A former soldier who escaped Wandsworth prison beneath a food van has been convicted of spying for Iran.
Daniel Khalife established contact with Iranian security service members within a month of joining the Royal Corps of Signals.
Khalife fled prison while on kitchen dutyCredit: PA
He clung to the underside of a food truck to make his escape
The 23-year-old used fake email addresses for the espionage and sent details about SAS and SBS personnel to his handlers.
Khalife left material in public locations in exchange for cash in an old-fashioned spy tactic known as the "dead drop".
His first payment of £1,500 was left in a dog poo bag for him to collect in August 2019.
Khalife also made a second £1,000 cash pick-up from Kensal Green Cemetery in October 2021.
He has now been convicted of spying for Iran but cleared of perpetrating a bomb hoax at his barracks in January 2023.
While being held at HMP Wandsworth for his crimes, Khalife used bed sheets to strap himself to the underside of a food delivery truck.
Footage showed him leaving his cell on September 6 last year as he pulled a catering trolley for his kitchen duty shift.
A white Mercedes sprinter van was then seen parked outside the Category B prison in South West London.
As it pulls away, Khalife was left holding on to the underside using the makeshift sling.
He then "pencil rolled" away from the lorry before heading on a shopping spree across London, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
A huge nationwide hunt was launched amid fears Khalife had fled to Iran.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Scotland Yard’s SO15, which investigates state threats, said: "It’s fair to say in the first 24 hours, probably up to 36 hours, we had no idea where he was.
"He could have been anywhere."
Khalife was eventually arrested four days after he fled prison on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, West London.
In this time, he had picked up a baseball cap from a Mountain Warehouse and was captured strolling leisurely through Richmond.
The soldier managed to change his wardrobe multiple times while on the loose and even brazenly purchased a newspaper that had a front page story about his escape.
During a police interview, the former soldier said he "f***ed up" his body underneath the truck.
He also said he did not realise how "unbelievably dangerous" it was until the vehicle turned on to a main road where the speed limit increased.
Asked why he had allegedly escaped, Khalife replied: "Can’t tell you.
"There’s a reason why I was so calm when the officer arrested me.
"I could have jumped in the water, I could have f***ed him up.
"Everything’s gone to plan."
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