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British ex-embassy guard admits spying for Russia in Germany

A British security guard at the UK's embassy in Germany has pleaded guilty to violating the Official Secrets Act after he passed information to Russia, officials said Friday.

Published: 11 November 2022 17:39 CET

British Embassy in Berlin

The Union Jack flies at half mast outside the British Embassy in Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jörg Carstensen

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, was said in court to be motivated by an intense hatred for his homeland.

Smith, who worked at the Berlin embassy for eight years, was also said to have been angered at its flying the Rainbow flag in support of gay people.

He admitted to eight charges last week, but that could not be reported at the time as he was denying a ninth count.

Prosecutors have now said they will not press for a trial on the ninth charge, removing the reporting restrictions.

READ ALSO: Germany considers extradition of Briton who ‘spied for Russia’

Smith lived beyond his means, but €800 in cash was found at his home in Potsdam when he was arrested by German police in August last year, the Old Bailey court heard.

Searches of his electronic devices found the draft of a letter dated May 2020 in which he offered his services to a Russian diplomat.

After that letter, he was in contact with Sergey Chukhurov, the Russian military attache in Berlin, handing over information on various British civil servants.

He collected intelligence on the operation of the embassy and delivered some material that was officially marked “Secret”.

Smith faces a maximum jail term of 14 years for spying. He will be sentenced at a later date.

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German prosecutors drop investigation into 'unforeseeable' flood disaster

The public prosecutor’s office in Koblenz has closed the investigation into the deadly flood disaster in the Ahr valley that occurred in the summer of 2021.

A sufficient suspicion against the former Ahr district administrator Jürgen Pföhler (CDU) and an employee from the crisis team has not arisen, announced the head of the public prosecutor’s office in Koblenz, Mario Mannweiler, on Thursday.

Following the flood disaster in the Ahr region in Rhineland-Palatinate – in which 136 people died in Germany and thousands of homes were destroyed – there were accusations that the district of Ahrweiler, with Pföhler at the helm, had acted too late in sending flood warnings.

An investigation on suspicion of negligent homicide in 135 cases began in August of 2021. Pföhler had always denied the allegations.

READ ALSO: UPDATE – German prosecutors consider manslaughter probe into deadly floods

The public prosecutor’s office came to the conclusion that it was an extraordinary natural disaster: “The 2021 flood far exceeded anything people had experienced before and was subjectively unimaginable for residents, those affected, emergency services and those responsible for operations alike,” the authority said.

Civil protections in the district of Ahrweiler, including its disaster warning system, were found to be insufficient.

READ ALSO: Germany knew its disaster warning system wasn’t good enough – why wasn’t it improved?

But from the point of view of the public prosecutor’s office, these “quite considerable deficiencies”, which were identified by an expert, did not constitute criminal liability.

Why did the case take so long?

The investigations had dragged on partly because they were marked by considerable challenges, said the head of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Criminal Police Office, Mario Germano. “Namely, to conduct investigations in an area marked by the natural disaster and partially destroyed. Some of the people we had to interrogate were severely traumatised.”

More than 300 witnesses were heard including firefighters, city workers and those affected by the flood. More than 20 terabytes of digital data had been secured and evaluated, and more than 300 gigabytes were deemed relevant to the proceedings.

Pföhler, who stopped working as the district administrator in August 2021 due to illness, stepped down from the role in October 2021 citing an incapacity for duty.

The conclusion of the investigation had been postponed several times, in part because the public prosecutor’s office wanted to wait for the outcome of the investigative committee in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament.

READ ALSO: Volunteer army rebuilds Germany’s flood-stricken towns

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