Daniel Khalife Jailed for Spying for Iran and Escaping HMP Wandsworth

Daniel Abdel Khalife, 23, was jailed for more than 14 years after breaching the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act and escaping from HMP Wandsworth by hanging underneath a delivery truck, according to The Mirror and Daily Mirror.

“Daniel Khalife jailed for spying for Iran and prison escape Daniel Khalife has been jailed for 14 years and three months after escaping from prison while awaiting trial for spying for Iran”

BBC

In the sentencing hearing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him: "You had the makings of an exemplary soldier, instead you were a dangerous fool."

BBC

The Mirror and Daily Mirror say Khalife “exposed military personnel to serious harm” by collecting sensitive information and passing it to Iranian agents, and that he was paid £1,500 cash for the secret material.

The Mirror and Daily Mirror also report that Khalife was told he was sentenced to three jail terms which all must run one after the other, with the terrorism charge carrying six years, breaching the official secrets act carrying six years, and escaping Wandsworth prison carrying two years and three months.

BBC News similarly reports that Khalife has been jailed for 14 years and three months after escaping from prison while awaiting trial for spying for Iran.

BBC adds that Khalife, now 23, was charged in January 2023 and became the subject of a nationwide manhunt eight months later when he fled Wandsworth prison before his trial.

BBC further states that he was arrested in London after a 75-hour search, and that part way through the trial he pleaded guilty to escaping from prison by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck.

BBC describes how Khalife began passing sensitive information to Tehran shortly after he was employed by the British Army as a teenager, saying he began fostering a relationship with Tehran shortly after he was employed by the British Army as a teenager in September 2018.

BBC reports that by August 2019, having been in the Army for less than a year, he was sent to collect $2,000 (£1,600) in a dog poo bag in Mill Hill Park, north London.

Daily Mirror

BBC further says Khalife travelled to Turkey in August 2020, where he left a package for Iranian intelligence agents, and that police launched an investigation into him in November 2021 after calls.

BBC states that he was arrested in January 2022 and charged one year later, and that he escaped from Wandsworth prison later in 2023 while awaiting trial, only to be found and arrested after three days.

The Mirror and Daily Mirror add that in 2021 he secretly gathered the names of serving soldiers, including those in the special forces, and that he took a photo of a handwritten list of 15 of them after being sent an internal spreadsheet of promotions in June 2021.

BBC says Khalife gathered the names of 15 serving soldiers, including some from the special forces, and that he initially only had surnames and initials before finding a flaw in the Army's holiday-booking system that allowed him to look up and photograph soldiers' first names too.

BBC reports that prosecutors believe he sent the list of names of soldiers to Iran before deleting the evidence, while Khalife denied ever sending it and claimed the information he did pass on was "fake" or "useless."

At sentencing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Khalife: "You are an attention seeker and you enjoyed the notoriety you attracted following your escape from prison," as BBC reports.

“Daniel Khalife: Inside chilling file jailbreak spy soldier complied for Iranian handlers Daniel Khalife joined the British Army aged just 16 - but today he was told he “exposed military personnel to serious harm” by giving serving officers' names to Iran for £1,500 in cash A former "young soldier of the year" who made a promising start in the British Army compiled a secret file full of the names of serving officers ready to hand over to Iran”

The Mirror

BBC also quotes the judge saying: "You are an attention seeker and you enjoyed the notoriety you attracted following your escape from prison," and says she added that he had "the makings of an exemplary soldier" but instead showed himself "to be a dangerous fool."

The Mirror and Daily Mirror report that Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said she had “no doubt” that Khalife used the fact that his mother is Iranian to gain the trust of his contacts.

The Mirror and Daily Mirror also attribute to the judge the statement: "The handwritten list was in a folder you admitted sending to the Iranian handlers. Whether or not you did send it, this is a very serious act."

Prosecutors, as described by The Mirror and Daily Mirror, said Khalife identified SAS soldiers putting them at risk of potential harm, and Mark Heywood KC told the judge the maximum sentence Khalife can receive for the charges against him is 15 years.

BBC says prosecutors said Khalife had been "entrusted to uphold and protect the national security of this country", but had instead "used his employment to undermine" it.

BBC further reports that Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "The threat to the UK from states such as Iran is very serious, so for a soldier in the army to be sharing sensitive military material and information with them is extremely reckless and dangerous."

Khalife’s lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, argued during mitigation that Khalife’s actions were not driven by malice, greed, religious fervour, or ideological conviction, as The Mirror and Daily Mirror report.

The Mirror and Daily Mirror quote Hussain telling the judge: “What Daniel Khalife clearly chose to do was not born of malice, was not born of greed, religious fervour or ideological conviction. His intentions were neither sinister nor cynical.”

BBC

The same articles say Hussain described the conduct as more “Scooby Doo” than “007,” and he told the judge that some of the documents Khalife forged to pass to the Iranians were “laughably fake.”

BBC reports that Khalife’s lawyer claimed twice during the trial that the plot was "hapless" and more "Scooby-Doo" than "007."

BBC also reports that in her sentencing remarks, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: "What a shame shortly after basic training you spent more than two years in contact with agents of Iran, a country whose interests do not align with UK" and that by the time Khalife had initiated a relationship with Iran, he had been vetted and cleared and thereby had access to a "sea of sensitive material."

BBC says the judge added that the duty of confidentiality you owed would have been drilled into you, and that it was not possible to know the details of all the information Khalife had passed on to his handlers.

BBC says the court heard mitigating factors including Khalife's age and a psychological report from 2023 diagnosing him with Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

BBC details the prison escape and the manhunt that followed, saying Khalife fled Wandsworth prison before his trial and was arrested in London after a 75-hour search.

“Daniel Khalife: Inside chilling file jailbreak spy soldier complied for Iranian handlers Daniel Khalife joined the British Army aged just 16 - but today he was told he “exposed military personnel to serious harm” by giving serving officers' names to Iran for £1,500 in cash A former "young soldier of the year" who made a promising start in the British Army compiled a secret file full of the names of serving officers ready to hand over to Iran”

Daily Mirror

BBC says he escaped by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck, and that he was arrested by plain-clothes officers while riding a stolen bike on a canal towpath in north-west London, just 11 miles from Wandsworth.

Daily Mirror

BBC reports that while on the run, he made an attempt to contact the Iranians, sending a Telegram message which said simply: "I wait."

The BBC account also says he received no response.

The Mirror and Daily Mirror describe the escape differently, saying he escaped from HMP Wandsworth by hanging underneath a delivery truck, and that he was sentenced to three jail terms that all must run one after the other.

BBC says it was revealed at the sentencing hearing that Khalife's escape cost police over £250,000 in what the article begins to describe, though the provided text cuts off before the full figure is completed.

BBC also says that during his time in the Army, including while on a military exercise in the US, Khalife accumulated numerous pictures of secret communications equipment on his iPhone, including computer screens showing IP addresses.