Daniel Khalife was a British soldier who spied for Iran and wanted to be a double agent

On September 6th of last year, shortly after 7:30 AM, Skye Vokins was traveling south on the dual carriageway near Wandsworth Roundabout in London.

In disbelief, she witnessed a man fall onto the road right under the back axle of a delivery truck that had halted in front of her car at a crosswalk.

"I watched as he fell to the ground and then performed a sort of somersault," Ms. Vokins remembers.

The man got to his feet and ambled over to the closest sidewalk.

I recall him brushing his bangs aside and acting completely nonchalant, as if nothing was wrong.

The individual in question was Daniel Khalife, a former soldier of the British Army who was expected to be incarcerated while waiting for his trial related to allegations of espionage for Iran.

He had just managed to escape from HMP Wandsworth by hiding underneath a truck, using a belt crafted from an old pair of pants to secure himself.

Earlier that day, Khalife was busy in the prison kitchen. When the food delivery truck showed up, he stepped out from the kitchen and secured himself underneath the vehicle, partly concealed by the tail lift.

As the truck approached the airlock—a secured zone located between the prison's inner and outer gates—Khalife overheard a member of the kitchen staff asking, “Where is that young boy?”

The truck driver recalls hearing the prison security personnel mention that someone was unaccounted for. He noted that two guards inspected his truck twice, using a flashlight and a mirror, before finally allowing him to pass through.

I asked, "Are you certain I can leave?" It seemed to me that there should be a lockdown in place if someone was unaccounted for.

Regardless of the security warning, Khalife's uneasy journey from prison went on without interruption.

His getaway and the subsequent three-day search for him made headlines nationwide, but at that point, not much information was available about the 22-year-old's background or the reasons for his incarceration.

To date, no official report regarding the escape has been released. Although an independent investigation was initiated, the Ministry of Justice has not shared its conclusions, despite multiple inquiries from BBC News.

Khalife has recently been convicted of espionage for Iran. The BBC has been looking into his background and the circumstances that drove him to get in touch with Iranian operatives during his time serving in the British Army.

The Metropolitan Police have published pictures of the food delivery vehicle where Khalife hid, along with the strap he used to secure himself underneath it.

Khalife was born in London in 2001 to a mother of British-Iranian descent and a father of British-Lebanese descent. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and he has had limited interaction with his father since then.

During his time at secondary school in South-West London, Khalife noticed that many of his friends belonged to affluent families, which made him feel embarrassed about his own financial situation. Although he found it challenging to concentrate on his studies, he succeeded in earning 10 GCSEs.

At the age of 15, Khalife was caught shoplifting by using a strong magnet to take off security tags from items.

"I’ve always had a knack for identifying vulnerabilities in security," he stated to the jury during his latest trial.

He mentioned that his mother was quite strict, and he expressed a desire to escape from home and experience the feeling of freedom.

In September 2018, when he was just 16 years old, Khalife enlisted in the Army.

A fellow soldier who trained with him at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate shared with the BBC that Khalife was notable for his boldness, self-importance, and excessive confidence.

"He definitely craved the spotlight. He enjoyed being the focus of everyone's attention and had a tendency to be quite the show-off," he mentioned. "He really tried the patience of many of us, particularly the corporals."

Khalife departed from Teddington School, located near Kingston upon Thames in the southwest part of London, after completing his GCSE examinations.

Khalife’s journey in the Army took him to Dorset for training as a signaller. However, his aspirations of becoming part of a Special Forces unit were dashed when he learned that his Iranian background would prevent him from obtaining the essential high-level security clearance.

Just a few weeks after moving to Dorset, Khalife reached out to an Iranian individual on Facebook named Hamed Ghashghavi. Ghashghavi had been placed under US sanctions for supposedly assisting in the recruitment of a former US service member, Monica Witt, as an Iranian spy—a fact that Khalife was aware of.

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He initially denied the charge of fleeing from HMP Wandsworth, but on November 11, 2024, at Woolwich Crown Court, he altered his plea.

Khalife created some rough drafts of classified documents and shared them with Ghasghavi to gain the trust of the Iranians, gradually developing a connection with them. He was then introduced to a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who communicated with Khalife under the alias “David Smith.”

