Daniel Khalife, a former British soldier whose daring 2023 prison escape led to a nationwide manhunt, has been convicted of espionage for Iran but cleared of charges related to a bomb hoax. The 23-year-old was found guilty of two counts of espionage at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday.
Khalife had already admitted to his escape from HMP Wandsworth in southwest London, where he had strapped himself to the underside of a food delivery van while awaiting trial.
Prosecutors described Khalife as a “cynical” individual who claimed to be a double agent working for British intelligence. However, they argued that he gathered a significant amount of classified and restricted material for his own purposes. Among the documents he collected was a handwritten list of 15 serving soldiers, including members of elite forces like the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS). Khalife obtained the list from a spreadsheet of promotions sent to him in June 2021.
Although Khalife denied passing the list to Iranian officials, he admitted to sending mostly fabricated or useless documents. His barrister, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, argued that his attempts at being a double agent were amateurish and poorly planned.
The court also heard that Khalife’s actions could have endangered the life of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran. In 2021, Khalife sent Iranian agents a document titled “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Intelligence Options,” which falsely claimed the British government was unwilling to negotiate for her release. Prosecutors said this reckless act could have had severe consequences for Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released only after the UK settled a £400m debt with Iran dating back to the 1970s.
The fabricated document stated: “There will be no advances in the area of returning Nazanin to the UK without further procurement of the debt owed to the Islamic Republic. The UK will not be seen to pay ransoms to hostile nations … terrorists have long used kidnap for ransom.” In a police interview, Khalife admitted to creating “fake documents” to convince Iranian authorities of his credibility.
When police raided Khalife’s room at MoD Stafford in January 2022, they uncovered numerous fake documents, both digital and physical, purportedly from MPs, military officials, and intelligence agencies. Prosecutors noted that Khalife meticulously ensured no records existed of the documents he sent to Iran.
Khalife later confessed that his escape was motivated by his desire to be transferred to a high-security unit (HSU) in a different prison, away from sex offenders and terrorists. He initially staged a fake escape attempt on August 21, 2023, but after realizing it went unreported to senior staff, he opted for a genuine escape.
During the trial, Mrs. Justice Cheema-Grubb asked Khalife if he wanted to plead guilty to the prison escape charge again, to which he responded: “I’m guilty.” Khalife now faces convictions under the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act, marking a significant chapter in a case that captivated public attention.
