Prison escape: Former soldier Daniel Khalife jailed for 14 years and three months
A former British soldier who escaped from Wandsworth prison while awaiting trial for spying for Iran has been jailed for 14 years and three months.
Daniel Khalife, 23, sparked a nationwide manhunt after clinging to the underside of a food delivery lorry to break out of the Category B jail on 6 September last year.
He evaded capture for three days before he was spotted riding a stolen mountain bike along the canal towpath in Northolt, west London – about 14 miles away.
Khalife, who was a lance corporal in the Royal Signals, was being held on remand accused of using his role in the military to pass secret information to Iranian spies.
He was arrested after telling the British security services he wanted to be a “double agent” and claimed he had cultivated the relationship over more than two years in the national interest.
But he was found guilty of a charge under the Official Secrets Act and another under the Terrorism Act at the end of last year at Woolwich Crown Court, having admitted escaping from lawful custody part-way through his trial.
Daniel Khalife jailed for spying and prison escape. Pic: Met Police
Sentencing Khalife, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him: “When you joined the Army as a young man, you had the makings of an exemplary soldier. However, through the repeated violation of your oath of service, you showed yourself to be, instead, a dangerous fool.”
She added: “You embarked on the course of conduct I have described because of a selfish desire to show off, to achieve by unregulated means what you were told will be difficult for you to achieve by conventional promotion.
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Watch Iran spy Daniel Khalife get jail sentence
“The mere fact that you started on this dangerous and fantastical plan demonstrates your immaturity and lack of wisdom, that you thought it was appropriate to insert yourself – an unauthorised, unqualified and uninformed junior soldier – into communication with an enemy state is perhaps the clearest indication of the degree of folly in your failure to understand at the most obvious level the risk you posed.”
She said he would have been a blackmail risk for his whole career had he not been caught.
The judge said Khalife contacted MI5 and MI6 in his attempts to become a double agent but was ignored. She added: “The greater mischief in your offending is that, having failed to engage any response from the intelligence services of the United Kingdom, you continued betraying your country and exposed others to the possibility of harm.”
There was no reaction from Khalife, who looked down as the judge read out his sentence.
Khalife was caught after three days on the run. Pic: Met Police
The court heard Khalife, from Kingston, in southwest London, joined the Army aged 16, before contacting an Iranian middle-man through Facebook.
Giving evidence, he said he wanted to prove himself after a senior officer told him he would not be able to work in intelligence because his mother was born in Iran.
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”.
Khalife joined Army aged 16
He told his handlers he would stay in the military for 25-plus years for them and twice travelled from his barracks, in Staffordshire, to the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, in London.
The court heard he flew to Istanbul, where he stayed in the Hilton hotel between 4 and 10 August 2020, and “delivered a package” for Iranian agents.
The contact continued while he was deployed to Fort Hood, Texas, where he received training in Falcon, a military communications system and even after he was arrested and released on bail.
Khalife told the jury he was an English “patriot” and “not a terrorist or a traitor,” claiming he “thought he could be James Bond” but had only passed on fake or useless information.
But prosecutors said he “exposed military personnel to serious harm” when he shared sensitive information including a handwritten list of serving soldiers, including some in the SAS and SBS special services.
Khalife’s spying activities will not go down in the “annals of history,” his barrister told the court at his sentencing.
Gul Nawaz Hussain KC reminded the judge how they described his actions as more Scooby Doo than James Bond, adding: “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.”
Mr Hussain told the court some of the documents Khalife had forged to pass to the Iranians were “laughably fake”.
Khalife escaped under a food delivery lorry. Pic: Met Police
Khalife used a makeshift sling. Pic: Met Police
Police said he had been planning his “pretty audacious” escape for “quite some time” and the court heard he wrote in his prison diary of a “failed” attempt on 21 August last year.
Khalife, who got a job in the prison kitchen, said he used the trousers inmates wore as uniform, to make a rope, which he attached 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 was not 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.
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.
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.
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Khalife caught on CCTV
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.
The court heard that while he was on the run, Khalife was in contact with his Iranian handlers, who used the code name “David Smith”, and he sent the message: “I wait.”
When he was arrested on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal on 9 September Khalife told police: “My body aches. I f****d myself up under the lorry” and “I don’t know how immigrants do it”.
He told jurors his time on the run showed “what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison”.
A man was ejected from Anfield after reports of racial abuse directed at Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo during the season’s opening Premier League game against Liverpool.
Match referee Anthony Taylor paused play in the 29th minute after Semenyo accused a spectator of racist abuse.
An anti-discrimination message was read out to the Anfield crowd, and it is understood that police officers went into the referee’s room at half-time.
