I lived next door to ‘Russian spy’ – he wrestled me to the ground during a row over garden bonfire

A NEIGHBOR told yesterday how a suspected Russian spy who lived next door wrestled him to the ground during an argument over a campfire in the garden.

Father-of-five Aston Phillips, 37, said the powerful Bizer Dzhambazov grabbed him so hard it felt like a “deadly vice”, adding: “That’s when I knew he had military training. “

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Mr Phillips said he was shocked after reading in The Sun that the balding Dzhambazov, 41, was an alleged henchman of Russian President Vladimir Putin and had been arrested under the official secrets law.

Unemployed Mr Phillips, from Orpington, south-east London, said his Russian-speaking neighbor and wife Katrin Ivanova, 31, fled their residence shortly after a resident called police about the breakdown.

He said: “I got blood pumping when I saw who had been stolen from this alleged spy ring.

“This suspected deadly sleeper I know as a neighbor from hell who caught me at the campfire in the backyard.

“He was so angry with smoke rising over the fence that he asked me outside to talk to him.”

“When I went to speak to him, he grabbed me so tight and held me in a deadly vise.

“He tore my t-shirt and strangled me. I knew then that this man had a military past.”

“The police were called by another resident who saw our fighting and officers came.

“Almost overnight the couple disappeared. It was puzzling then, but now I don’t think they even wanted to be investigated for something so trivial.”

Mr Phillips’ mother Adele Lee, 63, claimed suspected spy ringleader Orlin Roussev, 45, was a regular visitor to Dzhambazov’s home.

She said: “The two burly men drank vodka in the back garden and then smashed their glasses.

“He installed a surveillance camera around his house and would cut down my trees if he thought they were blocking his camera.

“Once we had a big fight because he had an airgun and was shooting practice in his backyard. I was afraid of being shot.

“He was very hostile. If someone parked near their driveway, they would go mad too.”

Hospital driver Dzhambazov, laboratory assistant Ivanova, from Harrow, north-west London, and Roussev, from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, have been charged under the Identity Documents Act 2010 because they knew they were in possession of forged passports and identity cards.

Two other suspects were released on bail by police.

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