A former British army soldier accused of passing secret information to Iran and escaping from prison told MI5 he had given Iranian intelligence fabricated “wiffle, waffle stuff off of WikiLeaks” to “get rid” of them, a court heard.
Daniel Khalife, 23, is alleged to have fled his Army barracks in January 2023 when he realised he would face criminal charges over allegations he passed classified information to the Middle Eastern country’s intelligence service.
Later, while on remand, he is alleged to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023 by tying himself to the underside of a food delivery truck using bedsheets.
On Friday, Woolwich Crown Court heard how, in November 2021, Khalife made two anonymous calls to MI5 from an unregistered mobile, having earlier tried to contact MI6 to explain his situation.
He told an operator he had been in contact with Iran for more than two years and thought he could help the British security services. A transcript of the first phone call, to MI5’s public phone number on November 9, was read out to the jury.
He told the operator that he would like to stay anonymous and said he had been contacted by a man named Hamed Ghashgabi, an Iranian intelligence officer who had been sanctioned by the US, “about two-and-a-half years ago”, the court heard.
“He explained who he was, he explained he had relations with somebody called Monica Witt.”
Khalife said that after he was contacted by Ghashgabi he became worried about his “future prospects”, particularly with his Army vetting.
“So I said, right, to get rid of this guy I’m going to print something off of Wikileaks and send it to him,” the court heard. He said he decided to send Ghashgabi something that was “already leaked, something irrelevant”.
Khalife said Ghashgabi was “happy” with him, and he was provided with £1,500 by the Iranians in “a dog-poo bag” dropped off in Barnet, north London.
While his job was one that sounded like he would have access to information, he told the operator that in reality, he did not.
He said he was “worried” about reporting what was going on because the Iranians were “very, very, in my face”.
“They know pretty much everything about me, they know everything about my family, they know where my mum lives, it’s got insane.”
He said everything he gave the Iranians was “fabricated”, the court heard.
“I don’t know why they keep falling for it,” he said.
He added: “It’s just completely wiffle, waffle stuff off of WikiLeaks, and they think it’s real.”
He gave the operator a phone number and asked them to ring him after 5pm. He said he had reported this to the MI5 website but “never got a response”.
A transcript of the second phone call, on 22 November 2021, was also read to the jury.
In the call, Khalife tells the operator that he had called them three weeks ago but “didn’t get a response”.
He gave a phone number to the operator again, and said he could email MI5 proof of what he was telling them. At the same time Khalife also saved an electronic note that set out how he had decided to start his own intelligence operation to prove himself after he was told he was not eligible for higher-level vetting.
The note was read to the jury.
“After that, I decided to start my own intel operation to prove that I was able to do this,” it read. “All I have ever wanted to do was something in intel. The whole reason I joined was to work in intel. I decided to use my connection to IR (Iran) to my advantage.”
As well as the prison escape, Khalife faces a charge of gathering, publishing or communicating information that might be useful to an enemy, namely Iranian intelligence, contrary to the Official Secrets Act between May 1 2019 and January 6 2022.
In addition, he is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax in Beaconside, Staffordshire, on or before January 2023.
The fourth charge alleges Khalife elicited or attempted to elicit personal information about armed forces personnel that was likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism from a Ministry of Defence administration system on August 2 2021.
He denies all the charges and the trial continues.
