Freshly-released photographs allegedly show a Russian spy making a covert USB stick drop as he devised a plot to leak sensitive information about defence secretary Grant Shapps.
The images feature Howard Phillips sending a secretive message to his ‘Russian’ handlers, prosecutors say.
The 65-year-old Briton is on trial accused of trying to spy for the Kremlin by leaking Shapps’ personal information – including the location of his private plane.
Phillips wanted to ‘offer services’ to Russian intelligence but the two handlers he corresponded with were British undercover security services agents, jurors have been told.
Released by the Met Police tonight, the new images allegedly show him following his handlers’ instructions by dropping off a message inside a USB stick within the exposed seat shaft of a bike.
The photographs also show Phillips – a former insolvency worker – being arrested at Black Sheep Coffee shop in London.
Other images depict a phone and hotel rooms he allegedly bought on behalf of the Russian ‘agents’.
A court has heard that the father-of-four, who was set to start a job with UK Border Force, later handed the ‘agents’ a bag containing a USB stick with Shapps’ details on.
Howard Phillips, 65, is on trial accused of trying to ‘offer services’ to Russian intelligence
Phillips is accused of attempting to leak the personal information of then Secretary of Defence Grant Shapps – including the location of his private plane
Phillips can be seen allegedly dropping off the USB stick containing the information into the hollow frame of a bicycle
The USB stick in question, which the Met Police said contained Shapps home address, phone number, and the location of his private plane
On the stick contained Shapps home address, phone number, and the location of his private plane.
At Winchester Crown Court, Hants, Phillips denies engaging in conduct to assist a foreign intelligence service.
Prosecutors say Phillips, from Harlow, Essex, boasted he could get government clearance due to his new job at Border Force.
He said he wanted the ‘agents’ and him to be a ‘family’ – and said they could all ‘help each other’ and ‘look after each other’.
He claimed to have been to Shapps home and had met up with him several times.
Inside the USB stick he dropped into the bike was a note that promised ‘100 per cent loyalty’ to the Russian Intelligence Service [RIS] and boasted of how he could move ‘under the radar’ thanks to a valid government security vetting pass.
One of the intelligence officers, who is employed by the security service, gave evidence from behind a curtain at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday.
The British officer was known to Phillips as ‘Dima’ and spoke to him in recordings with a fake Russian accent.
Howard Philips allegedly following his handlers’ instructions by dropping off the USB stick
Phillips entering the hotel where he had allegedly booked a room on behalf of the ‘Russian agents’ – who were actually undercover British security services
CCTV footage shows Phillips at the hotel’s front desk
The father-of-four, who was set to start a job with UK Border Force, was later arrested at Black Sheep Coffee shop in London
In recordings played to court, Phillips told the ‘agents’: ‘I do not want and cannot for myself go back into the normal nine-to-five office. It’s not for me, it never was for me, but I did it.’
Describing how he first decided he would like to work with RIS, he said: ‘I was thinking, I have to do something, I have to earn money, what can I do and I came up with all the things I don’t want to do.
‘I was thinking about, funnily enough, I was thinking about maybe, going away on holiday. I thought about Moscow.
‘Its just a thought process and I suddenly thought, maybe I can offer services. I get what I want and you get what you want.’
Phillips told the agents: ‘We all help each other and we look after each other, we become a family.’
On May 9, Phillips met with ‘Dima’ at a Costa Coffee in a retail park in West Thurrock, Essex.
It was here that he revealed what information he had been holding.
Phillips told the officer: ‘I have something. I don’t know if you want it or don’t want it. What do you know about the Secretary of Defence in the UK? Because, I have personal information which may be useful.
The cash and envelope full of wenty pound notes in Howard Philips’ possession
The hotel keycards in Howard Philips’ possession at the time of his arrest
A phone that Phillips is accused of buying for his fake Russian agent handlers who in fact worked for British intelligence
‘So I know his home address, I know his home telephone number and I know where he has his private plane. Maybe it’s of interest, maybe not.’
When asked by ‘Dima’ how he knew this information, Phillips said: ‘Because, about five years ago, I was invited to his house with a lot of other people.
‘He was the MP for Welwyn Hatfield. The local MP.
‘And then, he became chairman of the Conservative Party and now he’s Secretary of Defence.’
Phillips was asked if he ‘knew’ Shapps and in response said: ‘Just a little, you know, we’ve met three times, I think.’
The trial previously heard that Phillips, a former insolvency worker, had applied for a job with the UK Border Force in October 2023.
He was unemployed and ‘struggling financially’ at the time, and prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said this was a significant factor in his ‘eagerness and desire’ to provide assistance to the RIS.
Communication between Phillips and the ‘Russian spies’ began in March 2024, initially via email and then by WhatsApp and later on Signal.
Shapps served as Secretary of State for Defence during the Ukraine and Russia war, and would have held negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky. He was defeated in last year’s general election and lost his seat.
The trial continues next week.
