Man accused of plot to share Shapps details says he wanted to ‘expose' Russian spies
Howard Phillips, 65, was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service after passing a USB stick containing details relating to Shapps including his home address and the location of his private plane to undercover officers, who prosecutors say he believed to be Russian spies. He previously pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Opening his defence at Winchester crown court, Phillips said he was not acting against the UK when he allegedly leaked Shapps's details but carrying out a secret plot to 'trap' Russian spies.
Phillips, a retired insolvency worker from Harlow, Essex, told the court he was Jewish and hoped to pass information about the Russian spies to Israel, as he believed this would 'benefit' the state.
He also told jurors that he first met Shapps, then his local MP in the constituency of Welwyn Hatfield, at a synagogue.
Jeremy Dein, representing Phillips, asked whether he had any 'feelings about Russia' before he made contact with whom he presumed was the Russian intelligence service. In response, he said he did hold opinions – and they were 'very negative'.
When asked about his view of the UK, he said: 'I love the UK … I would never do anything deliberate which would have the potential to harm this country – not ever.'
Phillips told jurors he first made contact with the agents by sending a letter to the Russian embassy in March 2024. 'I simply wrote a letter portraying that I had information and that if they are interested, they should be in contact with me,' he said.
Phillips said he did not have any information to share, and when asked why he made contact, he said: 'Because of events that were happening in the world, I was intending to track and expose the Russian agents.'
When asked why he wanted to do this, Phillips said: 'Because they are the enemy and also, there was another side to it that was, at the time, the media portrayal of Israel was very negative.
'I was thinking to myself, if I could expose an agent, I could take that to the Israelis and facilitate benefit to the Israelis by the [UK] media having to portray that Israel had helped the UK – which goes on behind the scenes anyway.'
The court heard that Phillips had met Shapps on four occasions in the past, after they met at Potters Bar synagogue in Hertfordshire. He said he had 'socialised' with Shapps in the then MP's house after an 'invitation to dinner and also to a meeting'.
When asked if he was 'friends' with the politician, he said: 'I would say more acquaintances than friends.'
Phillips said that in early 2024 he was living off his 'dilapidating capital', adding: 'I was pretty low about everything.'
He told jurors he had also sent letters to the Iranian and Chinese embassies in March 2024. When asked why, he said: 'The same criteria. To expose and trap a foreign agent who I perceived were the enemies.'
The court heard he had sent several letters in the past to various political figures, celebrities and business people, among others. In November 2022 he sent a letter to the actor Jennifer Aniston and the agent of Tom Cruise.
Phillips also sent letters to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Suella Braverman and Steve Barclay, among others. The trial continues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
'Everyone's on edge': Epping braces for another hotel protest
Tracey's cheese toastie is getting cold. She's explaining to me how hacked off she is about the asylum hotel in Epping, there is a lot to get off her chest. This Essex commuter town has seen a series of protests around the Bell Hotel where asylum seekers have been housed for the past few years. The catalyst last week was an Ethiopian man, who had only recently arrived on a small boat, appearing in court charged with three counts of sexual assault on a local girl. Tracey was in the crowd demonstrating last Thursday when things turned violent, with some protesters clashing with police. Eight officers suffered injuries along with two hotel employees. Tracey told Sky News: "I've been here since I was four years old, I'm sixty now and we've never had any trouble like this before. "I'm sick to the skin of it all, I can't wait for it all to be over. "Everyone's on edge now. There's a lot of hostility so I think they (the migrants) should go. "I'm not a racist and I'm not prejudiced but this has just gone too far for this town. "You shouldn't relocate them, you should send them back to where they came from, simple as that. "Then it will be restored, the peace." She's angry at the government's response and the way she feels communities have not been listened to. She told Sky News: "They are going to have a lot of protests on their hands if they don't do anything about it. "So watch this space!" She went back to her cheese toastie and chips. Essex Police officers are preparing for another demonstration in Epping later with a march planned from the hotel to the council offices, where local politicians are due to discuss the problems. The chief constable has promised that his officers will facilitate peaceful protest while warning troublemakers they will be robustly dealt with. As we walked along the main shopping street with our camera, a man wound down the window of his partner's Mini and shouted about the violence last week. We asked him to stop and explain what he meant. It turned out Keith was at the protest too, his son was arrested and charged with criminal damage. "My son is actually going to court because he shook the Bell hotel sign and they are trying to do him with criminal damage," he said. "If they arrest somebody there will be five people to take their place," he warned - suggesting that people will show up regardless. "It will go on until it stops, it'll stop when they (the migrants) get moved out." Not everyone feels the same way - another woman who did not want to give her name said she strongly disagreed with the protests at the hotel. She told us: "I don't think an angry mob outside somewhere where people are staying within our community is the right way to go about it. "They could be demonstrating outside the Home Office." It is a divisive issue that the government clearly can't solve quickly. They are aiming to stop using hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029. Very few people in Epping feel they can wait that long. They want solutions now.