A former soldier accused of breaking out of a UK prison, Daniel Khalife, has been caught on CCTV reading about his jailbreak. The footage was shown at the Woolwich Crown Court in west London, where Khalife has been on trial for allegedly escaping Wandsworth prison and collecting classified information for Iran. The jury saw him reading the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror at a newsagent in Grove Park Road, Chiswick.
The prosecution has claimed that Khalife, now 23, hid under a food truck to escape Wandsworth prison in September 2023. The jury saw CCTV footage of him leaving his cell shortly after 7:00am BST that day. He was then seen in the kitchen area of the prison, before the Bidfood truck drove out of the facility’s main gate. The prosecution alleges that Khalife hid under the truck, using a makeshift sling near the rear axle.
Several witnesses have stated that they saw Khalife in various locations after his escape. For instance, he was recorded in a Marks & Spencer store in Kew, where he purchased shirts and jogging bottoms. The next day, Khalife was caught on CCTV topping up his phone at Sainsbury’s in Hammersmith. He then bought a Samsung phone for £89 in another shop on King Street. On the 8th of September, he was recorded reading about his escape in a newsagent in Chiswick.
Before his arrest, Khalife searched for “Can a phone be tracked from IMEI?” on his device. The court also heard that he reportedly sent messages on Telegram to an account linked to Iranian intelligence, including one that read, “I wait”. Following his recapture on a canal towpath in Northolt, he told officers that in the army, “you’re trained to live in the woods, you’re trained to kill people”.
Khalife denies all charges against him, including escaping from prison, gathering information useful for Iran, collecting names of special forces soldiers useful to terrorists, and perpetrating a bomb hoax at his barracks in Stafford. The trial continues
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