Engineer tried to sell MoD secrets in a pub

An aircraft engineer plead-ed guilty yesterday to trying to sell British defence secrets to the Russians in an Essex pub.

Ian Parr was given £25,000 in the Southend-on-Sea pub by a man he thought was a spy, in return for documents from a sensitive project. But the supposed Russian agent turned out to be an MI5 operative, and Parr was arrested.

At the Old Bailey, the 46-year-old employee of BAE Systems Avionics in Basildon admitted two spying charges and seven theft charges. The case was adjourned to 20 January for sentencing. Parr faces a maximum of 14 years in jail.

The information, which he was trying to sell for £130,000, included details of the "Storm Shadow" project, said to be so sensitive that they were pro- vided to the judge separately and not put before the court.

The secrets also related to an alternative navigation system for the F-16 bomber, a stealth cruise missile and details of thermal imaging and radio-jamming systems. The offences were committed between 1 January and 23 March this year.

Parr, a former soldier from Rochford, Essex, was arrested on 22 March after a joint operation by Essex Police and MI5. They were tipped off that Parr was trying to contact the Russians 13 days before his arrest. An undercover operation was mounted and he was kept under surveillance.

A series of conversations took place between a British undercover agent calling himself Aleksei and Parr, who code-named himself Piglet.

A meeting took place in a central London hotel and then at the Esplanade pub in Southend. The money was given to him and he handed over a plastic bag full of documents he had copied and 56 floppy disks. Parr celebrated with a pint of lager but his drink was cut short when police walked in and arrested him.

Aftab Jafferjee, for the prosecution, said the confidential information Parr tried to sell was in the lowest classification.

After his arrest, Parr tried to kill himself in jail by wiring his spectacles to the mains, but only succeeded in burning his face.

He was paid £25,000 a year to work on electronic circuit boards. His wife, Christine, still works at the defence company in the manufacturing department. The couple have two teenage sons.

Parr was a keen body builder and a member of the Rochford and Castle Point Ramblers' Association. Richard Pasternoster, the ramblers' group chairman, said: "Ian is the last person you would expect to have anything to do with spying. He's just a family man who enjoys getting out and about in the countryside."