Merseyside Police said an investigation is under way after the 47-year-old man’s identity was confirmed and he was removed from the ground.
Chief Inspector Kev Chatterton, the match commander for the Liverpool v Bournemouth game, said: “Merseyside Police will not tolerate hate crime of any form.
“We take incidents like this very seriously, and in cases like this we will be proactively seeking football banning orders, with the club, against those responsible.”
He added: “There is no place for racism and it is vital that anyone who witnesses such an offence reports it to stewards, or the police immediately, so we can take the necessary action like we did this evening.
“As with all matches, we work very closely with both Liverpool and Everton FC to ensure the safety of the public, and the players.”
A spokesperson for Liverpool said the club was “aware of an allegation of racist abuse made during our Premier League game against Bournemouth”.
Semenyo with his teammates during the match. Pic: PA
The Liverpool spokesperson said: “We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms, it has no place in society, or football.
“The club is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged is incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which we will support fully.”
After the incident, Semenyo scored twice in the second half to help bring Bournemouth back from two goals down at Anfield before Liverpool went on to eventually win the contest 4-2.
Bournemouth captain Adam Smith told Sky Sports News afterwards: “It shouldn’t be happening. I don’t know how Ant’s played on to be honest and come up with those goals. It’s totally unacceptable.
“Something needs to be done. Taking the knee isn’t having an effect. We’re supporting him and hopefully he’ll be OK.
“I wanted him to react because that’s what I would have done, but this shows what type of man he is…to come up with those goals showed the type of guy he is.
“To be fair the Liverpool players were very supportive as well towards Antoine and the rest of the team. It was handled in the right way but… so angry.
“I don’t know what else we can do. No one’s getting it. I don’t know what to say anymore. I just feel for Ant… shocking.”
The Premier League said in a statement that its “on-field anti-discrimination protocol” had been followed and the incident “will now be fully investigated”.
“We offer our full support to the player and both clubs,” it added. “Racism has no place in our game, or anywhere in society. We will continue to work with stakeholders and authorities to ensure our stadiums are an inclusive and welcoming environment for all.”
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The Football Association said it was “concerned” about the allegation of racism towards Semenyo and that it would ensure “appropriate action” would be taken.
The incident comes two days after Tottenham Hotspur player Mathys Tel faced racist abuse online following a missed penalty in his team’s UEFA Super Cup victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
Thousands more Afghan nationals may have been affected by another data breach, the government has said.
Up to 3,700 Afghans brought to the UK between January and March 2024 have potentially been impacted as names, passport details and information from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy has been compromised again, this time by a breach on a third party supplier used by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
This was not an attack directly on the government but a cyber security incident on a sub-contractor named Inflite – The Jet Centre – an MoD supplier that provides ground handling services for flights at London Stansted Airport.
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July: UK spies exposed in Afghan data breach
The flights were used to bring Afghans to the UK, travel to routine military exercises, and official engagements. It was also used to fly British troops and government officials.
Those involved were informed of it on Friday afternoon by the MoD, marking the second time information about Afghan nationals relocated to the UK has been compromised.
It is understood former Tory ministers are also affected by the hack.
Earlier this year, it emerged that almost 7,000 Afghan nationals would have to be relocated to the UK following a massive data breach by the British military that successive governments tried to keep secret with a super-injunction.
Defence Secretary John Healey offered a “sincere apology” for the first data breach in a statement to the House of Commons, saying he was “deeply concerned about the lack of transparency” around the data breach, adding: “No government wishes to withhold information from the British public, from parliamentarians or the press in this manner.”
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July: Afghan interpreter ‘betrayed’ by UK govt
The previous Conservative government set up a secret scheme in 2023 to relocate Afghan nationals impacted by the data breach, but who were not eligible for an existing programme to relocate and help people who had worked for the British government in Afghanistan.
The mistake exposed personal details of close to 20,000 individuals, endangering them and their families, with as many as 100,000 people impacted in total.
Read more from Sky News:
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A government spokesperson said of Friday’s latest breach: “We were recently notified that a third-party sub-contractor to a supplier experienced a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.
“We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals. The incident has not posed any threat to individuals’ safety, nor compromised any government systems.”
In a statement, Inflite – The Jet Centre confirmed the “data security incident” involving “unauthorised access to a limited number of company emails”.
“We have reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and have been actively working with the relevant UK cyber authorities, including the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre, to support our investigation and response,” it said.
“We believe the scope of the incident was limited to email accounts only, however, as a precautionary measure, we have contacted our key stakeholders whose data may have been affected during the period of January to March 2024.”
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