Daniel Khalife e-mailed MI6 twice asking for job as double agent - claiming he had fooled Iran with fake documents, court hears
A British soldier accused of spying for Iran emailed MI6 asking for a job as a ‘double agent’ claiming he had fooled the enemy state with fake documents, a court heard today.
A British soldier accused of spying for Iran emailed MI6 asking for a job as a ‘double agent’ claiming he had fooled the enemy state with fake documents, a court heard today.
Daniel Khalife, 23, allegedly emailed MI6 twice saying he wanted to be a secret double agent, but he got the name of the spy agency wrong claiming he wanted to work for the ‘security service’, which is MI5.
The former soldier sparked a nationwide manhunt when he escaped from Wandsworth Prison last September after he was held on espionage charges, it was said.
He allegedly went on the run after using bed sheets to strap himself to the underside of a food delivery truck before being captured three days later in West London.
Woolwich Crown Court heard today how Khalife contacted MI6 just days after being handed £1,500 in a dog poo bag by Iranian agents at a secret rendezvous in a park in Barnet, North London in August 2019.
Ex-British Army soldier Daniel Khalife (pictured) managed to remain on the run for three days, despite venturing out to shops and restaurants including McDonalds, Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer and Mountain Warehouse
Daniel Khalife (pictured) is accused of absconding from Wandsworth Prison using a makeshift sling made of bedsheets to strap himself to the underside of a food delivery truck
Khalife is said to have emailed MI6 using an anonymous email through the ‘contact us’ button on their website boasting that he had fooled ‘the Iranian government’ with bogus information.
The email said: ‘They said that they first needed me to create trust, so I made a fake document and sent it to them.
‘After 1 week they payed (sic) me 2,000 dollars in a drop off point in Barnet. The reason why I agreed to do this is because I want to work as a
double agent for the security service’
Three months later he allegedly emailed MI6 again claiming he had fobbed off Iran with wikileaks information: ‘I believed that I could use this new contact in Iran from the revolutionary guard corp to present myself as a double agent for the UK security services.
‘I gathered already leaked info from wiki leaks and made it look like it was new information to be sent to them.
‘After 2 weeks they said that I had gained their full trust and sent me $2k in a drop off location in Barnet. There is more stuff to add however I don’t have the time to write it all here.’
Prosecutor Mark Heywood, KC, has said this was just a ‘double bluff’ by Khalife, who received £2,500 in total from the Iranian intelligence service after he passed on information from a ‘very large body of restricted and classified material’ over two years.
Earlier the court heard how Khalife enjoyed a meteoric rise within the British Army while he was secretly passing secrets to a rogue state.
He was ‘handpicked’ to join a regiment dealing with secret military communications and won a young soldier award after joining the army aged 16.
But just months after he was posted to the 16th Signal Regiment in Stafford, Khalife is said to have begun offering information to Iran.
Khalife is accused of compiling the names, service number, rank and units of 15 SAS and SBS soldiers to pass to his handlers.
Daniel Khalife , 23, from Kingston, South West London is accused of spending two years spying for Iran
Khalife had been working in the kitchen of HMP Wandsworth (pictured) when he allegedly vanished on September 6, 2023, after failing to show up to help a Bidfood delivery driver
Captain Lewis Fox, who was the administrative lead of his troop, told the court that Khalife ‘wanted to work within signals intelligence or what’s known as a special forces communicator.’
But the defendant was advised it would be difficult to pass vetting because of his background with an Iranian mother and Lebanese father, the court heard.
Later when he was arrested Khalife allegedly told police that he wanted to become a ‘double agent’ after being told he could not work in UK (add special forces, delete intelligence) due to his heritage.
Khalife denies committing an act prejudicial to the interests or safety of the state by collecting information that might be useful to an enemy between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022, contrary to the Official Secrets Act 1911.
He denies eliciting information about members of HM armed forces and perpetrating a bomb hoax.
Khalife also denies escaping prison,
The trial continues.
