Photos 'show moment alleged Russian spy dropped off USB stick in plot to leak sensitive details about ex-defence secretary Grant Shapps'
The images feature Howard Phillips sending a secretive message to his 'Russian' handlers, prosecutors say.
The 65-year-old Briton is on trial accused of trying to spy for the Kremlin by leaking Shapps' personal information - including the location of his private plane.
Phillips wanted to 'offer services' to Russian intelligence but the two handlers he corresponded with were British undercover security services agents, jurors have been told.
Released by the Met Police tonight, the new images allegedly show him following his handlers' instructions by dropping off a message inside a USB stick within the exposed seat shaft of a bike.
The photographs also show Phillips - a former insolvency worker - being arrested at Black Sheep Coffee shop in London.
Other images depict a phone and hotel rooms he allegedly bought on behalf of the Russian 'agents'.
A court has heard that the father-of-four, who was set to start a job with UK Border Force, later handed the 'agents' a bag containing a USB stick with Shapps' details on.
The USB stick in question, which the Met Police said contained Shapps home address, phone number, and the location of his private plane
On the stick contained Shapps home address, phone number, and the location of his private plane.
At Winchester Crown Court, Hants, Phillips denies engaging in conduct to assist a foreign intelligence service.
Prosecutors say Phillips, from Harlow, Essex, boasted he could get government clearance due to his new job at Border Force.
He said he wanted the 'agents' and him to be a 'family' - and said they could all 'help each other' and 'look after each other'.
He claimed to have been to Shapps home and had met up with him several times.
Inside the USB stick he dropped into the bike was a note that promised '100 per cent loyalty' to the Russian Intelligence Service [RIS] and boasted of how he could move 'under the radar' thanks to a valid government security vetting pass.
One of the intelligence officers, who is employed by the security service, gave evidence from behind a curtain at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday.
The British officer was known to Phillips as 'Dima' and spoke to him in recordings with a fake Russian accent.
In recordings played to court, Phillips told the 'agents': 'I do not want and cannot for myself go back into the normal nine-to-five office. It's not for me, it never was for me, but I did it.'
Describing how he first decided he would like to work with RIS, he said: 'I was thinking, I have to do something, I have to earn money, what can I do and I came up with all the things I don't want to do.
'I was thinking about, funnily enough, I was thinking about maybe, going away on holiday. I thought about Moscow.
'Its just a thought process and I suddenly thought, maybe I can offer services. I get what I want and you get what you want.'
Phillips told the agents: 'We all help each other and we look after each other, we become a family.'
On May 9, Phillips met with 'Dima' at a Costa Coffee in a retail park in West Thurrock, Essex.
It was here that he revealed what information he had been holding.
Phillips told the officer: 'I have something. I don't know if you want it or don't want it. What do you know about the Secretary of Defence in the UK? Because, I have personal information which may be useful.
The hotel keycards in Howard Philips' possession at the time of his arrest
'So I know his home address, I know his home telephone number and I know where he has his private plane. Maybe it's of interest, maybe not.'
When asked by 'Dima' how he knew this information, Phillips said: 'Because, about five years ago, I was invited to his house with a lot of other people.
'He was the MP for Welwyn Hatfield. The local MP.
'And then, he became chairman of the Conservative Party and now he's Secretary of Defence.'
Phillips was asked if he 'knew' Shapps and in response said: 'Just a little, you know, we've met three times, I think.'
The trial previously heard that Phillips, a former insolvency worker, had applied for a job with the UK Border Force in October 2023.
He was unemployed and 'struggling financially' at the time, and prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said this was a significant factor in his 'eagerness and desire' to provide assistance to the RIS.
Communication between Phillips and the 'Russian spies' began in March 2024, initially via email and then by WhatsApp and later on Signal.
Shapps served as Secretary of State for Defence during the Ukraine and Russia war, and would have held negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky. He was defeated in last year's general election and lost his seat.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
21 minutes ago
- Sky News
Who will take the fall for the Afghan cover-up?
👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne's on your podcast app👈 Now details of the enormous accidental data breach by a British soldier that put thousands of Afghans' lives at risk can be discussed publicly - Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy try to address some of the biggest questions on this episode. Why did the government break the glass on using a super-injunction? Has anyone been sacked? Why did the Labour government keep the super-injunction in place for so long?
