British former soldier Daniel Khalife has been found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets and Terrorism Acts by collecting sensitive information and passing it to agents of Iran. The 23-year-old, who has already admitted escaping from prison, was cleared at Woolwich Crown Court of carrying out a bomb hoax. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Police described him as the ultimate Walter Mitty character.
00:0423-year-old Daniel Khalif said he wanted to work as a double agent, but was in reality
00:10a spy for Iran.
00:13In September last year, he escaped from Wandsworth Prison underneath a lorry, sparking a nationwide
00:19manhunt.
00:20Khalif joined the British Army in 2017, aged just 16.
00:26Within a year, he had reached out to Iranian officials, offering secret files.
00:31Police found hundreds of photos of military equipment and a spreadsheet containing the
00:36names of Special Forces personnel.
00:39His Iranian handlers dropped off money in a North London park for him to collect.
00:44This doggy bag contained £1,500.
00:48Khalif claimed he was helping Britain by feeding Iran false information.
00:53He potentially created significant harm to UK national security and whilst he was creating
00:59some fake documents, he clearly was taking genuinely sensitive information and providing
01:04it to the Iranian state.
01:06That is a very significant breach of national security.
01:11One of the fake documents sent by Khalif ended up endangering the life of Nazanin Zaghari
01:16Ratcliffe by suggesting the British government was not willing to negotiate over her release.
01:22Khalif said his handlers asked him to come to Tehran, but he got cold feet and returned
01:27to the UK after making it as far as Istanbul.
01:31I think really the only person who's going to know why he did it was Daniel Khalif.
01:34He's created a sort of fantasy world for himself where he believes that he can be a high ranking
01:42intelligence officer.
01:43He potentially created significant harm to UK national security and whilst he was creating
01:49some fake documents, he clearly was taking genuinely sensitive information and providing
01:54it to the Iranian state.
01:56That is a very significant breach of national security.
02:00He ended up being caught because he approached British intelligence officers offering to
02:04be a double agent.
02:07Khalif disappeared whilst on bail.
02:09He was re-arrested and sent to HMP Wandsworth, where he carried out his audacious escape.
02:15Managing to get a job in the prison kitchen, he pulled this trolley to a food truck and
02:21then used a sling he'd made from sheets to tie himself to the underside of a lorry and
02:27escape.
02:29During his four days of freedom, Khalif shopped for clothes, ate at McDonalds, and read headlines
02:35about his own escape.
02:37He even tried to contact his Iranian handlers during this time, but he was eventually spotted
02:42by an officer whilst cycling along a canal towpath.
02:46He was chased and pulled off his bike.
02:49Khalif claimed in court he was a patriot who wanted to expose Iranian spies in the UK.
02:56His own barrister described his double agent plot as more Scooby-Doo than 007.