Daniel Khalife pleads guilty to escaping prison

Daniel Khalife has pleaded guilty to escaping from Wandsworth Prison in September last year.

The former soldier had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The trial continues on three other charges of collecting and communicating information useful to an enemy, namely Iran; collecting the names of Special Forces soldiers that would be useful for terrorism; and perpetrating a bomb hoax at his army barracks.

Khalife escaped from the prison by hiding underneath a food delivery truck, he jumped out near Wandsworth roundabout and was recaptured three days later.

He told the trial that he had escaped because he was being held on the vulnerable prisoners unit where most inmates are sex offenders and out of fear of being attacked by terrorists. He said he believed that if he escaped he would be put in the high security unit at Belmarsh Prison.

Khalife was in Wandsworth awaiting trial on terrorism offences - eliciting or attempting to elicit information “about an individual who was or had been a member of His Majesty’s forces which was of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” and committing a bomb hoax by placing an article with intent.

Following the escape, an audit found 81 security failings at Wandsworth Prison.