Former Stafford soldier accused of spying for Iran 'wanted to be double agent' - court told

Daniel Khalife, 23, is accused of terror offences and escaping from prison

An ex-soldier accused of spying for Iran before escaping from prison told MI6 he wanted to be a 'double agent', a court heard. Former Stafford-based soldier Daniel Khalife was said to have picked up £1,500 paid to him by his Iranian handlers who left the cash in a dog poo bag.

The 23-year-old then told MI6 he wanted to work as an agent for its service in an elaborate double-bluff, jurors heard. Khalife denies a number of allegations including collecting secret information and passing it to 'agents of Iran'.

He is also alleged to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London while on remand at the prison by strapping himself to the bottom of a food delivery lorry. Woolwich Crown Court heard Khalife was brought up in Kingston, south London, by his Iranian mother.

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He joined the British Army as a junior soldier in September 2018 - two weeks before his 17th birthday. But he may have been thinking about espionage as early as March 2019, prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said in his opening of the case.

The defendant completed a 23-week course at the Army Foundation College at Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Khalife decided to join the Royal Corps of Signals which provides communications, IT and cyber support.

The trial was told Khalife passed security clearance, giving him access to secret information. He then moved to Blandford Forum in Dorset for his specialist training in 2019.

He completed his year-long course in early 2020 and was posted to the 16th Signal Regiment in Stafford, jurors heard. In April 2019, he was said to have created a contact with the +98 dialling code for Iran from the UK.

The ex-soldier later sent a message under a false name to MI6 using the "contact us" page of its website, allegedly claiming he wanted to work as a 'double agent'. His email said he had been asked to provide the Iranian government with information and had sent them a fake document for which they paid him 2,000 US dollars (£1,500) left in a 'dog waste bag' in Mill Hill Park.

They jury was shown a selfie of Khalife taken in the north London park and a photo of an envelope inside a dog waste bag. When interviewed by police in January 2022, Khalife said he made contact with a well-known individual connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Mr Heywood said: "His aim in doing so was clearly to offer himself as an asset to Iran's external security apparatus. The prosecution case is that he began a process of obtaining, recording and communicating material, information of a kind that might be or was intended be useful to an enemy of the UK."

Khalife also told officers that in due course he had been transferred to an English-speaking handler. But the soldier later claimed the affair had been an elaborate double-bluff and he intended to sell himself to the UK security agencies, the jury heard.

Mr Heywood told jurors: "Khalife said he actively pursued that relationship, although what he came to say to the police was that all the while he was trying to engage in a double bluff, in reality, he said he was involved in an attempt to be able to sell himself to the UK security agencies.

"It will be for you to say whether his motives were simply mixed or whether he was playing a cynical kind of game." Khalife was released on bail but then absconded from his barracks, Mr Heywood said.

He left cannisters and wires on his desk intended to look like an explosive device, it is alleged. Khalife is also alleged to have later escaped from HMP Wandsworth on September 6, 2023.

The defendant faces a charge of gathering, publishing or communicating information that might be useful to an enemy, namely Iranian intelligence, contrary to the Official Secrets Act between May 1, 2019, and January 6, 2022. He is also alleged to have elicited or attempted to elicit personal information about armed forces personnel that was likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism from a Ministry of Defence administration system on August 2 2021.

He denies all the charges. The trial continues.