A former security guard at BAe Systems in Stanmore faces spending Christmas in jail after admitting stealing top secret defence files and trying to sell them to Russia.

Raphael Bravo, 30, of Willesden, was arrested by Special Branch officers on August 22 after helping himself to six files containing confidential weapons information, the Old Bailey heard on Monday.

Aftab Jafferjee, prosecuting, told the court: "This case concerns a security guard at British Aerospace in Stanmore who abused his position of trust, in the course of night patrol, by stealing secret documents and embarking on an enterprise to sell them to a foreign power namely the Russians."

The court heard how Bravo stole NATO and UK weapons technology files as well as secrets relating to Apache helicopters, Harrier Jump-jets, war ships and radars before trying to sell them for an undisclosed sum at the Whitehouse Hotel, in Euston.

The secrets are thought to have been worth more than £1million on the black market. Bravo, who was employed by security company Crusader to check that secret documents were locked away, admitted four counts of obtaining a document prejudicial to the safety of the state and four charges of theft between June 13 and August 22 this year.

He also pleaded guilty to communicating information 'useful to the enemy' on August 22.

Rock Tansey QC, defending, said: "He has no previous convictions and comes from a hard-working decent family. He is a person not politically motivated at all."

Bravo, who has been remanded in custody while pre-sentence reports are carried out, will reappear at the Old Bailey on February 1 when he is due to be sentenced.

December 18, 2001 18:08