By August 2019, just under a year into his service in the Army, Khalife was picking up £1,500 that had been hidden in a dog waste bag at a secret location in Mill Hill Park, located in north London.

What Khalife did next was strange. He completed a form on the website of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, which is famously associated with its fictional agent, James Bond.

He informed MI6 that he had received money from Iran in exchange for providing misleading information, and expressed a desire to become a "double agent." However, he did not mention his military background, and the intelligence agency dismissed his claims.

Feeling let down by their response, Khalife continued with his life as a young soldier while maintaining communication with his contacts in Iran.

A year later, in August 2020, Khalife traveled to Istanbul, Turkey. However, the details of his trip remain uncertain. It appears that there was an aim—at least on the part of the Iranians—for Khalife to make his way to Tehran, the capital of Iran, but he hardly ventured out of his hotel, the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti.

Khalife later informed Ghashghavi that his IRGC supervisors had made mistakes with the planning, but he had still passed along some information.

"I dropped off a package for them," Khalife mentioned to Ghashghavi in a voice message, "but I haven't heard back from them in what I believe has been around eight days."

Khalife's contact in Iran, who goes by "David Smith," cautioned him to exercise caution in a message sent via Telegram: "We can collaborate for many years to come."

Khalife responded, “Of course, I have no intention of leaving the military until you say so. I’ve been here for over 25 years.”

While serving in the Army, including during a training exercise in the United States, Khalife collected many images of classified communication devices on his iPhone, which featured computer displays with IP addresses visible. It's not known how many of these images he shared with Iran.

It was discovered by the police that Khalife had captured a conversation with his Iranian associates using his iPad.

In a discussion captured on his iPad, Khalife expressed his desire for his handlers to provide him with training in espionage.

"I was hoping to get some training from you all, and I believe that the best learning opportunity for me is in Iran," he stated. "I consider myself one of the smartest individuals—I even received an award. I truly believe I outshine everyone else here in terms of intelligence."

The award Khalife mentioned was for the top junior soldier in his small unit, and he was given an inexpensive trophy as recognition.

The training in Iran did not take place.

A soldier who trained alongside Khalife characterized him as someone with a strong sense of confidence and self-assurance.

Later that year, Khalife started putting together a list of names of Special Forces soldiers from various units, such as the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service. At first, he only had their last names and initials, but he discovered a vulnerability in the Army's vacation booking system that enabled him to access and photograph their first names as well. These images were eventually discovered on his phone.

Clearly pleased with the updates they were getting from Khalife, the Iranians set up another secret drop in October 2021. This time, they placed £1,000 under a flower pot next to a mausoleum in a cemetery in west London.

Not long after, Khalife reached out to Britain's intelligence services once more, specifically the Security Service, MI5. Calls were logged on November 9 and November 22, 2021.

Khalife chose not to disclose his name but mentioned that he was an active soldier. MI5 did not enlist him as a "double agent"; instead, he was taken into custody at his military base on January 6, 2022.

The UK may never uncover the exact nature of the highly sensitive information Khalife transmitted to Iran. Many of the messages he shared with his associates on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram have been erased. However, it appears that he did manage to send at least two classified documents—one related to drones and another concerning "Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance."

The Khalife even altered these to give them a more important appearance, switching the designation from "OFFICIAL" to "SECRET." In one instance, he incorrectly spelled "SECRET" as "SECERT" on a document.

“Only he understands his motivations for these actions,” stated Commander Dominic Murphy from the counter-terrorism unit. “I believe there were elements of this that aligned with his personal fantasies, but in pursuing them, he inflicted significant harm.”

Commander Murphy compared Khalife to the fictional character Walter Mitty, who is known for his tendency to fantasize about achieving remarkable feats.

“The issue was that he was like a dreamer living in his imagination, yet his actions were affecting reality.”

Following his arrest, Khalife was permitted to stay in the Army, although he was given a position that involved less critical responsibilities. However, as investigators gradually gathered evidence against him, he sensed that his situation was becoming increasingly precarious.