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Gaps in Len McCluskey's memory must be filled one way or another
Len McCluskey has questions to answer RAY MCMANUS/SPORTSFILE In his last major investigation for The Times before his untimely death, Andrew Norfolk, the reporter whose work exposed the grooming gangs scandal, turned his forensic eye to the Unite trade union. In a series of reports for this newspaper, Mr Norfolk revealed that a company owned by a friend of the union's then general secretary, Len McCluskey, was paid at least £95 million for the construction of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham initially meant to cost £7 million. This week an independent report commissioned by Sharon Graham, Mr McCluskey's successor at Unite, showed the situation to be even worse. Ms Graham had asked Martin Bowdery KC, a barrister specialising in construction, to investigate the hotel project, for which Mr McCluskey was a vocal advocate. The inquiry concluded that the cost of the hotel had in fact ballooned to £112 million. That was £74.5 million more than its market value. As a result, Unite has had to wipe £66 million from its accounts. An audit accompanying the KC's report concluded that under Mr McCluskey's leadership there was a 'pervasive fraud environment' at Unite. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is pursuing its own investigation. Mr McCluskey, an avowed socialist and admirer of Jeremy Corbyn, never shy of voicing his opinions on Labour politics, clearly has serious questions to answer. Mr Bowdery's report claims that the union leader was flown to watch his beloved Liverpool FC in two Champions League finals, in Kyiv and Madrid, by the Flanagan Group, the construction firm alleged to have overcharged Unite by at least £30 million when building the hotel. The report also lists five other occasions on which the union leader was taken to watch Liverpool, enjoying matchday hospitality courtesy of the Flanagans, whom he described as 'good friends'. Mr McCluskey said that as far as he could recall he paid his own way. Unite officials and lawyers were uneasy about Flanagan, which the report said had a history of 'poor performance, delays [and] cost overruns'. Mr McCluskey is said to have overruled them. He denies doing so, and through his lawyers has denounced Ms Graham's inquiry as 'inaccurate, selective and highly misleading'. The ultimate judgment will be made by the SFO but Ms Graham believes there is enough evidence to support criminal action against two 'very senior' former Unite officials. South Wales police are undertaking an investigation involving alleged bribery, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. It is not often that The Times agrees with Ms Graham but she is to be commended for her courage in taking on vested interests within a vast and powerful union of some 1.2 million members straddling the private and public sectors. She told this newspaper of the 'horrendous' attacks she endured from supporters of Mr McCluskey after promising to investigate the hotel project. She has described being 'followed home' and subjected to 'despicable online abuse'. There is much to criticise about Unite's positioning under Ms Graham's leadership, not least its intransigence over refuse collection strikes in Birmingham, but whatever her politics, she is at least committed to uncovering the truth. As Ms Graham says, multiple investigations suggest 'rank incompetence … or something else' during Mr McCluskey's reign. It now falls to the SFO to establish what that 'something else' might have been. It should expedite its inquiry as swiftly as possible. Unite pays £1.5 million a year to affiliate to the Labour Party and contributes significant sums to individual Labour MPs. It is too significant a political player to remain under a cloud of suspicion about its past integrity. The facts as they pertain to Mr McCluskey must be established, even if recalling some of them appears to be beyond our Len.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Hit-and-run victim who lost leg criticises 'appalling' sentence given to uninsured driver
