A former British soldier convicted of spying for Iran after an audacious three-day escape from a London jail was once sentenced Monday to greater than 14 years in the back of bars for betraying his nation.
Daniel Khalife, 23, was once convicted in November of violating the Reliable Secrets and techniques Act and Terrorism Act for offering limited and categorized subject material to Iran.
“As a tender guy you had the makings of an exemplary soldier, then again, during the repeated violations of your oath of provider, you confirmed your self to be as a substitute a perilous idiot,” Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb stated.
“You’re an consideration seeker and also you loved the notoriety you attracted following your break out from jail,” the pass judgement on added, according to the BBC.
Anna Gordon / REUTERS
Jurors in Woolwich Crown Court docket had rejected his testimony that he was once seeking to paintings for the U.Ok. as a double agent.
Khalife’s spying case had no longer won a lot consideration till he broke out of Wandsworth Jail at the underbelly of a meals supply truck. He was once at the run for 3 days prior to police arrested him on a bicycle via a canal in London.
Khalife pleaded accountable to the break out right through his trial, however persisted to contest the spying fees.
Khalife’s attorney, who argued his acts had been extra like a plot from “Scooby Doo” than a James Bond mystery, stated his consumer had best handed alongside vague knowledge, together with “laughably pretend” paperwork that brought about no precise injury.
“There is no manner that what Mr. Khalife did goes to finish up being a lesson for budding spies,” lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain stated. “His intentions had been neither sinister nor cynical.”
The courtroom additionally heard various mitigating elements, together with a mental document from 2023 diagnosing him with Delinquent Persona Dysfunction and Narcissistic Persona Dysfunction, the BBC reported.
However prosecutors stated Khalife had actually performed a “cynical sport” via claiming he sought after to be a secret agent after he had delivered a considerable amount of limited and categorized subject material to the Iranian intelligence provider, together with the names of particular forces officials.
Khalife testified that he have been involved with folks within the Iranian executive however that it was once all a part of a ploy to in the end paintings as a double agent for Britain, a scheme he evolved from staring at the TV display “Place of birth.”
The BBC reported that he was once cleared of perpetrating a bomb hoax at his army barracks at RAF Stafford in 2023, after 3 stressed out cannisters had been left on the base the place he lived and labored.
Government stated he introduced a real chance to nationwide safety on account of the risk that Iran poses. Police famous that the U.Ok. has disrupted 20 plots via Iran, together with assassination plans.
British safety products and services weren’t conscious about Khalife’s contacts with the Iranians till he contacted MI6, the U.Ok.’s overseas intelligence provider, to supply to paintings as a double agent.
He reached out to MI6 anonymously, pronouncing he had earned the believe of his Iranian handlers and that they’d rewarded him via leaving $2,000 money ($1,578 kilos) in a canine poo bag in a north London park.
Khalife joined the military at 16 and was once assigned to the Royal Corps of Alerts, a communications unit this is deployed with battlefield troops, in addition to particular forces and intelligence squads.
He was once informed he may just no longer sign up for the intelligence provider as a result of his mom is from Iran.
At 17, he reached out to a person hooked up with Iranian intelligence and started passing alongside knowledge, prosecutors stated. He was once given NATO secret safety clearance when he took phase in a joint workout at Castle Cavazos in Texas in early 2021.
The pass judgement on famous that his safety breaches whilst on U.S. soil may have brought about diplomatic injury.
Khalife’s break out from the Victorian-era jail drew consideration to bigger disasters within the country’s growing old and overcrowded correctional gadget. An inquiry is recently underway into how Khalife was once in a position to flee and whether or not others helped.
An audit discovered 81 safety failings on the jail, the BBC reported. It additionally ended in upgrades being made to CCTV cameras which had no longer labored for greater than a yr, the jail’s Unbiased Tracking Board stated.
Two males were arrested on fees of serving to him after he escaped.