On January 2, 2023, Khalife fled. During the trial, it was revealed that he had placed a fake bomb on his desk. While it was not very convincing, it looked realistic enough to prompt the bomb disposal team to respond.

Jurors learned that a counterfeit device was discovered on Khalife's desk at Beacon Barracks in Stafford after he didn't show up for work in January 2023.

He didn’t travel far. When Khalife was taken into custody again on January 26, 2023, he was only seven miles away from his military base. Investigators later uncovered that he had been staying in a van that was equipped with a bed, a carpet, and a portable toilet. They also discovered £18,000 in cash inside the vehicle, some of which was fake money.

Khalife faced charges under the Terrorism Act for creating a list of Special Forces soldiers and for staging a bomb hoax. Subsequently, an additional charge was filed against him under the Official Secrets Act for gathering information intended for the enemy, specifically relating to Iran.

After fleeing from HMP Wandsworth via the kitchen area, Khalife managed to avoid capture for several days until he was finally apprehended approximately 14 miles away in Northolt.

Before his trial, Khalife was placed in a protective unit for vulnerable prisoners at HMP Wandsworth, due to concerns that other inmates might target him.

Chris Jones, a fellow inmate who was released after seven months at Wandsworth, recalls Khalife as a peculiar character who mentioned he was destined for fame.

Khalife was able to land a job working in the prison kitchen. While he was there, he discovered some kitchen pants and metal clips used to keep food storage areas secure from rats, which he then cleverly repurposed to aid in his escape.

After being spotted emerging from beneath the truck in Wandsworth, Khalife headed to the nearby area of Richmond, where he took a baseball cap from Mountain Warehouse to hide his identity.

At this point, it seems he didn't have any funds. However, later that evening, he placed a call from a bar, and shortly after, he had £400 in cash. While no one has been accused of assisting Khalife, investigators believe that the money did not come from Iranian sources.

He sent a message to his contact in Iran stating, "I'm waiting," but didn’t receive any reply.

Khalife's first night evading capture was spent outdoors in Richmond Park. For his second night, he likely found a place to rest a few miles away in Chiswick. As authorities intensified their search, he spent a third night roaming the streets of west London.

Khalife was apprehended along a canal pathway in north-west London, following a three-day search that took place after he broke out of Wandsworth Prison in September 2023.

The public was captivated by Khalife's story of escaping from prison, leading to a flood of calls reporting sightings—many of which were genuine, while others were not.

A woman out for a walk with her dog shared with the BBC that Khalife approached her and sat down beside her on a bench in Chiswick House gardens. She described him as "well-dressed" and "quite charming," noting that he struck up a conversation about her Maltese poodle.

During his morning run, a jogger spotted Khalife two times: first, he was resting on a bench, and later, he was seen in a cemetery.

"I honestly felt a little pity for him," Frank Noon shared. "For someone who's considered the most wanted, he didn't seem very intimidating at all. He was simply sitting there, keeping to himself."

On Saturday, September 9, at 10:35 am, Khalife was apprehended by an undercover counter-terrorism officer while he was riding a bicycle that had been stolen. This took place along a canal path in Northolt, located in the north-west part of London.

He had been evading capture for 75 hours, yet he never managed to get more than 11 miles away from HMP Wandsworth.

During the middle of Khalife's trial, he admitted to escaping from jail.

Following 23 hours of discussion, the jury found him guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act. However, he was cleared of charges related to a bomb hoax at his military base.

Khalife's attorney characterized him as more of a bumbling character like Scooby-Doo than a suave secret agent like 007. They portrayed him as an inexperienced individual trying to play the role of a double agent. It's suggested that he might have avoided capture entirely if he hadn't reached out to MI5 on his own.

Even the seasoned counter-terrorism investigators looking into Khalife recognize that he is mostly a dreamer.

The main focus of this case was whether this person, who had claimed to want to work for Iran for over 25 years, had ultimately shared British Army secrets with a group closely tied to Iran's security apparatus.

The jury in his trial concluded that he did.

A source from the Ministry of Justice informed the BBC that the report regarding Khalife’s prison escape includes confidential details. A determination on what information can be released to the public will be made “in the next few weeks.”