Daniel Khalife: Former soldier who escaped from Wandsworth Prison guilty of spying for Iran

Published

1 month ago

November 28, 2024

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A former British soldier who escaped from Wandsworth Prison has been found guilty of spying for Iran.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who was a lance corporal in the Royal Signals, used a sling made from trousers worn by inmates working in the kitchen to cling to the underside of a food delivery lorry on 6 September last year.

He was being held in the Category B prison accused of handing secret information, including a list of soldiers – some of whom were serving in the SAS – to Iranian spies.

MI5, the Ministry of Defence and counter-terrorism police launched a nationwide manhunt, fearing Khalife would try to flee to Tehran or get to the Iranian embassy in London.

Woolwich Crown Court heard that while on the run he bought a mobile phone to call his handlers, who used the code name “David Smith”, and sent the message: “I wait.”

But Khalife was arrested on the morning of 9 September when he was spotted riding a stolen mountain bike along the canal towpath in Northolt, west London – about 14 miles away from Wandsworth Prison.

He initially pleaded not guilty to an escape charge but changed his plea after describing the break-out to jurors, saying it showed “what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison”.

Khalife, who first contacted an Iranian spy soon after he joined the Army aged 16, claimed he wanted to be a “double agent” and “thought he could be James Bond” but had only passed on fake or useless information.

Giving evidence, he described himself as an English “patriot”, adding: “I’m certainly not a terrorist or a traitor.”

But he was found guilty of a charge of gathering, publishing or communicating information that might be useful to an enemy between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022, under the Official Secrets Act.

Khalife, from Kingston, in southwest London, was also found guilty of eliciting personal information about armed forces personnel that was likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism on 2 August 2021.

The charge related to a photo of a handwritten list of 15 soldiers, including some from special forces serving in the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS).

Khalife was found not guilty of perpetrating a bomb hoax at his barracks in January 2023.

‘The ultimate Walter Mitty’

Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command, said while Khalife’s approach was “amateurish” with elements of “fantasy”, the reality was he provided “highly sensitive” information to the Iranian state.

“He’s the ultimate Walter Mitty character,” he said. “The problem is he’s a Walter Mitty character that was having an extremely significant impact on the real world.”

A Walter Mitty character is someone who is ordinary but has an extraordinary imagination and daydreams about personal triumphs to escape their dull life.

Mr Murphy said the “game” played by Khalife to “fuel his ego” posed “a significant risk to national security” and he had “enjoyed the thrill of the deception throughout”.

Police have disrupted 20 direct plots from the Iranian government, including assignations or immediate threats to life, and the state’s agents “pose a very real threat to national security and to individuals here in the UK”, Mr Murphy said.

Khalife told the jury he contacted an Iranian agent through Facebook because he wanted to endear himself to the UK security services after he was told he couldn’t pass developed vetting to fulfil his dream of working in intelligence because his mother was born in Iran.

Dead drops

Khalife left material in public locations in exchange for cash in an old-fashioned spy tactic known as the “dead drop” or “dead letter box”.

He first collected £1,500 in a dog poo bag in Mill Hill Park in Barnet, north London, in August 2019 and made a second £1,000 cash pick-up from Kensal Green Cemetery, in North Kensington, in October 2021.

He twice travelled from his barracks, in Staffordshire, to the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, in London, and even flew to Istanbul, where he stayed in the Hilton hotel between 4 and 10 August 2020, and “delivered a package” for Iranian agents, the court heard.

The contact continued while he was deployed to Fort Hood, Texas, where he received training in Falcon, a military communications system.

Khalife repeatedly contacted the British security services himself saying he wanted to be a “double agent”, but MI5 reported him to police, who arrested him.

While on bail, he went AWOL from his base, leaving a device made from three laughing gas canisters bound with sniper tape on his desk.

He stayed in a stolen Ford Transit van, later found containing a camp bed, around £20,000, and notes saying he wanted to defect to Iran.

Prosecutors said he planned to leave the country, having previously travelled to Turkey as a test for onward travel to Iran, and he was in contact with his Iranian handlers, making attempts to get to the embassy.

But he was arrested again three weeks later after a colleague spotted him in the leisure centre. He was then held on remand in Wandsworth Prison, where he managed to get a job in the kitchen.

Escape planned for ‘quite some time’

Khalife told the jury he planned the escape because he wanted to be moved to the high-security unit in Belmarsh to avoid sex predators and terrorists who wanted to do him harm.

Police believe he had been planning the “pretty audacious” break-out for “quite some time” and he wrote in his prison diary of a “failed” escape attempt on 21 August last year.

Khalife told the jury he attached the makeshift rope to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September to test prison security as it made its daily deliveries.

“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly,” he said, describing how he concealed himself, resting his back on the sling as the vehicle was searched.

The driver Balazs Werner said two guards told him someone was missing as they checked the truck with a torch and mirror and he was surprised he was allowed to drive off and that the prison wasn’t in lockdown.

Khalife said he waited for the lorry to stop, dropped to the ground and lay in the prone position until it moved off.

