Ex-British Army soldier Daniel Khalife who allegedly escaped Wandsworth prison strapped underneath a lorry, has appeared in court accused of spying for Iran.
Khalife allegedly broke out of HMP Wandsworth last September by using bed sheets to strap himself to the underside of a food delivery truck, sparking a 75-hour manhunt.
The 23-year-old was arrested on a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, three days later after he was pulled off a bike by a plainclothes counter-terrorism officer.
Khalife was on remand in prison for allegedly passing material to the Iranian Intelligence Services at the time of the escape.
He appeared in the dock at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and glasses, with his hair slicked back.
A jury will be sworn in today ahead of an eight-week trial before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.
Ex-British Army soldier Daniel Khalife who allegedly escaped Wandsworth prison strapped underneath a lorry, has appeared in court today accused of spying for Iran
British-born Khalife, who has Iranian and Lebanese heritage, denies committing an act prejudicial to the interests or safety of the state by collecting information that might be useful to an enemy between May 1, 2019 and January 6, 2022, contrary to the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Khalife was a computer network engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals, the British Army’s communications arm, based at Beacon Barrack, Stafford.
Khalife had been working in the kitchen of HMP Wandsworth and ‘there were suspicions he had disappeared via a food delivery truck’ on September 6, 2023
He also denies eliciting information about members of HM armed forces and a third ‘bomb hoax offence’ alleging he left three canisters with wires on his desk in his accommodation at MOD Stafford on January 2, 2023.
Khalife also denies escape, contrary to common law.
While on remand on those charges at Wandsworth prison, it is alleged Khalife escaped by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck.
Police found two makeshift straps made from material thought to be from bed sheets, with clips on each end attached to the underside of the vehicle.
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