Interpreter in spying case 'owns three properties'

The British Army interpreter accused of supplying secret information to the enemy declared yesterday he was "a patriot" who did not in any "remote sense have any interest or commitment to any other country or party".

The protestations of Iranian-born Cpl Daniel James came as outlines of the allegations against him, as well as his defence, were aired in court publicly for the first time.

In a highly unusual move, the judge, Mr Justice Calvert Smith, allowed much of the detail to emerge during a bail application at the Old Bailey. The judge, who refused bail, said such applications were usually held in a closed court, but the media was being invited in " at the express wish of the defendant".

Cpl James acted as official interpreter to General David Richards, the British officer commanding Nato forces in Afghanistan. It is alleged the 44-year-old Territorial Army soldier was involved in espionage on behalf of the Iranian regime.

The court was told that at the "heart of the case" against Cpl James, who appeared in the proceedings yesterday through a videolink from Wandsworth prison, was a secret "communication" he allegedly passed to the enemy.

Mrs Mari Reid, for the Crown, said inquiries had shown Cpl James owned three properties and also had money in a dollar account abroad. She told the court the prosecution was being supplied with information by a "foreign agency".

The charge against Cpl James is that, on 2 November last year, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety of the state, he "communicated to another person information calculated to be, or that might be, or intended to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy".

Despite the single charge against a single defendant, the court was told it will take at least a year for the case to be heard. Paul Raudnitz, for the defence, said Cpl James had "no knowledge" of the communications that had been allegedly passed to the enemy.

Cpl James's decision to join the Army had been "a deliberate act of patriotic duty toward the country that had taken him in."

Mr Raudnitz said his client wished it to be known that he had no access to secret or sensitive information. His job had mainly consisted of him translating the General's speeches to local people.

"The discussions with local people were never of a sensitive nature," said Mr Raudnitz. "He was never party to conversations which might be considered sensitive."

Objecting to bail being granted Mrs Reid said it was believed he was working as the agent for a foreign power. If so, arrangements could be made by that power to provide him with travel documents to leave the country while on bail.

Cpl James, the court was told, arrived by himself in England from Iran when he was 14. He left school at 16 and worked as a croupier in a casino in Brighton. He married an English woman at 19, the marriage ending in the 1990s. He has one son.