Sep 6, 2010 20:16 GMT  ·  By

A 25-year-old Brit who used to work for the MI6 was sentenced to 12 months in jail after he attempted to sell secret information to Dutch intelligence agents.

Daniel Houghton, 25, of Hoxton, east London, worked as a software engineer for the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as the MI6, for five years, between 2004 and 2009.

Houghton contacted intelligence agents from The Netherlands and offered details about a specialized computer program used by MI6 and a list of Security Service (MI5) officers in exchange for £2 million (over $3 million).

The Dutch authorities informed UK's national security agency, which organized a sting operation and arrested the software engineer on 1 March.

The price was negotiated down to £900,000 (almost $1.4 million) and the money were delivered to Houghton in a suitcase, that was in his possession when the police picked him up.

At the time, a police raid of his apartment uncovered a hard drive and an USB memory stick full with documents marked as top secret.

Houghton pleaded guilty to two offenses under the Official Secrets Act, but denied to have stolen the sensitive data from the MI6.

The BBC reports that during the trial the software engineer claimed that he was "directed by voices to do what he is said to have done in the charges".

Judge Mr Justice Bean, who delivered the sentencing described him as a "strange young man" and commented that "If the material had found its way into the hands of a hostile power it would have done enormous damage and put lives at risk."

Unlike Bradley Manning, the US Army intelligence analyst who was arrested for allegedly leaking classified information to Wikileaks, Houghton appears to have been driven purely by financial motives.

According to a senior official, he was trying to maintain an expensive lifestyle that was well above his £23,000-a-year income. The software engineer was released shortly after the sentecing as he already had spent 184 days in custody.