‘Southport born and bred’ security expert admits to LEAKING state secrets

A security contractor accused of leaking state missile secrets carried a knife into two Southport pubs a court has heard.

Defence contractor Simon Finch of Swansea, who claimed he was “Southport born and bred”, has now plead guilty to leaking state secrets.

He initially denied two charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act and refusing to give authorities access codes to three electronic devices.

But Finch, of Swansea, changed his pleas to guilty during a trial.

The Old Bailey heard he became disillusioned by British authorities after reporting homophobic attacks in 2013, which he did not believe were investigated properly.

Prosecutors alleged Finch leaked the document to exact retribution on the British system, which he felt had let him down.

Finch said he wanted to draw attention to his situation, adding: “I had to do something to generate national exposure. It had to be quite serious. It had to be something to gather national attention.”