A former City worker is facing jail after he was found guilty of volunteering to spy for the Russians when he ran out of money in retirement.
Howard Phillips, 65, from Harlow, Essex, handed over the home address and landline for Grant Shapps, his local MP and then the defence secretary, during an undercover sting by MI5.
He told two officers posing as Russian agents he wanted to work in intelligence to avoid a “nine-to-five office” job after clearing out his savings by retiring at 59.
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Who’s the man caught trying to spy for Russia?
Phillips was found guilty of assisting what he believed to be Russian intelligence service agents, in breach of the National Security Act.
Dressed in a dark suit and dark coloured tie, he shook his head and looked around the court as he was found unanimously guilty by a jury at Winchester Crown Court after four hours of deliberation.
Pic: Metropolitan Police
He now faces a lengthy jail term after offering to provide logistical support for Russian agents across the world in the increasingly desperate hope it would bail him out of his money worries.
Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting, said Phillips was “struggling financially” and seeking “interesting and exciting work for easy money”.
Phillips, who is divorced with four grown-up children, became an insolvency practitioner in 1986 and had worked for Bond Partners in the City. He had become self-employed in 2011 and then worked as a manager in the charity sector before moving to GDPR compliance in “semi-retirement” in 2018.
Phillips explained that he sent out hundreds of CVs and applied online, adding: “I was avidly seeking employment but none was forthcoming.”
Phillips handed over the home address and landline for Grant Shapps (pictured). Pic: Reuters
He filled in an online application form for MI5 in 2014 and again in 2024, because he “wanted to act in the service of my country”, but found that they required a university degree.
Phillips began writing a series of increasingly fanciful letters to Conservative Party ministers, offering his advice on how to influence the electorate, and to Hollywood actors – including Tom Cruise and Jennifer Aniston – asking to meet and talk about how to get into the movie business.
However, his financial situation was “decreasing rapidly”. He had used up all the money he had gained from the sale of a property. He had a balance of £25,126.09 in his bank accounts on April 29 2023 but by May 20 2024 it had dropped to £374.48 after using his savings to pay off Santander credit card bills.
Phillips as he was arrested. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Phillips was filmed from multiple angles in an elaborate undercover operation which saw two MI5 agents adopting Russian accents to pose as agents of the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, even though he had never heard of the organisation.
On 15 March last year, Phillips volunteered his services to the Russians in a letter intercepted by MI5.
In messages on WhatsApp, he claimed his name was David Marshall and said he was a “fully pledged British citizen, born in the UK to British parents and British grandparents etc” and had “several situations of utmost benefit to convey and offer”.
He added that he was “semi-retired” but had “connections in high places”.
Phillips was asked if he could prepare a document on a USB stick that would explain how he could assist Russian intelligence and deliver it to London on 4 April last year.
Jurors were played a covert recording of a meeting between Phillips and “Sasha” and “Dima” – two undercover MI5 officers – at the London Bridge Hotel on 26 April in which he told the men he wanted to work for Russia in exchange for financial independence from the UK.
He was arrested by plain-clothed officers in a coffee shop near King’s Cross station on 16 May last year.
Phillips denied materially assisting a foreign intelligence service to carry out UK-related activities under the National Security Act 2023.
In an X post after the verdict, Grant 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.
“Serving in roles like Defence Secretary means that confronting hostile states such as Russia goes with the territory. But the added threat of someone from within the local community seeking to assist our adversaries is both dangerous and wrong.
“Today’s verdict makes clear: if you collude with a hostile power, and thereby endanger British lives, you will face justice.”
