Ex-Rolls-Royce scientist arrested ‘for leaking jet secrets to China’

A former Rolls-Royce scientist has been arrested by counter-terrorism police on suspicion of passing secrets to China on Britain’s new fighter jets.

Bryn Jones, the company’s former chief combustion technologist, was detained on Tuesday afternoon after MI5 warned that classified defence information might have been leaked to China.

The 73-year-old was taken to a police station in Derbyshire for questioning and later released under investigation. Scotland Yard confirmed that a man in his seventies “who worked within private industry” had been arrested in Derbyshire “as part of an investigation under the Official Secrets Act. It added: “Police officers executed a search warrant at an address in the West Midlands, which is now complete. A search at an address in Derbyshire is ongoing. We are not prepared to discuss further at this stage given the nature of the investigation.”

Rolls-Royce is one of several UK companies involved in the construction of Britain’s new multi-million-pound F-35 stealth fighter jets.

Four of the warplanes, which have been described as “the future of our air power for decades to come” by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, landed at RAF Marham in Norfolk last week. Mr Jones, a married father of five who describes himself as a “visiting professor” in “gas turbine combustion” at the Aeronautical University of Xian in central China, is understood to deny any wrongdoing.

He worked at Rolls-Royce for nearly 30 years before leaving to start a consultancy firm, but is believed to have maintained his connections with his former employer.

One of the properties searched by police were offices at a West Midlands firm linked to him, and police were also seen removing boxes of documents from his four-bedroom home, 20 minutes’ drive from Rolls-Royce’s Derbyshire headquarters.

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said the firm could not comment on the arrest while the investigation was ongoing.

The F-35 fighter is built in America by the US company Lockheed Martin. It has a top speed of 1,200mph, a 300-mile range and can dodge enemy radar.

Several British firms, including Rolls-Royce, which has provided its “lift system” hover technology, have been involved in its production. The Government has committed to spending £9.1 billion on 48 of the aircraft by 2025.

A Home Office spokesman said it would not comment on an ongoing investigation.