He used the phone at the Rose of York pub in Richmond before a contact withdrew £400 from a nearby cashpoint, which he used to buy a sleeping bag, a mobile phone and a change of clothes.

CCTV footage captured his movements as he bought clothes from Marks & Spencer, stole a hat from Mountain Warehouse, drank coffee at McDonald’s and even read about his escape in the newspaper.

When he was arrested on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt after four days on the run, Khalife told police: “My body aches. I f****d myself up under the lorry” and “I don’t know how immigrants do it”.

Police said he had no help from anyone inside prison, Iran or close family members in London but a 24-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of assisting an offender and the investigation is ongoing.

The prisons watchdog called for Wandsworth to be put into emergency measures in the wake of Khalife’s escape, while a security audit identified “81 points of failure” and resulted in “long overdue” upgrades to CVTV cameras which hadn’t worked for more than a year.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) later announced it would be redirecting £100m from across the prison service to spend over five years on bringing in “urgent improvements”.

Meanwhile, Bethan David, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “As a serving soldier of the British Army Daniel Khalife was employed and entrusted to uphold and protect the national security of this country. But, for purposes of his own, Daniel Khalife, used his employment to undermine national security.

“The sharing of the information could have exposed military personnel to serious harm, or a risk to life, and prejudiced the safety and security of the United Kingdom.

“It is against the law to collate and share secret and sensitive information for a purpose against the interests of the United Kingdom.

“Such hostile and illegal activities jeopardise the national security of the United Kingdom, and the CPS will always seek to prosecute anyone that carries out counter state threats.”

UK

UK weather: Weather warnings across the country with temperatures as low as -16C expected

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2025

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UK weather: Weather warnings across the country with temperatures as low as -16C expected

Warnings of widespread disruption caused by freezing weather have been issued, with temperatures expected to plummet to as low as -16C in some areas.

Snow, ice and fog warnings have been issued, following on from severe weather on Wednesday, with the South West and south of England particularly affected by heavy snow.

All of the warnings are yellow, meaning there is a danger of injury from slips and falls and some disruption to travel expected.

Devon and Cornwall saw roads closed and motorists stationary for “long periods of time”, a joint statement from Devon and Cornwall Police and Devon County Council Highways said.

Snow ploughs became stuck in queues of traffic caused by “minor incidents”, the statement added.

Ploughs have been fitted to gritters which will work into Thursday morning to clear routes in the area, police and highways officials said.

Temperatures are expected to fall as low as -16C on Thursday night both in the northeast of England and Scotland, the Met Office has said.

Get the forecast for your area

A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for northern Scotland until midnight on Thursday and another snow and ice warning is in force for Northern Ireland until 11am on Thursday as sleet and snow showers are set to continue.

Meanwhile, a yellow fog warning has been issued for Northern Ireland until 9am on Thursday.

A further yellow warning for snow and ice affecting Cornwall, much of Wales and parts of northwest England has been issued until 11am on Thursday.

And a yellow ice warning has been issued for parts of southern England and south-east Wales until 10.30am on Thursday.

Travel disruption to road and rail services are likely on Thursday in the warning areas, as well as the potential for accidents in icy places, the forecaster said.

As icy conditions persist, motorists are being urged to stick to major roads that are most likely to have been gritted.

Car insurer RAC said it has seen the highest levels of demand for rescues in a three-day period since December 2022.

UK

Obesity rates may start falling this year due to weight loss jabs, seller says

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2025

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Obesity rates may start falling this year due to weight loss jabs, seller says

The UK may have reached peak obesity and rates could start falling rapidly later this year, Sky News has been told.

Data collected by one of the biggest online sellers of weight loss jabs suggests that so many people are now taking effective medication that the inexorable rise in obesity could start to reverse.

According to Simple Online Pharmacy, which has access to wholesale figures, 500,000 people in the UK are currently taking either Mounjaro or Wegovy – and they can expect to lose 15% to 20% of their weight over a matter of months.

Rebecca Moore, the company’s chief operating officer, said: “Our projections are that around a million people will reverse their obesity in a year.

“We should be at the point now, we believe, where we’re starting to see rates decline.

“We would not be surprised if by the end of this year we’ve seen a really significant decline in obesity.”

The company has supplied the drugs to 200,000 people, who have collectively lost 600 tonnes of their weight.

Demand for medication is growing by 10% to 40% month-on-month, and the company has had to build a walk-in fridge to store enough medication to supply 400 patients an hour.

“The narrative has really shifted in the last few months,” said Ms Moore.

“People are recognising that obesity is a lifelong chronic condition. They’re recognising that this medication is a once-in-a-generation revolutionary technology.

“People are much more open to it and I expect that next year there will be another huge surge in growth.”

Latest NHS figures show 27% of adults in England are obese, up from 15% in 1993.

Rates have started to plateau in the last couple of years as public health measures such as the sugar tax take effect.

But there are indications that obesity jabs have already begun to reverse obesity in the US and the same is likely to happen in the UK.

Around 95% of all patients using the medication are buying it privately, at a cost of around £150 a month.

Access on the NHS is poor, with research by Sky News showing just 800 patients had been prescribed Wegovy in specialist clinics four months after the rollout started in December 2023. That’s just 6% of the expected number.

