German newspaper mocks British spy's Ford Fiesta – 'It's nothing like James Bond'

A German newspaper has mocked the car the man accused of spying for Russia in the British embassy, saying his lifestyle was nothing like James Bond's.

The man reportedly worked for the security team at the British embassy in Berlin and was arrested on Wednesday.

Officially he has been identified only as David S – in line with Germany’s strict privacy laws – although he has been named in British media reports as David Smith.

The arrest has caused a stir in both Germany and the UK at a time of heightened tensions with Russia and the West.

The German newspaper Bild mocked David's lifestyle in an article headlined 'Putin's spy drove a Ford Fiesta'.

They said: "Expensive cars, stylish apartments and an extravagant lifestyle? Such spies are known from films. Real life seems to be a different, far more inconspicuous one. This spy drives a Ford Fiesta!"

It comes as David's reported fascination with Russia and the Soviet Union has been uncovered by the MailOnline.

Images acquired by the Mail allegedly show David's flat in Potsdam, a city south-west of Berlin, with bookshelves crammed with Russian language books and military history books including some on Hitler's infamous SS 12th Panzer Division.

Watch: UK embassy security fears after Briton suspected of spying for Russia arrested in Germany

The images also show the well-known conspiracy theory book The Trigger by David Icke.

Elsewhere in this flat, the images from the Mail show a large Russian flag, a Soviet officer's hat and several hammer and sickle emblems.

The arrest came after a months-long joint investigation by British and German authorities.

Read more: What happens when spies defect to the US?

David is currently being held under German counter-espionage laws on suspicion of "intelligence agent activity".

Prosecutors said he was suspected of working for Russian intelligence since at least November 2020, handing over documents in return for cash on at least one occasion.

There has been no suggestion so far that the British authorities will seek to extradite him to stand trial in the UK.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that if charges are brought, the Met stands ready to support any criminal proceedings, "wherever that may be".

She added: "At the moment the Germans are most certainly handling it."

The case has led to calls from MPs for a review of the security arrangements for contractors working at UK embassies, amid fears that sensitive counter-terrorism operations may have been compromised.

The former national security adviser Lord Ricketts said the suspect was unlikely to have had access to highly classified information.

However, he said the case served as a reminder that the Russians continued to deploy traditional espionage methods to prise secrets from their rivals.

“We all think now about the Russians stealing secrets by hacking and providing disinformation by social media and so on – it is a reminder that the Russians haven’t given up also on the old-fashioned ways of suborning individuals through money,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

He added: “I think the Russian intelligence threat to all our countries has grown again.

“It probably dipped at the end of the Cold War but it is absolutely back in all our countries, and so vigilance is essential, not only in these new areas but also in the old-fashioned areas of good physical security around embassies and ensuring loyalty in staff.”