Daniel Khalife denies asking Iran for help after prison escape

Former soldier Daniel Khalife has denied asking Iranian agents for help after he escaped from prison.

The 23-year-old told Woolwich Crown Court the country's security services wanted to help him, but he "closed the conversation" and had no intention of trying to leave the UK.

Mr Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London in September 2023 by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck using a makeshift sling.

On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to escaping from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023, but denies charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.

On his third day on the run, Mr Khalife sent a now deleted Telegram message to an Iranian contact, and he later sent another which said simply: "I wait."

Asked why he had sent it, Mr Khalife said: "The night before I didn't sleep... It's literally out of curiosity, I wanted to see what the reaction was.

"They wanted to help me, I closed the conversation."

Prosecutors say Mr Khalife was waiting in the Chiswick area of west London for assistance from Iranian security services, but no help ever came.

"They didn't come to help, did you ever understand why?" prosecutor Mark Heywood KC asked.

Mr Khalife replied: "I didn't ask for help."

Asked why he did not hand himself in to police immediately, he said he wanted to last "at least 48 hours".

Mr Khalife previously told jurors he escaped from prison so he would be kept in a high security unit away from "sex offenders" and "terrorists" who wanted to harm him.

He was later captured by police while riding a bicycle on a canal towpath in west London.

Asked if he would have "kept going" had he not been stopped, the former soldier replied: "I was headed out of central London... It's full of cameras and that sort of thing."

The day after he escaped, Mr Khalife bought a mobile phone for £89 from a shop in Hammersmith.

While on the run, he also bought clothes from Marks & Spencer and a coffee from McDonald's, and walked beside the River Thames before being caught by police three days later.

He stole a hat from a Mountain Warehouse store, and started using a bicycle he found, his trial heard previously.

Asked why he had taken a change of clothes and his notebook with him when he escaped from the prison, Mr Khalife said: "I wanted to exude a sense of professionalism... to show that I was capable of doing what I did."

The trial continues.