A former British consular official, who was arrested for spying on his native country’s government, has spoken out in court after being accused of selling secrets to Russia. Christopher Steele is one of five Russians accused of hacking into the US Democratic Party’s emails and passing the contents to the anti-secrecy website DCLeaks, which published them. His lawyer said the FBI’s evidence was unreliable and based on false claims. He’s being held in isolation at a jail in Staffordshire and must decide whether to accept a plea bargain before he has heard the evidence against him. If the charges against him are upheld, he could face up to 20 years in jail. An earlier attempt to spy for Russia began in 2010. Image copyrightFBI Image caption Christopher Steele (R) appears at Westminster magistrates court, alongside his lawyer and solicitor The FBI accused Steele of meeting with Russian officials in Washington, DC, to discuss the “strategic themes” behind the hacking of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. But his lawyer Daniel J Simpson said there was nothing secret to be found. He said the allegations were “not just fanciful” but based on evidence which amounted to “little more than gossip”. Simpson said Steele’s work as an intelligence officer made him “no less a spy than an agent of the KGB, Russian or otherwise”. He added: “This is not some minor, insignificant player. These are the most sensitive type of files.” Steele, 58, an ex-MI6 officer turned private intelligence operative, was also accused of conspiring to persuade a female researcher and member of his own defence team to leak information to Russia. The FBI’s evidence was deemed “credible” by judge Michael Snow QC, who adjourned the trial until May 24. He also accused Steele of trying to pass material to a reporter for The New York Times. Steele is accused of lying to FBI agents by denying his attempts to set up his own contacts within the Russian government. Former Russian spy Christopher Steele is suspected of passing information to US federal authorities There were also serious allegations concerning an intelligence operation in Russia to help Donald Trump win the 2016 US presidential election. President Trump had raised the prospect of pardoning three of his former aides facing trial. But as of Friday, he hadn’t made a decision on them, the White House said. Who else could have been charged? The BBC’s Mark D’Arcy in Washington reports that Steele has been interrogated extensively, with his family too under suspicion. He has said that the information he uncovered was “unverified and unsubstantiated”. When Steele’s former MI6 colleague, Kim Darroch, was sacked from his role as the British ambassador to Washington, he blamed Russia. It’s unclear whether Steele’s contact with British officials might have had anything to do with that – or the fact that he is of British nationality and English parents, which would also have made him an ideal candidate for a diplomatic posting. Steele’s lawyers argued in court this week that he was the victim of “dirty tricks” orchestrated by a British security services agent in order to deflect attention from another senior government official, and get him fired. The judge is due to decide whether Steele has been entrapped by undercover British intelligence. Another London lawyer who has represented Russians accused of spying in the US before, Richard Gott, said he was “astonished” at the allegations, though not surprised by the outcome. Steele previously gave evidence to the US Senate inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. “His appearance today was a joke, because it’s absurd,” Gott told BBC Radio 4’s World At One. The charges, if proven, were “just bad police work”. And he questioned the validity of Steele’s alleged attempts to seek official help to prevent his former associates from going to the US authorities. He said: “To imagine that somebody in the intelligence service of a country of any sort would want to do a deal with you to help you with your cases is a bit fanciful.” Steele, who lives in Surrey and is also known by the name of Carl, worked as an agent for MI6 and the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in Moscow from 1992 to 1999, until he was removed from his post. MI6 said in a statement it could not comment on individual staff, but defended its work in the Russia and Ukraine region “in challenging circumstances”. “We do not comment on the details of the former employee’s personal circumstances and he is not permitted to comment publicly on the work of the agency,” it said. Who is Christopher Steele? Christopher Steele (file pic) is a former British spy. His former MI6 colleague, Kim Darroch, was sacked from his role as the British ambassador to Washington, blaming Russia for what he said was a “vicious assault on our country”. Christopher Steele (file pic) is a former British spy. His former MI6 colleague, Kim Darroch, was sacked from his role as the British ambassador to Washington, blaming Russia for what he said was a “vicious assault on our country”. As an MI6 agent stationed in Moscow in the 1990s, he came into close contact with senior Russian figures.