‘Spy’ out of the cold (From Ealing Times)

‘Spy’ out of the cold

9:47am Friday 10th March 2006

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The Cold War may be becoming an academic subject but for a former Kingston resident fighting to clear his name, it is very much a hot topic.

Mike Smith, 58, has spent 10 years in jail accused of passing on defence secrets to the KGB, the Soviet Union's infamous intelligence service, during the early 1990s.

But he has always vehemently protested his innocence, claiming an unfortunate series of coincidences, bad decisions and an incendiary political climate contributed to his downfall.

He believes he was made an ideal scapegoat because of his past involvement with the trades union movement in Kingston, as well as the Young Communist League, which saw him take trips to Moscow in the early 1970s.

Mr Smith admits to industrial espionage, selling information while working for the General Electric Company at the Hirst Research Centre in Wembley and amassing around £20,000. But he was adamant that he was not selling secrets to the Soviets between 1990 and 1992.

He said: "I am trying to discover and expose the full story behind the conspiracy that led to my conviction of supposedly spying for the Russians and have been trying to make noises about this for some years. I just want to sort it out and clear my name. "It has changed my whole life, damaged my possibility of getting a job and led to the end of my marriage."

Central to Mr Smith's conviction was the character of Viktor Oshchenko, his alleged KGB contact who defected to the UK in July 1992. Mr Smith denies any contact with Oshchenko.

He said: "It's possible I could've met him, because a guy I knew in New Malden brought a group of Russians down to a social gathering. But that was in the 1970s not the 1990s and I don't know what's happened to him now."

Mr Smith's appeal in 1995 was turned down, claiming treachery is treachery and it must be punished'. For more information on the case go to www.parellic.blogspot.com.

sgreenwood@london.newsquest.co.uk.

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