A disgruntled former MI5 employee has been cleared of breaching the Official Secrets Act by repeatedly leaking sensitive information to a foreign power because he was mentally unwell at the time.
Former government IT contractor Juan Joseph, 43, emailed the foreign state and even travelled to Latvia attempting to arrange a meeting at an embassy there as he pursued a complaint against MI5.
Mr Justice Hilliard had ordered the week-long trial at the Old Bailey to be heard largely behind closed doors in the absence of the public and press to “avoid the risk of damage to national security”.
On Friday, jurors found Joseph not guilty by reason of insanity after Mr Justice Hilliard told them that experts agreed the defendant was in the grip of mental illness to the extent he did not think he was doing anything wrong.
The jury deliberated for less than an hour to reach verdicts on all charges against him.
Mr Justice Hilliard remanded Joseph to Broadmoor Hospital for a hearing on April 15 when the defendant could be handed a hospital order.
The court heard that Joseph had the highest vetting clearance during his 11 years at MI5 as a systems engineer, security IT management engineer and senior support engineer.
His contract was terminated in October 2020 after he was taken to St Thomas’s hospital in London displaying what colleagues described as “mental fragility”, “extreme anxiety” and “paranoia”.
He discharged himself before he could be assessed, and at a meeting to terminate his contract in October 2020, Joseph claimed to have been “victimised” and “gaslit”.
The defendant also made a series of unfounded complaints against MI5 about racist treatment and “highly disturbing” claims, including rape, child abuse, and torture, jurors were told.
He also claimed a swastika had been put up in the office and he was injected with a hypodermic needle containing something that made him “very poorly” while at Thames House, MI5’s headquarters.
Joseph made contact with the foreign state in 2024 after a bid to bring a private prosecution for assault in 2019 was rejected.
He applied for a judicial review by the High Court and began copying an email linked to the foreign state in to his communications.
On December 8 2024, Joseph travelled to Riga in Latvia where he sent two emails requesting a meeting at a foreign embassy there.
He was stopped by police at Gatwick Airport on his return on December 15 and refused to hand over codes to seven digital devices, claiming he was an MI5 officer and needed authorisation.
On January 13 2025, Joseph copied in a foreign state in another email complaining about his treatment by police at Gatwick Airport.
On his arrest at an Ibis Hotel on January 30 2025, he maintained he was an “armed MI5 officer” and a lock knife was found in his pocket.
A search of Joseph’s home nearby led to the discovery of a homemade card falsely identify him as an MI5 officer.
In police interviews, Joseph claimed to be a “whistleblower” and said he had done nothing wrong and had passed polygraph tests.
He claimed to be a black belt in taekwondo with training in ninja-style knife and sword techniques at Thames House and was allowed to carry a blade for “defence”.
On the allegations against him, he said: “I can only reiterate, there’s no malice there, there’s no wilful intent for me to hurt anybody.
“I’m not a threat to the country, I would never do that you know. It’s quite hurtful that people are saying things like that about me and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
The defendant, from Sutton, south London, denied four charges under the Official Secrets and National Security Acts and having an article with a blade or point – but declined to give evidence in his defence.
The court was told there was no dispute that Joseph had contacted the unnamed foreign state, but three psychiatrists had agreed he was suffering with paranoid schizophrenia and delusions.
In his directions to jurors, Mr Justice Hilliard said it was an “unusual trial” and a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity would allow him to make a court order to ensure Joseph receives any treatment he needs.
Before the trial began, the senior judge had ruled a departure from Open Justice was necessary to avoid the identity of the foreign state or the nature of the material disclosed by Joseph from becoming public.
