Juan Joseph, 43, is on trial for allegedly breaching the Official Secrets and National Security Acts by repeatedly disclosing information to a foreign state
Share
A former MI5 worker told a Harley Street doctor he suffered chronic chest pains after being attacked with a hypodermic needle and injected with an “unknown substance”, his partly secret trial has heard.
Juan Joseph, 43, is on trial for allegedly breaching the Official Secrets and National Security Acts by repeatedly disclosing information to a foreign state by email and attempting to meet at an embassy in Latvia.
Parts of his Old Bailey trial are being heard in the absence of the public and press.
The former IT contractor had the highest vetting clearance during his 11 years at MI5 as a systems engineer, security IT management engineer and senior support engineer.
His contract was terminated in October 2020 after he was taken to St Thomas’s hospital in London displaying what colleagues described as “mental fragility”, “extreme anxiety” and “paranoia”.
It was also suggested that he might be having a heart attack, jurors have heard.
Earlier that day, he had contacted a colleague and asked for an MI5 “ID”, the court was told on Tuesday.
His behaviour was noted as being “unusual” and during the conversation he made two complaints against another person working for MI5 which were later logged as grievances.
The court has previously heard the complaints – which were investigated and dismissed – had alleged a colleague made “racialist comments to and about him”.
In 2021, Joseph made more unfounded complaints of rape, child abuse, torture, abduction, attempted assassination of a former director general and conspiracy to murder, jurors have heard.
On June 25 2024, he had a consultation with a Harley Street cardiologist at a “One Heart” clinic, the court heard.
He told the doctor that he had been attacked some years ago with a hypodermic needle which contained an “unknown substance” but had returned to work as a contractor for “the National Security Forces”.
On July 9 2024, the cardiologist wrote to Joseph’s GP stating that “he suffered an inflammatory response to his stabbing with a needle containing an unknown substance”.
The doctor wrote that the incident “triggered inflammation which then triggered a myopericarditis with ECG changes and a long period of chronic recurrent chest discomfort consistent with chronic pericarditis”.
However, the doctor reported that the symptoms had “now settled and resolved with no evidence of any active scarring, no constriction and no permanent damage to the heart whatsoever”.
Police investigating Joseph later contacted the cardiologist about his conclusions.
The doctor said they were based on what Joseph had said and were documented “as per normal clinical practice”.
He said: “I have not performed a physical examination or any specific tests that assess his specific claims and nor could I as they were historic prior to my clinical assessment of him.”
Details of Joseph’s visit to the Harley Street clinic were among a set of facts agreed by both prosecution and defence and read to the jury in open court.
They went on to refer to a series of law enforcement operations which had been reported in the press.
They included the National Crime Agency probe into Rotherham grooming gangs, a Lancashire Police operation targeting habitual burglars, and a joint MI5 and Scotland Yard investigation into the “infamous criminal” Terry Adams.
The agreed facts also stated that Joseph never undertook any polygraph tests as part of his contracted work at MI5.
At the conclusion of the prosecution case on Tuesday, Joseph’s legal team told jurors that he would not be giving evidence in his defence.
The Old Bailey trial then continued in the absence of the public and press.
Previously, the court has heard that Joseph’s alleged offending began in 2024 after a bid to bring a private prosecution for an alleged assault in 2019 was rejected.
When he applied for a judicial review by the High Court, he began copying in an email linked to a foreign state, it is alleged.
On December 8 2024, Joseph travelled to Riga where he allegedly sent two emails requesting a meeting at a foreign embassy there.
On his arrest at an Ibis Hotel on January 30 2025, he claimed to be an armed MI5 officer and a lock knife was found in his pocket.
A search of Joseph’s home nearby led to the discovery of a homemade card purporting to identify him as an MI5 officer.
The defendant, from Sutton, south London, has denied four charges under the Official Secrets Act and National Security Act.
He has also denied having an article with a blade or point when he was arrested at the Ibis Hotel.