‘Fantasist’ jailed for seven years for attempting to help ‘Russian agents’

A 66-year-old man who “dreamt about being like James Bond” has been jailed for seven years after he was convicted of trying to spy for what he believed to be Russian intelligence service agents.

Howard Phillips, from Harlow, Essex, intended to help two apparent Russian agents called “Sasha” and “Dima”, including by passing on personal information about former defence secretary Sir Grant Shapps, helping with travel logistics and booking hotels.

But “Dima” and “Sasha” were in fact undercover British intelligence officers and a jury found Phillips guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act.

Sentencing him at Winchester Crown Court, judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him: “You were prepared to betray your country for money. I sentence you on the basis you are not ideologically driven but motivated by money.

“You took a grave risk and didn’t care what damage you caused. Through the deliberate work of the security services you were caught before providing material assistance to a foreign intelligence service so the danger was averted.”

The judge said that Phillips had “a personality with narcissistic tendencies and an overblown sense of his own importance”.

She said: “He is an intelligent man with a distorted concept of his own significance and was unwilling to own up in public that he was prepared to behave in a dishonourable and treacherous way.”

She added: “He clearly kept up with current affairs and he would have been informed of the extreme actions Russia is prepared to undertake against its targets.”

The trial was told that Phillips intended to assist Russian agents from the end of 2023 until May last year.

Phillips offered to pass on Sir Grant’s contact details as well as the location where he kept his private plane in order to “facilitate the Russians in listening on British defence plans”, the trial heard.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Sir Grant, who was defence secretary at the time, said that he was “shocked” when he was briefed on Phillips’ activities and concerned for the safety of his family.

Sir Grant said that he recalled going to dinner at the home of Phillips when he moved to the area in 2002 and added: “I feel it has been a complete breach of trust by Mr Phillips.

“He chose to take whatever information he had and attempted to sell it to a foreign intelligence service thereby, wantonly, putting myself, my family and ultimately the country at risk.

“My personal details provided by Mr Phillips are extremely sensitive and again I would say that any disclosure places myself and my family at a very real and serious risk.

“What is unacceptable is one individual’s reckless behaviour exposing my entire family to the extremely serious risks that come from a foreign intelligence service’s activities.

“The UK has enough to do dealing with external threats, it’s shocking to find that someone in the neighbourhood would think it a good idea to try to sell information about the UK defence secretary to an unfriendly foreign state.”

Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting, said that Phillips had been motivated by money to offer a “concierge service” to the UK agents who were “roleplaying” as Russian agents and the court heard he offered his “100% loyalty and dedication”.

She said: “He had lived well beyond his means for some time and he had made no provision for his retirement and was reliant on the generosity of others, even for housing.”

Ms Ledward added: “He accepted he did all that in the knowledge of the type of activity carried out by the agents of the Russian intelligence service on UK soil in the past including assassination and attempted assassination.”

Jeremy Dein KC, defending, said his client had made a “monumental error of judgment” and had acted to “boost his own ego” after his life had “collapsed”.

He described Phillips as “eccentric”, “zany” and a “fantasist” before adding that he was “proudly British, pro-western, proudly Jewish”.

He said: “He was a fantasist, he believed he could manage Arsenal football club or even England.”

He added: “This was an ageing man whose life had collapsed, who was clearly not thinking straight and was desperate for money.

“He had been living in his car at one stage and everything was out of sync with the hard-wording and dedicated life he had lived.

“There is nothing to suggest that, thinking straight, Mr Phillips would have wanted to undermine the United Kingdom.”

The defendant’s ex-wife, Amanda Phillips, told the court during the trial that he “would dream about being like James Bond”, and that he watched films to do with MI5 and MI6 as he was “infatuated with it”.

Phillips previously claimed he had contacted the Russian embassy in early 2024 in a bid to track and expose Russian agents to assist Israel.

He told jurors he ascertained “from the onset” that “Dima” and “Shasha” were “definitely not Russian” and were undercover individuals, but that he carried on “playing a role” around these agents in order to “test the waters”.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said after the hearing: “This case demonstrates the serious consequences for anyone who thinks working on behalf of the Russian intelligence service is a way of earning easy money.

“The truth is, those who work as ‘proxies’ for Russia are unlikely to receive a large cash windfall. In fact, there is a strong likelihood they won’t be given any money at all.

“However, what they are doing is risking their liberty for a long period of time. As this case shows, those convicted under the National Security Act can expect to receive lengthy prison sentences.”

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said: “This conviction sends a clear message to anyone considering spying for or assisting Russia.

“Howard Phillips clearly outlined the services he was willing to provide for a hostile state.

“From gaining employment within the Civil Service and applying for security clearance, to providing the personal details of the Secretary of State for Defence – Phillips was brazen in his pursuit for financial gain, and unbothered about the potential detriment to his own country.”

Security minister Dan Jarvis said: “Those who offer their services to foreign powers seeking to undermine the UK will be stopped – our national security is not for sale.

“The National Security Act gives us the tools to detect, disrupt, and deter modern threats to the UK, including attempts to assist hostile activity by state actors.

“I am grateful to our law enforcement partners for stopping this threat, and for their tireless work in keeping us safe.”