Former UK Soldier Daniel Khalife Pleads Guilty to Escaping From Prison
Facts
- Former British soldier Daniel Khalife has pleaded guilty to having 'deliberately escaped' from lawful custody at Wandsworth Prison in London in September last year.[1][2]
- On Monday, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court that Khalife had changed his plea to guilty part way through his trial, after being asked if he wanted the escape charge put to him again.[3][4]
- The 23-year-old — who spent nearly four days on the run — was reportedly hoping to be transferred to a high-security unit at HMP Belmarsh, which he believed to be 'safer,' after a fake escape attempt was not reported to senior prison staff.[4][5]
- Khalife also faces accusations of gathering information useful to an enemy, namely Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, collecting a list of Special Forces soldiers, and perpetrating a bomb hoax at a military base — all of which he continues to deny.[3][6]
- While prosecutors claim that he passed 'a large body of restricted and classified material' to Iran, Khalife says the information was worthless, and added that he intended to help the British security services as a double agent.[7][8]
- A security review in August this year found 81 'points of failure' at HMP Wandsworth, including evidence that some CCTV cameras hadn't worked for over a year and that prisoners were 'eas[ily]' getting hold of contraband.[1][9]
Sources: [1]BBC News, [2]Sky News, [3]Guardian, [4]GB News, [5]Independent, [6]Reuters, [7]Associated Press, [8]The Standard and [9]Daily Mail.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by CounterPunch. While the British prison system does have its flaws, it's crucial to understand this escape from HMP Wandsworth in the context of Khalife's military training. He wasn't a usual prisoner, but rather a former Signals soldier charged as a potential spy for Iran.