And last month the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) bowed to demands from the NHS to restrict access to Mounjaro to just 200,000 of 3.4 million eligible patients over the first three years of the rollout.

Sarah Le Brocq, founder of All About Obesity, sits as a patient representative on the NICE committee.

She said it was “hugely frustrating” that so many patients in need are being denied treatment.

“It’s not the NHS’s fault that they can’t fund these drugs,” she said.

“They need to have that money coming through [from government] because they can’t take it from cancer and put it into obesity.

“We are going to have tiered access. The wealthy can be healthy, but people who really need treatment can’t have it.”

Angela Chesworth had to do a ‘clinical trial’ of treatment on herself to prove to the NHS that the drugs could stop agonising abdominal pains that she suffered several times a week.

Her consultant had agreed that her extra pounds were pulling on scar tissue from previous stomach surgery, but he was powerless to prescribe the treatment.

But since the summer, when she started weekly injections of Mounjaro, she has only had a couple of abdominal cramps and the NHS has now agreed to fund treatment.

“When you know there’s something out there that can help you, but you can’t have that help because of money or somebody who makes the rules, you feel worthless,” she told Sky News.

“Come and live in my shoes and see how I am and see how it affects me and then tell me I’m not worth the money.

“You want me to be part of society, you want me to do a job, you want me to expand the economy?

“I needed help, so it was very frustrating to be told no. And especially by the medical professionals.”

Her husband, Paul, is still having to buy his supply privately, despite being on the cusp of type 2 diabetes. After three months of treatment, he has lost two stone and is now healthy.

“I want to be healthy as long as I possibly can,” he said.

“For the last 15 years of his life my dad did not have good health or a good quality of life. He wasn’t able to get up in the morning quickly and ended up on a mobility scooter because he couldn’t walk far.

“All those things I want to try and avoid.”

The Department of Health said new drugs recommended by NICE need to be funded from existing NHS budgets. A spokesperson added: “We are also acting to tackle [obesity’s] causes, shifting our focus from treatment to prevention as part of our 10 Year Health Plan.”

UK

Food prices will rise due to budget tax hikes, retail body warns

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2025

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Food prices will rise due to budget tax hikes, retail body warns

Grocery shoppers are being warned of more hikes to food costs in the months ahead due to retailers passing on the cost of budget tax rises.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned that food prices will increase by an average of 4.2% in the latter half of the year – piling more pressure on households at a time when consumers are already facing leaps in unavoidable costs including water, council tax and energy bills.

It blamed the impact of budget measures announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, which businesses have widely denounced as an attack on investment, jobs, and pay.

The retail body spoke up as many top retail brands reported on their Christmas progress ahead of April’s looming surge in costs.

Money latest: Pound sinks to nine-month low

Tesco warned of a £250m annual impact from higher employer National Insurance contributions alone from the next financial year while maintaining its annual profit forecast for 2024/25.

It cheered winning considerable market share over the festive season, leaving the UK’s biggest retailer in its best position since 2016.

M&S reported robust growth in food sales, by 8.9% on a comparable basis, while growth in clothing and home and beauty was up by almost 2%.

Industry data released earlier this week already revealed Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and M&S were the big sales winners over Christmas, as far as groceries were concerned. Asda and the Co-op were seen as the main strugglers.

Ocado, which has a retail partnership with M&S, saw the largest growth in the online sphere.

Much of the focus, however, is on the future given the volume of complaints within the sector – one of the country’s biggest employers – about the budget measures.

The key message since the fiscal event has been that shoppers will pay a price.

The industry sales data, revealed by Kantar Worldpanel on Tuesday, showed the annual rate of grocery price inflation at 3.7% in the four-week December period, its highest level since March, and a jump on the 2.6% reported for the 12 months to November.

The BRC’s chief executive, Helen Dickinson, said on Thursday: “As retailers battle the £7bn of increased costs in 2025 from the budget, including higher employer NI (National Insurance), National Living Wage, and new packaging levies, there is little hope of prices going anywhere but up.

“Modelling by the BRC and retail chief financial officers suggest food prices will rise by an average of 4.2% in the latter half of the year, while non-food will return firmly to inflation.

“Government can still take steps to mitigate these price pressures, and it must ensure that its proposed reforms to business rates do not result in any stores paying more in rates than they do already.”

Despite the looming pressure ahead on supermarket margins from the budget, it is clear that grocery chains had a robust Christmas season.

Tesco boss Ken Murphy said: “We delivered our biggest-ever Christmas, with continued market share growth and switching gains.

“Our strong performance reflects the investments we have made, positioning Tesco as the UK’s cheapest full-line grocer for over two years, improving quality across all our ranges, with more than half of this year’s Christmas range new or improved, and providing the best experience for our customers in-store and online.”

His counterpart at M&S, Stuart Machin, said: “The external environment remains challenging, with cost and economic headwinds to navigate, but there is much within our control.

“At M&S, we stay close to our customers and their needs, and with that in mind our investment in trusted value, along with great quality, style and innovation remains our priority.”