Khalife guilty of spying for Iran: How teen turned into ‘slapstick’ James Bond

The soldier turned spy – how Daniel Khalife went from being in the British Army to supplying Iran with secret information and escaping prison, as Sam Holder reports
Words by Rachel Dixon and Sam Holder
Daniel Khalife has been found guilty of spying for Iran but was cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax, at Woolwich Crown Court.
He claimed he was a double agent and was helping the UK by supplying Iran with information.
But on Thursday morning the jury convicted Khalife of breaching the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, after 23 hours of deliberation.
He was emotionless in the dock as he was acquitted of perpetrating a bomb hoax.
The 23-year-old of Kingston hit the headlines after fleeing Wandsworth prison, by tying himself to a food truck in September 2023, leading to a three day man hunt taking place.
But his Iranian spy plot began far earlier than his now infamous jail-break.
Soldier turned spy
At just 16-years-old, Khalife joined the British army in 2018 and was stationed at Stafford Barracks with the Royal Corps of Signals.
Within a year, he’d reached out to Iranian officials by sending him a Facebook message, Khalife told the Iranians he would stay undercover in the British Army for “25-plus years” for them.
He offered them secret files including over 700 photos of military equipment on his devices and a spreadsheet with the names of army personnel.
He even claimed his Iranian handlers hid a bundle of cash in a doggy bag in a North London park.
Khalife was meant to visit his handler’s in Tehran but only made it to Istanbul as he claims he got too scared.
A double agent
Khalife claimed he was helping Britain by feeding Iran false information.
But Khalife ended up endangering the life of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe by sending a fake document to Iran which said the British government was not willing to negotiate over her release.
He would not have been caught, but was instead arrested after he approached British intelligence services offering to be a double agent.
If Khalife had not contacted MI5 to tell them about his contact with Iran, neither they nor the police would ever have known, his barrister told the court.
Khalife told jurors he wanted to prove bosses wrong after being told his Iranian heritage could stop him working in military intelligence, and came up with his elaborate double agent plot after watching the TV spy thriller Homeland.
Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said the double agent plot was “hapless” and “sometimes bordering on the slapstick”, more “Scooby-Doo” than James Bond.
Bomb hoax
After Khalife’s spy claims he was arrested and taken to HMP Wandsworth in London.
He left a fake bomb in his room at the army base. This lead to him being charged for perpetrating a bomb hoax.
The jury cleared Khalife of this charge during the trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
But the trial heard how a soldier who arrived in the room pulled wires out of the device to prove it was not real.
A bomb disposal unit was only called after police attended and looked at the device several days later.
Prison break
During his time in Wandsworth prison, police said Khalife had an uncanny ability to manipulate others – and managed to get a job in its kitchen which he shouldn’t have been able to.
In September 2023, he broke out of the South London prison by tying himself under a lorry using a sling from his kitchen trousers.
His escape launched one of the biggest manhunts in recent years. He gained national attention after being spotted buying clothes from Marks & Spencer and a coffee from McDonald’s in Richmond as well as reading newspaper articles about himself.
He was caught on CCTV strolling beside the River Thames before being caught by police three days later.
His actions could have put military personnel’s lives at risk and “prejudiced” the UK’s national security, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Bethan David, from the 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 prosecution was able to use mobile phone evidence, notes written by Khalife himself and CCTV footage to piece together and demonstrate that Khalife had gathered and shared much of this classified information, accepted hundreds of pounds for his efforts and even travelled to Turkey as part of his unlawful conduct.
“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.”
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