A man who had his leg amputated after a hit-and-run has criticised the "appalling" sentence given to the motorist - as he backed a campaign to increase the "shoddy" penalties for uninsured drivers. Ieuan Parry also suffered a fractured skull when he was struck by the driver of a white Mitsubishi fleeing police at high speed near Ebbw Vale, South Wales. The uninsured motorist fled the scene and Mr Parry - who had been working on the roadside of a closed lane - was left with devastating injuries and the "agony" of "phantom pain" following his amputation. The driver - who had reached speeds of more than 130mph during the police chase - later tried to blame the incident on his ex-partner by calling 999 and falsely claiming she had stolen his vehicle, according to reports. He was jailed for three years and four months in February 2024 after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice. It is understood he has since been released from prison. Mr Parry - who asked Sky News not to name the motorist - said he felt "extremely frustrated" and "angry" about the driver's actions and believes he should have received a longer prison term. "I think it's appalling to be honest with you," the 27-year-old told Sky News. "(The sentence was) not harsh enough for the seriousness of his crime." The Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB), which has been supporting Mr Parry, is now calling for fines for uninsured drivers to increase from £300 to £1,200, saying the current penalty "simply isn't enough of a deterrent". Mr Parry was 24 when he was struck by the car while working by the A465 Heads of the Valleys road near Ebbw Vale in November 2021. Describing the incident, he said he was using a leaf blower on the roadside shortly after noon when he heard a "droning noise" and looked up to see the vehicle coming towards him at speed. "Before I had chance to do anything or move, I was struck - hit off my feet," he said. "That's where the nightmare started." 'Excruciating pain' Mr Parry suffered a fractured skull and a badly broken left leg that later had to be amputated below the knee. "(I was in) excruciating pain on the side of the road," he said. "I remember asking: 'Is my leg okay? Will I lose my leg?'" Despite the severity of his injuries, Mr Parry tried to reach for his phone to contact work colleagues while lying in the road. "I was more concerned about how it had happened - because I was in a coned-off lane," he said. "I wondered, 'would there be more cars coming behind this car?'" Describing his feelings towards the driver, Mr Parry said: "Obviously extremely frustrated… angry. "God forbid it never happens, but if I ever found myself in a situation where I'd injured someone, the last thing I'd be doing is thinking about fleeing from the accident." Leg amputated Mr Parry spent 17 days at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where he underwent surgery on five occasions. Recalling the moment he was told his leg would have to be amputated, he said: "A lot of things went through my mind in terms of work, the relationship with my girlfriend… how everything in my life that I've worked towards thus far was going to be flipped round on its head. "I did find that very difficult to deal with… losing your independence, not being able to go to the toilet on your own, not being able to wash yourself, not being able to do even the simplest of tasks." Since the amputation, Mr Parry said he has dealt with the "weird sensation" of "phantom pain", which he continues to face to this day. "It's basically the nerves that still reside in my amputated leg sending signals to the brain," he said. "It's almost like you feel as if your amputated limb is still there and you can get various sensations, from pins and needles and numbness…. through to quite severe pain. "It almost feels like someone's got a set of pliers on your toe and is squeezing it. "Those sorts of pains, although they are getting better now, are still fairly frequent and they can immobilise you with agony." 'My life is never going to go back to normal' Mr Parry has also faced feelings of anxiety over the "massive change" in his appearance and his inability to do tasks he once found "very straightforward". He said he was "eternally grateful" for the support of his close family - particularly his partner Sophie who he married in June last year. "There's no way on this I'd have been able to cope with it on my own," he added. Since the collision, Mr Parry has started his own fencing and groundwork company but said: "I've come to the realisation that my life is never going to go back to normal as it was before." He added: "I'm always going to have disadvantages and issues with mobility and completing tasks, where I would not even have thought twice about it before." Campaign to increase uninsured driving penalties The MIB is calling on the government to increase the current £300 fine for driving uninsured to £1,200 as part of its new five-year strategy, called Accelerating To Zero, which aims to end uninsured driving for good. What are the penalties for driving without insurance? Police can issue a fixed penalty of £300 and six penalty points to anyone caught driving a vehicle they are not insured to drive. If the case goes to court, the penalties can increase to an unlimited fine and the culprit can be disqualified from driving. Police also have the power to seize and, in some cases, destroy a vehicle that has been driven uninsured. A YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people found 78% did not think a £300 fine was enough of a deterrent and three-quarters supported increasing the fine to £1,200, according to the MIB. The MIB's chief executive Angus Eaton said uninsured drivers "wreck lives", adding: "We believe that the current penalty of £300, which hasn't changed in over 10 years, simply isn't enough of a deterrent. "We're calling for the penalty to be raised so that it is double the average premium, to help eradicate the issue." Mr Parry has backed the campaign, saying a fine for uninsured driving "definitely needs to be a lot more than £300". "For the fine to be less than an average insurance premium for the year, I think it's a bit shoddy," he added. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "We take uninsured driving very seriously - it is dangerous and unacceptable. "That is why the department is considering policy options on the motoring offences as part of the Road Safety Strategy."
