Daniel Khalife pleads guilty to escaping from Wandsworth Prison

Former soldier Daniel Khalife has pleaded guilty part way through his trial at Woolwich Crown Court to escaping from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023.

He continues to deny all other charges.

Khalife, who is accused of spying for Iran, absconded from prison while awaiting trial after being charged with terrorism offence and breaching the Official Secrets Act.

The 23-year-old escaped the prison in south-west London by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers.

Khalife previously told his the court 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.

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.

“I was never a real spy.

“I would do anything to go back to my career (in the Army).”

A former member of the Royal Signals based at Beacon Barracks, Beaconside, Stafford, Khalife is also accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax and stealing personal information about soldiers from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Joint Personnel Administration System which was “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” in 2021.

Khalife, a British citizen, is also alleged to have breached the Official Secrets Act by acting against the “safety and interests of the state” and allegedly collecting information which would be “useful to the enemy”.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA News Agency