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ben Wallace takes ‘complete responsibility' for Afghan leak - but refuses to apologise for injunction
Sir Ben Wallace has said he takes complete responsibility for the catastrophic data breach which put the lives of up to 100,000 Afghans at risk. After the secret evacuation scheme, costing the taxpayer £7bn, was revealed, the former defence secretary said he makes 'no apology' for seeking the injunction which resulted in it being kept secret for almost two years. But, asked why the official responsible for the leak, in February 2022, Sir Ben said 'I take complete responsibility for the mistake that was made by that person... I was secretary of state for defence'. The leak exposed the details of thousands of Afghans who said they were in danger from the Taliban because of their links to UK forces and now wanted to escape to Britain. The blunder triggered a top secret government operation, codenamed Operation Rubific, which involved 16,000 Afghans being brought to the UK as part of Britain's largest covert peacetime evacuation, with some 8,000 still to come. The whole operation was kept secret from MPs and the public, with ministers even deciding to hide the true reason for the evacuation from parliament. Sir Ben said the decision to apply for the gagging order was 'not a cover-up' and that if the leak had been reported it would have 'put in peril those we needed to help out'. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said his government did not initially apply for a superinjunction to block reporting about the leak. Sir Ben said: "When we applied in August 2023, when I was secretary of state, we didn't apply for superinjunction. We applied for a four-month injunction, a normal injunction. 'I can't speak for the subsequent two years, why a four month injunction became a two-year superinjunction.' Sir Ben was defence secretary from Juny 2019 to August 2023. He defended his initial application for an injunction, adding: "But nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them. "That was my priority." It came as Defence Secretary John Healey said the person involved in the leak was 'no longer doing the same job'. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a superinjunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban finding out about the leak. Writing in the Telegraph, Sir Ben said that when he was informed of the 'error' he was 'determined that the first priority was to protect all those that might be at risk'. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. 'I took the view that if this leak was reported at the time, the existence of the list would put in peril those we needed to help out. 'Some may disagree but imagine if the Taliban had been alerted to the existence of this list. I would dread to think what would have happened.' Sir Ben left office shortly after the then-government became aware of the breach, having announced some time earlier that he intended to step down as defence secretary. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the data outside a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent. Downing Street declined to say on Tuesday whether the official involved had faced disciplinary action or was still employed by the Government. Mr Healey later told the News Agents podcast that 'they are no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief' and 'this is bigger than the actions of a single individual'. Pushed on whether anybody had lost their job, Mr Healey said: 'I'm actually not going to get into the personnel matters.' The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Mr Healey offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday, and said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable' being unable to speak about it in Parliament. Kemi Badenoch said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives. Speaking to LBC on Tuesday evening, the Tory leader was asked whether she would apologise on behalf of the Conservatives who were in office at the time of the breach. She said: 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that. 'That should not happen. And this is one of the tough things about, you know, being a minister, which is why even the Government – the Labour Government, now this didn't happen when they were in power – they are apologising as well.' Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Rape victims withdraw from up to three-quarters of cases
Rape victims are dropping out of up to three-quarters of cases after being put off by police and court delays, a report has found. The research, based on more than 270,000 crimes reported to police, found that on average 40 per cent dropped out before a charging decision, with many feeling that they had been forced out. The proportion rose sharply for sexual offences, with rape recording a dropout rate of 69 per cent. This increased to 74 per cent for rape in domestic abuse cases, according to the study commissioned by Claire Waxman, London's Victims' Commissioner. Victims reported being dissuaded by the police from entering the justice process and told how unlikely it was that their case would go anywhere. One victim who had been sexually assaulted was told by the police officer while reporting the attack that 'there have been cases of people being stabbed to death and we have their faces on CCTV but they still don't get a conviction, so this won't go anywhere'. There were even indications that some police officers were logging that victims had withdrawn from prosecutions without consulting with them. Ms Waxman said: 'With 77,000 cases waiting to be heard in the Crown Courts alone, it is clear the justice system is at breaking point, and it is victims who pay the price. 'In policing there are good officers who go above and beyond, those who try but are hampered by a lack of capacity and resources, and unfortunately there are officers who use victim withdrawal as an easy way of closing cases.' She called for oversight of the police in their role keeping victims engaged, urgent action to ensure victims' needs and vulnerabilities were recorded and supported and swift action to tackle the backlogs and spare victims a years-long wait for a hope of justice. The research, based on data from the Metropolitan Police, focused on crimes including arson, criminal damage, robbery, public order, violence against the person, and sexual offences. Withdrawal rates were highest when the offender was known to the victim, with a victim 2.1 times more likely to withdraw if the offender was a current or ex-partner rather than a stranger, and 1.8 times more likely when it was a friend or acquaintance. With cases being scheduled for 2029, court delays were a key factor in decisions to withdraw from cases. The research found victims are also dropping out due to the lack of available specialist support to help them navigate the system. However, an audit of 334 records, where victims had withdrawn, found 197 of them had no auditable record of the victim dropping out, such as no body-worn video, no record of an email or phone call. Ms Waxman said this tied in with reports from victims. 'One victim, when requesting information from the police sometime after reporting, was surprised to find that their case had been closed, with the reason being given that the victim withdrew, unbeknownst to them,' she said. Pippa Mills, Assistant Commissioner of the Met Police, said the force was 'relentlessly bearing down on perpetrators to secure justice for victims'. 'To improve victims' experiences, we're driving up charges for serious offences including rape and serious sexual assault, developing a new victim strategy, rolling out more training, and have launched a new online service, leaflets, and dedicated phone line to increase the frequency and quality of our communications,' she said. However, she noted that there were currently more than 100 trials already scheduled for 2029 in London, meaning 'intolerable delays for victims waiting for closure from often traumatic experiences. 'There must be a collective effort from the government, partners and the criminal justice system to reform and reverse years of decline,' she said.
