Michael John Smith (espionage)

Michael John Smith (born on 22 September 1948) was convicted of spying in the UK. In 1992, Smith was arrested, accused of spying for the KGB, and charged with four offences under sections 1(1)(b) and (c) of the UK Official Secrets Act 1911. Smith was convicted on the three section 1(1)(c) charges relating to "communicating material to another for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State". He was sentenced to 25 years in prison,

Christopher Andrew, in his history of the KGB, described Smith as "probably the most important British Line X agent since the retirement of (Melita) Norwood".

Between 1960 and 1967, Smith attended Ockendon Courts County Secondary Modern School in Essex and gained nine GCE 'O' levels and four 'A' levels. He went on to the University of Surrey where he graduated in 1971 with a degree in electronic and electrical engineering.

By the time of Oshchenko's defection, Smith was no longer working for a defence contractor. The Security Service, MI5, gave him the code name Parellic and placed him under surveillance. Given the information provided by Oshchenko after his defection it was decided to arrest Smith as soon as possible. In August 1992, a member of the Security Service telephoned him pretending to be a friend of Oshchenko and suggested that they should meet.

On 10 January 2006, Andrew Mackinlay MP asked in Parliament for clarification as to which weapon system the most serious document in the prosecution was linked. Smith alleges that this document had nothing to do with ALARM, as alleged in his trial.