Former soldier Daniel Khalife pleads guilty to prison escape
The 23-year-old escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London in September 2023 by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck, ITV News' Reporter Martha Fairlie has the latest
Former soldier Daniel Khalife has pleaded guilty partway through his trial to escaping from prison under a food truck.
Khalife, 23, changed his plea to a charge of escaping from lawful custody halfway through his trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
He continues to deny the spying and terrorism charges against him. The ex-soldier is accused of gathering information for Iran.
Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London in September 2023 by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers.
He escaped in the hope he would be kept in a high-security unit (HSU) at a different prison, away from “sex offenders” and “terrorists” after his recapture, he previously told his trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told jurors she had asked Khalife if he wanted the prison escape charge to be put to him again.
When the charge was put to the former soldier, he replied: “I’m guilty.”
The court heard he planned a fake escape attempt for August 21 in the hope he would be moved to the HSU, but decided that a genuine escape was his only option after the incident was not reported to senior prison staff.
Khalife wanted to be kept in the HSU at HMP Belmarsh – a prison within a prison holding some of the country’s most dangerous criminals – because he believed he would be safer there, the court heard.
Five days before his successful escape, he attached a sling to the underside of the lorry made from kitchen trousers and carabiners.
The sling “wasn’t spotted at Wandsworth gate or any other prison”, Khalife said.
“When the tail lift raised it covered me entirely,” he continued.
“If the makeshift sling wasn’t noticed, they’re hardly going to notice me.”
While on the run, Khalife bought clothes from Marks & Spencer and a coffee from McDonald’s and walked beside the River Thames before being caught by police three days later.
“I accept that I left the prison and I didn’t have any permission,” he told jurors.
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“I was never a real spy.
“I would do anything to go back to my career (in the Army).”
When asked by the prosecution on Monday why he did not tell any Army colleagues about his contact with Iran, Khalife said he was “focused” on contacting British intelligence services.
Khalife has previously claimed he was hoping to become a double agent for the UK and said the documents he handed over to Iran were fabricated.
Asked about his attitude to rules, Khalife said: “I believe that rules are necessary and I follow them when I can.
“We’re not animals, we need rules.”
Khalife denies charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.
In a report published earlier this year, HMP Wandsworth’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) – made up of volunteers tasked by ministers with scrutinising conditions in custody – said an audit found a raft of security failings at the scandal-hit jail in the wake of the escape.
The IMB said the incident led to multiple reviews and action, including “previously unavailable funding” being found for security improvements and “significant investment” in a bid to stop “illicit items” being taken into the prison.
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