MI5 contractor who gave intelligence to foreign power 'was insane'

An IT specialist working for MI5 on a contract who disclosed intelligence information to a "foreign power" has been found "not guilty by reason of insanity" by an Old Bailey jury.

Juan Joseph's contract with MI5, also known as the Security Service, lasted from 2009 until 2020. The 43-year-old worked as systems engineer, security IT management engineer and senior support engineer.

But when in October 2020 he developed schizophrenia with paranoid delusions, his colleagues took him to St Thomas' Hospital in London and his contract was terminated.

In November 2024, while still mentally unwell, he emailed the embassy of a foreign country information that - according to the judge Mr Justice Hilliard - "related to security or intelligence".

The name of the country and what exactly Joseph disclosed have been kept secret from the press and public. The jury heard the evidence about those parts of the case in "closed" sessions to avoid the risk of damage to national security. They were told never to tell anyone about it.

In December 2024, Joseph took an Air Baltic flight to the Latvian capital Riga. There he emailed the embassy of the unnamed foreign country in Riga. He even went to the embassy and asked for a meeting.

In January 2025, after returning to the UK, he sent another email to the foreign country.

Because of his earlier work with MI5, Joseph had security clearance up to "Developed Vetting" and he could access information "of the highest classification". As well as MI5, he also worked with "another organisation within the UK Intelligence Community," the prosecution had told the jury.

When he was arrested at the IBIS Hotel in Sutton on 30 January 2025, he had a folding lock knife in his jacket pocket, which he told police he was authorised to carry because of what he said was his "ongoing role as an MI5 officer".

He had a fake ID card saying he was an MI5 "STRAP officer".

Joseph's lawyers did not dispute the evidence against him. But three psychiatrists told the trial that Joseph was suffering from schizophrenia, and the prosecution did not dispute this.

After deliberating for less than two and a half hours, the jury returned a verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity" on all five charges - two under the Official Secrets Act, two under the National Security Act and one of possessing a knife.

In the years after his contract was terminated in 2020, Joseph raised a number of unfounded grievances against MI5 including racism, rape, child abuse and torture.

MI5's former head of HR, who gave evidence from behind a screen, said Joseph sent emails complaining of "rape of others and himself, abuse of minors, abductions, the attempted assassination of a former director general, conspiracy to murder, torture and assault on himself and others," all of which proved untrue.

He even tried to bring a private prosecution against MI5 in August 2024 for an alleged assault.

It was when that was turned down at the magistrates court that he applied to the Administrative Court for a judicial review, and he copied in an email address for the foreign state, and that was when the series of unauthorised disclosures of intelligence information began.

After his arrest, he told police he was a "whistleblower". He said he had done self-defence training at MI5's London headquarters, Thames House, with a ninjutsu instructor, describing it as "swords and knives and stuff".

He also said a swastika had been put up in the office and he was stabbed with a needle containing something that made him unwell.

"I've now got a permanent problem with my heart which is hyperkinesia, which my heart doesn't pump properly," he told the officers.

The week-long trial was very unusual because there was no dispute between the prosecution and the defence about the evidence of the disclosures of intelligence, or about Joseph's schizophrenia.

Mr Justice Hilliard told the jury "all the psychiatrists agreed that so strong was the grip of his mental illness that he simply did not think that he was doing anything wrong. In fact, he believed that he was doing the right thing, that he had to make the disclosure, and that he was justified in what he was doing".

Only a jury can return a verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity".

Joseph will now continue his mental health treatment at Broadmoor Hospital.

The case will be back in court on 15 April.

During the trial, MI5's former head of HR agreed that Joseph's mental fragility was concerning because of the work the agency does, adding it was "more so if the person does not have appropriate support".