Daniel Khalife jury retires in case of prison escapee accused of spying for Iran

Daniel Khalife’s barrister called the plot more ‘Scooby-Doo than 007’

Daniel Khalife (Metropolitan Police/PA) (PA Media)

A jury has retired to consider its verdicts against a former soldier accused of spying for Iran.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who has already admitted escaping from prison, is accused of collecting secret information and passing it to agents of the Middle Eastern country.

Prosecutors say he played “a cynical game”, claiming he wanted a career working as a double agent to help British security services, when in fact he gathered “a very large body of restricted and classified material”.

He is alleged to have covertly gathered the names of serving soldiers, including those in special forces.

He took a photo of a handwritten list of 15 service personnel, including some from the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, having been sent an internal spreadsheet of promotions in June 2021, his trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard.

He denied ever having sent the list to the Iranians, and claimed he mostly sent useless or made-up documents.

Khalife’s barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain KC said his double agent plot was “hapless” and “sometimes bordering on the slapstick”, more “Scooby-Doo” than “007”.

Daniel Khalife visited Iran as a teenager, jurors were told (Metropolitan Police/PA) (PA Media)

The former soldier is also accused of planting a fake bomb at his barracks in Stafford, when he realised he would face criminal charges.

He escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London in September 2023 by clinging underneath a food delivery truck.

He was awaiting trial when he broke out of Prison using a sling made out of trousers from the prison kitchen to tie himself to the underside of a catering truck.

He was arrested while cycling on a canal towpath in west London three days later after an intense nationwide hunt that included helicopter searches and extra security checks at major transport hubs.

Daniel Khalife has already pleaded guilty to escaping from prison (Elizabeth Cook/PA) (PA Wire)

He said he escaped in the hope he would be recaptured and sent to a high-security unit at a different prison, where he thought he would be safer.

Sending the jury out on Thursday, judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: “The time has come for me to ask you to retire and consider your verdicts.

“You should take whatever time you feel you need.”

Khalife denies charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and also denies perpetrating a bomb hoax.