A MAN who calls himself an “urban explorer” managed to sneak on to a top secret germ warfare base – known as Britain’s answer to Area 51.

Matthew Williams, 50, claims to have exposed a "huge security risk" after filming himself driving up to laboratories, Ministry of Defence (MoD) buildings, living quarters, labs and training facilities at the Wiltshire facility – which is known to hold deadly viruses and chemicals – such as ebola, Novichok and COVID-19.

'Threat to security'

Williams also managed to get very detailed and close up pictures of the base on his drone, flying legally from public land, and posted all his footage on Youtube – however the MoD has denied there was any breach of security.

“I’m fascinated by the idea, with COVID 19 and everything, that people could get that close because I think it is a threat to the security of the place,” he told The Sun.

“If a terrorist was to get in there, it would be a real problem. If somebody was to do something really irresponsible there, then you could end up having terrible sorts of germs, which would make COVID look like a child’s birthday party, released out into the atmosphere.

“They say they’ve got viruses in that place which could kill life on the planet as we know it within a couple of weeks.

“So for anyone to just be able to drive a car up and get so close you could have thrown a tennis ball at some of the buildings, it just beggars belief really.”

Porton Down is a science park next to the village of Porton, near Salisbury which houses a site of the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Science and Technology (DSTL) lab and a Public Health England building.

Chemical weapons

It opened more than a hundred years ago to develop chemical weapons such as chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene.

In more recent years, it has conducted tests on sarin and the Novichok nerve agent, responsible for the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

The site has been the subject of much controversy and in 2006 the MoD paid out £3m to veterans who claimed they were given LSD without consent there in the 50s – although they did not accept responsibility.

It is also the site of the death of Ronald Maddison who died during testing of the nerve agent sarin. Inquests in 2002 and 2004 found his death to have been unlawful and the MoD settled in 2006.

Williams, who says he was acting in the public interest and had no malicious intent, first visited the mysterious site late summer, where he drove freely for about 30 minutes without being stopped.

He released his footage from the first visit on his Youtube site, The Secret Vault,late last year.

A few days after releasing the footage, he decided to revisit the site with a friend, where he gained similar access but this time was stopped by police, who searched the pair and their vehicle, then let them go without charge.

“In many ways, I’m actually glad that they stopped us, because it shows that at least they had become aware that people were able to drive in that close,” he said.

“I had a conversation with them about it and said, ‘Do you think it’s sensible that people can get this close? Realistically, wouldn’t it be better to stop people further out so that you can’t drive this close to the base?’

'Too close'

“And they didn’t disagree with me. I told them, 'If my video does anything, I hope it makes people here think about the security and encourage them to either get more land to keep people away or more police to keep people further out.'

“I still think that we were still too close. To this day, you can just drive straight up to some areas, some of the buildings there you’re able to just drive your car next to.

“What if terrorists drive a vehicle up there, laden with explosives?”

Matthew also took some detailed footage of the base with his drone, flying legally and within existing restrictions – which he believes to be a second security risk.

During his research, he also claims to have discovered how the public can walk alongside a railway line running to one side of the base, gaining close access to the buildings on the base without any threat of arrest.

“It seems like somebody has made a real mistake in the way that they’ve designed this, having the railway track going so close and having no security on one side of the base and then saying, keep out on the other,” Matthew said.

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“I believe that that is a huge security threat and they should really sequester that land and stop people getting that close.

"I think it's Porton Down's responsibility to request more airspace and more danger zones around the base to stop people flying drones so close."

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which recently took over from Public Health England, referred the matter to the MoD when contacted by The Sun.

A spokesperson for the MoD’s DSTL department said: “We are aware of the incident and at no point was our site breached.

“Footage was taken from the public road and outer boundary and the individual was quickly spotted and questioned by the MOD police.

“Security remains a top priority for DSTL as we continue to provide the science to Defence and beyond.”

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