Daniel Khalif went to jail in jail to escape Iran and jail

Former British Army soldier Daniel Khalif has been jailed for 14 years and 3 months to spy for Iran and escape from Wandesworth Jail.

Khalif collected information and passed it to Tehran, including gathering the names of soldiers of special forces.

The 23 -year -old became the subject of a nationwide manhunt in September 2023 when he strap himself under a food distribution truck and fled to jail waiting for the trial. He was arrested in London after a 75 -hour discovery.

While sentencing, Mrs. Justice Bobby Cheema-Gub said that Khalif “built an exemplary soldier,” when he joined, but instead showed himself “to be a dangerous fool”.

Daniel Khalif, wearing a black jumper, showed no response, as he was led by the court after the punishment.

Justice Bobby Cheema-Grab said: “I don’t accept that you have planned to hand over yourself”.

“You are a meditation seeker and enjoyed the infamous you attracted after running away from jail,” he said.

Ex -servicemen, whose actions violated the official secrecy Act and the Terrorism Act Iran found guilty of espionage After a test at Woolvich Crown Court in November.

The prosecutors said that Khalif was “assigned to maintain and protect the national security of the country”, but instead “used his employment to weaken it”.

Continuing with his sentenced comments, Mrs. Justice Cheema-Grab said: “Is it a shame immediately after basic training that you spent more than two years in contact with Iran agents, a country, whose country, which The interests do not align with the UK “.

He said that by the time Khalif started a relationship with Iran, he was waiting and cleaned and thus had access to the “sea of ​​sensitive material”.

“The duty of the outstanding privacy by you must have been drilled into you” he said.

He said that it was not possible to know the details of all the information that Khalif passed his handlers.

“The court should conclude, but not speculation should be imposed,” he concluded.

Soon after Khalif joined the army in September 2018, he reached a person associated with Iranian Intelligence on Facebook.

He created a relationship with Iranian contacts and until August 2019 – stayed in the army for less than a year – was sent to collect $ 2,000 (£ 1,600) in a dog poo bag in Mill Hill Park in North London. .

He then approached the MI6 and said that he was paid by Iran After passing on false information and said that he wanted to become a “double agent”. He did not say that he was in the army – and the intelligence agency ignored him.

However, Khalif’s lawyer claimed twice during the test that the plot was “helpless” and more “Scooby-Do” than “007”.

The court also listened to several mitigation factors, including Khalif’s age and a psychological report of 2023, diagnosed with anti -social personality disorder and intoxicating personality disorder.

During its time in the army, during a military exercise in the US, Khalif submitted several photos of secret communication equipment on his iPhone – in which computer screens also show IP addresses. It is not clear how many pictures she really sends to Iran.

Khalif collected the names of 15 serving soldiers – some of which are from special forces.

Initially he had only surnames and early, but he found a defect in the army holiday-booking system, which allowed him to see and photograph the first names of the soldiers. These pictures were later found on his phone.

Prosecutors believe that they sent a list of names of Iran soldiers before removing the evidence.

However, Khalif refused to send it and claimed that the information he had given was “fake” or “useless”. However, he sent at least two classified documents – one on a drone and the other on “intelligence, monitoring and reconnaissance”.

The UK will never know that most of the messages given by Khalif were sent to the encrypted communication app Telegram.

Speaking after the verdict, Dominic Murphy, the chief commander of the Metropolitan Police counter terrorism command, said: “The threat to Britain from states like Iran is very serious, so to share sensitive military materials for a soldier in the army and with them Information is very careless and dangerous “.

Three days after his escape from his prison, Khalif was arrested by plain-clothing officials on 9 September 2023, while riding a stolen bike on a canal ton in North-West London-just 11 from –ndsworth. At a distance of miles.

During the run, he attempted to contact the Iranians, sending a telegram message that said: “I wait”. They did not get any response.

The sentenced hearing revealed that the cost of the escape of Khalif was more than £ 250,000 in overtime, with more than 150 officials aid with the manhunt at one point.

Through the test of Khalif last November, he convicted him for escaping from jail.

She was approved to swoop a bomb in her army barrack.

Speaking after his arrest, Khalif told the police that he wanted to present himself to Britain’s security agencies, emailing the MI6 by 2019.

Khalif told the jury that he survived as he was being held on a unit of weak prisoners, where most of the prisoners are sexual criminals, and because he was warned that “terrorists” in Wandsworth Jail would try to attack him .

He said that he believes that if he survives, he will be kept in a high security unit in Belmarsh Jail.

After escaping, an audit found 81 security failures in the jail. The independent monitoring board of the jail said that as a result, CCTV cameras also upgrade “long overdues”, which did not work for more than a year.

It was revealed that the day of Khalif’s escape, about 40% of jail officials did not become for their innings in Wandsworth Jail. However, the Ministry of Justice insisted that the jail was adequately staffed.