Daniel Khalife: Soldier accused of prison escape picked up £1,500 from Iranian handlers in dog poo bag, court hears

A British soldier accused of passing sensitive information to Iranian agents picked up £1,500 from his handlers in a dog poo bag from a London park, a court has heard.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who later allegedly escaped from Wandsworth prison, where he was being held over the charges, then told MI6 he wanted to be a double agent, a jury was told.

Khalife joined the British Army two weeks before his 17th birthday in September 2018, but "had no real intention to simply get his head down" and began to think about espionage, prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said.

Woolwich Crown Court heard his "craft" included using fake names and different phones as he contacted someone connected with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in April 2019, weeks after he passed his security clearance.

In August 2019, Khalife went to Mill Hill Park, in Barnet, north London, where pictures later found on his iPhone showed he picked up a dog waste bag with images of paws and bones on it.

"The collection of this bag, which had these markings on it, was so that he could receive from his handlers in this country the sum of £1,500," said Mr Heywood.

The following day Khalife, whose mother is from Iran, was taking steps to get a new passport after it was suggested he should travel abroad to meet with Iranian agents, the court heard.

In later communications, Khalife discussed booking a flight to Turkey and a hotel, and it was suggested he should travel to Istanbul "because it needs to look like a holiday", the jury heard.

Khalife, who was born in Kingston, south-west London, was also told he "mustn't go to the Iran embassy in London" and "we have planned for all details. Do not worry about the expenses," the court was told.

Days after the park pick up, Khalife emailed MI6 saying he wanted to "work as a double agent for the security service" and went on to tell police his contact with the Iranians was all a double bluff, Mr Heywood said.

"It will be for you to say whether his motives were simply mixed or whether he was playing a cynical kind of game," he told the jury.

"Either way, the prosecution case is that he began a process of obtaining, recording and communicating material or information of a kind that might be or was intended by him to be useful to an enemy of the UK.

"In doing so, he was consciously acting for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of this country."

Khalife, a former member of the Royal Signals who was based at Beacon Barracks, Staffordshire, is accused of the "surreptitious gathering and communication" of sensitive and secret information to foreign agents.

Mr Heywood said he was "prepared in a fundamental, in a downright way, to betray the trust of his fellow servicemen and women and betray his own duty" when he passed sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service.

Iran is "a country whose interests do not align with, and at times threaten, those of the United Kingdom," he said.

The court heard once the police had caught up with Khalife, and he had been released on bail, he absconded from his barracks, leaving canisters and wires on his desk, to give the appearance of an explosive device and cause alarm.

When he had been remanded into custody pending trial, he allegedly escaped and went on the run but was caught after a "short but intense and nationwide search", a jury was told.

Khalife, who sat in the dock wearing a knitted vest, blue shirt and chinos, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022, alleging he gathered information that might be useful to an enemy of the UK.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about armed forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 21 July last year.

The trial continues.

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