Espionage
It was alleged Smith was recruited as a spy by Viktor Oshchenko, who befriended him at a union meeting in 1975 and ran Smith up until September 1979.
Viktor Oshchenko defected from the USSR in July 1992 and provided information which is said confirmed suspicions that Smith had provided information on the XN-715 radar fuse for the British WE.177 free fall nuclear bomb. The fuse was developed by Thorn EMI in conjunction with a number of MoD research establishments.
Despite the fact that the most serious of Smith's alleged espionage activities occurred whilst he was working for EMI, his trial was confined to charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911 relating to the documents taken from GEC in his possession at the time of his arrest.
Read more about this topic: Michael John Smith (espionage)
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