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A former City worker has been jailed for seven years after he was found guilty of volunteering to spy for the Russians in an attempt to avoid going back to an office job. Howard Phillips, 65, from Ware, Hertfordshire, told two MI5 officers posing as Russian agents that he wanted to work in intelligence to avoid a 'nine to five office' job after retiring aged 58 and clearing out his savings. He 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, foreign intelligence agency, even though Phillips had never heard of the organisation. He handed over the home address and landline for Sir Grant Shapps, his local MP and then the Defence Secretary, during an undercover sting by MI5. Phillips, who is divorced with four grown-up children, has now been handed a seven-year sentence after offering to provide logistical support for Russian agents across the world. A victim impact statement was read to the court on behalf of Sir Grant before the sentence was handed down. It said: 'At a time of enhanced awareness and following on from the recent murders of MPs, this caused me great concern not only for my personal safety, but that of my family. 'As Defence Secretary I had enhanced close protection in place for my safety, but I felt extremely vulnerable to possible harm being caused to my family. 'I am well aware of the possible threats posed against myself, given my role, but these threats you would expect to come from a hostile state as opposed to a resident of the United Kingdom. '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 state at serious risk.' Giving evidence for her former husband, his ex-wife, Amanda, told Winchester Crown Court that Phillips had become 'infatuated' with spy books and films and had 'over the top dreams' about 'serving this country somewhere and being James Bond.' 'He loved James Bond and the image, the suit and the nice car, being someone you could respect, someone people liked, someone special,' she added. A probation report noted he 'believed he was playing a game' and had 'remorse for the way has destroyed not only his life but the lives of those who love him.' Police found no material on his phone or computer that suggested he had any sympathies for Russia. Phillips had grown up in Swiss Cottage, north London and attended St Marylebone Grammar School, before going on to work for his father in a factory in the East End and then becoming an insolvency practitioner in 1986. He had worked for Bond Partners in the City and stated on his CV that he had 'high level managerial experience, training and running teams of between seven and 20 professionals.' But he became self-employed in 2011 and then worked as a manager in the charity sector before going into 'semi-retirement' in 2018 and doing work in GDPR compliance for websites. As his money ran out, Phillips described how he sent out hundreds of CVs and applications on online, adding: 'I was avidly seeking employment but none was forthcoming.' 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 did not get a response. As well as writing to Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to outline his solutions to the immigration crisis, he offered to be the manager of Arsenal football club and the England team. He even wrote to Hollywood actor Jennifer Aniston and to Tom Cruise's agent, asking 'to be granted an audience' and 'to sit down with Mr Cruise for about an hour.' Eventually, on March 15 last year, Phillips volunteered his services to the Russians, the Iranians and the Chinese in letters to each of their embassies and the Russian letter was intercepted by MI5. Phillips was asked to prepare a document on a USB stick that would explain how he could assist Russian intelligence and deliver it to London on April 4, leaving it in the seat post of a silver bicycle locked to railings behind St Pancras Station. In the document he said he could 'completely blend in as an upstanding citizen locally or tourist in any worldwide location' and the MI5 officers then directed him to turn up to the London Bridge Hotel on April 24 where they met in a private apartment. Sitting on a sofa, Phillips told two MI5 officers playing the part of Russian intelligence officers 'Dima' and his boss 'Sasha' that he only spoke English and 'a little bit of French, un peu.' He added: 'I have worked nine to five in offices for most of my life. I want to be doing something different.' Phillips offered to travel to Spain or South America, adding: 'Get a villa, a hotel or something, like a British tourist' and drive them around. At a meeting with 'Dima' on May 9 at a Costa Coffee shop in the Lakeside Retail Park in West Thurrock, Essex, Phillips was told to book a hotel in London under his own name and contact details, purchase a mobile telephone, and prepare for a 'senior officer from my organisation' who was arriving in London for a 'sensitive meeting.' Phillips, checked into the Hilton Hotel in Upper Woburn Place in Euston, shortly before 3pm on May 16, wearing a baseball cap and carrying an umbrella. He then met Dima at the Leon cafe in the nearby Brunswick shopping centre and handed over a brown paper bag containing a mobile phone, the hotel key card and a USB stick which contained the details for Grant Shapps. He was handed an envelope containing £1,000 in cash and given instructions to meet a Russian man at the Black Sheep coffee shop on King's Cross Square but when he arrived plain clothed officers surrounded him and arrested him. Phillips denied materially assisting a foreign intelligence service to carry out UK-related activities under the National Security Act 2023. The court heard his financial situation was 'decreasing rapidly', he had used up all the money he had gained from the sale of a property and by May 2024 had only £374.48 left in his bank accounts. His relationship broke down and he had to spend at least one night sleeping in his car. He moved out of his girlfriend's home in Ware, Hertfordshire and into a bedsit in Harlow, Essex. Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting, said Phillips was 'struggling financially and seeking 'interesting and exciting work for easy money.' Providing mitigation ahead of sentencing, Jeremy Dein KC, defending said his client was an 'eccentric and zany character' who had made a 'monumental error of judgment'. 'He is proudly British and there is nothing to suggest he poses an iota of anti-British sentiment or wished harm to the country, quite the opposite,' he added. 'He was an aging man whose life had collapsed and was clearly not thinking straight. 'Believing he could make a meaningful contribution, he was fantasising as to what he could do as far as the Russian authorities were concerned.' Mr Dein said Phillips had 'worked in insolvency day in day out for decades, brought up his children who speak very enthusiastically of him' and was secretary at the Borehamwood synagogue for three years, as well as 'canvassing political issues clearly related to his concern about the welfare of the UK.' A probation report noted he 'believed he was playing a game' and had 'remorse for the way has destroyed not only his life but the lives of those who love him.' However Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting, said Phillips had come up with a 'concierge' role described in the proposal he set out in the USB stick he left in St Pancras, offering to provide logistical support for Russian intelligence service.
