Charges and first court appearance

Police in London said on Thursday that they had charged Teddy Young, a 24-year-old member of the Royal Navy, with two offences under the National Security Act. The charges concern allegedly obtaining protected information and preparing to disclose it to benefit a foreign power, and police did not name that power. Young appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, where the hearing lasted four minutes. Judge Annabel Pilling ordered that he remain in custody and sent the case to the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court, where he is due to appear on 16 October. He was not asked to plead guilty or not guilty. Young is the first member of the British armed forces to be charged under the National Security Act 2023.

Arrest and the alleged conduct

Police arrested Young on Tuesday at his home in Bedfordshire, north of London. He had been detained once before in connection with the same matter, released, and placed on non-active duty. Counter-terrorism police first arrested him last year. Young joined the Royal Navy in April 2024 and was first posted to a ship in November of that year, where his role was gathering intelligence for warfare. Prosecutors allege that he copied secret information he could access to a private email account, translated a message into Russian and searched the dark web for an address through which information could be passed to Russia. The alleged conduct covers the period from 26 November 2024 to 21 May 2025.

Russia and the Fairford investigation

Police have not named the foreign power, but the charges reportedly include translating a message into Russian, and several reports name Russia as the intended recipient. Police said the two charges are not connected to the investigation into an incident at RAF Fairford, which US officials have said involved a potential Iranian drone attack. Reports say that incident followed reports of suspicious activity near the base and led to several arrests. One report counts six other men arrested, while another counts seven in total, and all have since been released. The Fairford investigation is continuing, and no new information about it is available so far.

Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy response

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, issued a statement on the case.

These are very serious charges against a serving member of the armed forces.

Flanagan also said police had worked closely with the Ministry of Defence as the investigation progressed.

We have worked extremely closely with relevant operational colleagues within the Ministry of Defence as our investigation has progressed to ensure appropriate measures could be taken to mitigate any potential risks linked to this matter.

The Royal Navy confirmed that one of its members had been charged. It said that, because court proceedings are ongoing, further comment would be inappropriate. The investigation is being carried out by the counter-terrorism unit of the London police.