith.

"And the stakes were very high - the prospect of any future prosecution (rested) largely on the success of the covert operation in order for us to gather evidence," he said

A security check for every employee was required once Smith's offenses were made public, costing the government $982k. The embassy’s head of security, Bharat Joshi, said there was also a human cost: "The breach of trust, in particular disclosure of people's personal information, has had a negative impact on staff morale and wellbeing,” as reported by the BBC. 

Authorities said that after his arrest, unaccounted-for money, including $850 in cash, was discovered at his residence and seized. Along with travel papers, his apartment also had sheets of blank paper with an embassy seal.

A Russian Federation flag, a Soviet military headgear, a miniature Lada automobile, and a Russian plush Rottweiler dog wearing a military hat were all seen in photos taken at his residence. 

The court mentioned George Blake, a former MI6 agent, and Soviet spy, during David Smith's sentence.

Blake shared information that over the course of nine years resulted in the betrayal of some 40 MI6 operatives in Eastern Europe. When Michael Goleniewski, a Polish secret service agent, defected to the West with his mistress and information on a Soviet mole in British intelligence, he was exposed to the British authorities. In 1960, Blake was found guilty of espionage after entering a guilty plea to five charges of providing information to the Soviet Union.

David Smith, a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin turned into a spy for Russia. How did this unfold?

Click here to read the story. 

The charges as per the court's ruling and as reported by the BBC have been listed as follows: 

• Count 1: Sending a letter with details of British embassy staff to General Major Chukhrov at Berlin’s Russian Embassy
• Count 2: Taking unauthorised pictures and recording footage inside the British embassy
• Count 3: Taking photographs of classified documents marked ‘secret’ related to the embassy, its work and its staff
• Count 4: Taking photographs of documents marked at lower than ‘secret’
• Count 5: Photocopying a document related to the deployment of Dmitry, a role player who acted as a Russian agent working with the UK, after the Chukhrov letter came to light
• Count 6: Keeping hold of Sim card packaging he had been told to dispose of
• Count 7 and 8: Recording CCTV footage of Dmitry across two days

Scottish Paisley is where David Ballantyne Smith comes from. In 2016, after 12 years in the RAF, he began working as a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin. The court was informed that Smith's behaviour altered in 2018 after his Ukrainian wife returned to her own country. He then came under fire for allegedly stealing sensitive data from the embassy and storing it on a USB stick. After an inquiry by British counterterrorism police, an application for his extradition to the UK was submitted in November 2021. In April 2022, Smith was extradited to the UK, where he now faces a 13-year prison term.

Smith refuted the prosecution's claim that he had anti-British and pro-Russian sentiments driving him.

However, he claimed that he was driven by a workplace dispute in addition to having mental health problems and drinking excessively. He insisted that he disliked his job and that the personnel at the British embassy in Berlin, where he worked, had treated him unjustly, as reported by the BBC. 

After today's Old Bailey sentencing of David Smith to 13 years in prison, the Crown Prosecution Service has responded.

Nick Price, who heads the Special Crime and Counter Terror Division, said Smith "abused his position in the British embassy in Berlin to covertly collect and pass sensitive information to the Russian state".

"These crimes were an attack on our country and could have threatened national security," he said, adding that Smith's actions "were not just driven by money and greed".

The public has been given access to certain video recordings of David Smith from inside the security kiosk at the British embassy.

According to the judge's ruling, Smith duplicated the embassy CCTV tape that included the fake Russian spy "Dmitry." In the tape above, which was captured by a covert camera, Smith can be heard on the phone saying, “If he works at the embassy they must recognise him. It’s probably nothing, but at least I’ve done it...”