A defence worker accused of spying for the Russian

A defence worker accused of spying for the Russians told police
he joined the Communist Party in a search for sex, an Old Bailey
jury has been told.

Michael Smith, 45, told special branch officers he had hoped
to get Reds into bed.

‘I was looking for something.

It was probably sex,’ Smith said.

He chuckled and added:’I had not had much success with girls in
the early part of my life and here was a way of meeting people and
doing something a bit different.

‘
The jury listened to a tape recording of Smith’s interview with the
police.

They will hear, in all, tapes of interviews lasting more than 11
hours and running to 743 pages.

The court has heard that Smith belonged to the Communist Party of
Great Britain and the Young Communist League in the 1970s.

The prosecution allege that it was at this time that he was recruited
as a spy by the KGB.

Smith denies four charges under the Official Secrets Act.

He is said to have handed over details of top secret defence
projects to his Russian spymaster between 1990 and 1992.

He told detectives:’My wife and I are considering emigrating to
New Zealand.

‘I am sick of this country, and the unemployment.

I have been
made redundant twice in the past six or seven years.

‘
Smith was arrested outside his home in Kingston, Surrey.

The prosecution say that moments before his arrest he
received a telephone call from a security services officer posing
as a Russian.

But Smith said:’I was making love to my wife.

‘
He asked detectives:’What am I supposed to have done?’
Smith said he joined the Communist groups after leaving university
in 1971.

He said he had become interested in left wing politics after having
discussions with a Yugoslavian flat mate.

‘He was quite persuasive.

He talked to me about politics and
made me think about all the things which are not as good as they
should be.

I thought maybe he was right,’ Smith told the officers.

He added:’I got mixed up with a few characters in the
Communist Party.

I joined the Young Communists League.

It was
never serious in the sense of breaking the law.

‘
Smith said he left the groups in the mid 1970s.

‘I was
disillusioned with it.

It was not what I wanted,’ he added.

The court heard Smith telling the detectives how his Communist
past caught up with him and caused him problems when he began
working on a sensitive project for the electronics group Thorn-EMI.

He said that when the authorities found out about his past
they removed his security clearance.

‘They kicked me out,’ he
added.

Smith went on:’I got curious and angry about it.

I thought:
“What was it for?” By that time I was married.

I had no interest
in politics.

My wife and I were interested in the Social Democratic
Party when it started up.

But since then I havn’t given a damn.

‘
He told the officers he had applied for a job in Milton
Keynes, dealing with radar equipment, which he hoped would tide
him over until he could make a ‘fresh start’ in New Zealand.

Smith said he did not want a solicitor to be present for
the interview because ‘I do not think this will go very far.

‘
Smith, of Burton Road, Kingston, is said to have handed
over secrets while working for GEC-Marconi at the secret Hirst
Research Centre in Wembley.

The trial continues.

ENDS