A 65-year-old man has been convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service after passing personal details of the then defence secretary, Grant Shapps, to undercover officers he believed to be Russian agents. Howard Phillips was found guilty at Winchester Crown Court following a trial in which jurors heard he was motivated by a desire for 'easy money'.
Phillips, from Harlow, Essex, handed a USB stick containing Shapps's home address and the location of his private plane to one of the officers, known as Dima and Sasha. The court heard that Phillips, who is Jewish, knew Shapps as his local MP in the Welwyn Hatfield constituency, where they attended the same synagogue.
Phillips, who told the fake agents he was retired and had worked in insolvency, was arrested in May 2024 and charged under the National Security Act. He shook his head silently in the dock as the jury delivered a unanimous verdict after four hours and four minutes of deliberation. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded him in custody, with sentencing scheduled for the autumn.
Speaking after the verdict, Shapps said: 'Beyond the threat to my own family, aiding a foreign adversary undermines our national security and endangers those who serve, as well as the wider public. Today's verdict makes clear: if you collude with a hostile power, and thereby endanger British lives, you will face justice.'
The court heard that Phillips, who was struggling financially and applying for a job at UK Border Force, had written to the Russian embassy offering his services. He exchanged emails with the undercover officers in March 2024, believing them to be Russian intelligence officers, and later met them at a London Bridge hotel where he revealed his real name and offered logistical support. In May, he provided them with Shapps's details and was given £500 in cash to book a hotel and buy a mobile phone for a 'sensitive meeting'.
