Daniel Khalife stole UK military secrets for Iran and made list of SAS names, trial told

A former British soldier accused of spying stole UK military secrets for Iran and drew up a list of personnel from the SAS and other special forces, his trial has been told.

Daniel Khalife, 23, whose role as a member of the British army’s communications wing gave him access to highly sensitive information, also offered to work as an agent for the Islamic Republic for 25 years in messages to Iranian intelligence handlers.

One of those handlers, who used the name David Smith, told Khalife that he would be paid what he wanted and said at one point: “We look forward to seeing you in Tehran … pal.”

Khalife – who is also accused of escaping from Wandsworth prison last year by strapping himself to a food truck – is alleged to have been paid in cash by the Iranians for secret information gathered in the army.

The second day of the trial at Woolwich crown court was told by the prosecution that Khalife had taken a photo of a handwritten list of 15 soldiers. He took details from an internal spreadsheet of promotions in June 2021, sent to a WhatsApp group used by soldiers, and used an internal HR system to try to find out the first names of troops.

Khalife – who was part of the Royal Corps of Signals, which provides communications and cyber support – also travelled to Turkey in August 2020, where he left a package intended for Iranian intelligence agents, the court was told.

Mark Heywood KC, for the prosecution, told the jury that the visit to Istanbul had been undertaken originally “with a view to go onwards”, adding: “That was, says the prosecution, an attempt at least to meet, engage, face-to-face directly. The original attempt was to go to Iran.”

Khalife was “not merely a young junior soldier,” said Heywood. “He is a resourceful man as you can see from some of the events that have been described.

“By the time he felt the net closing around him he absconded from his barracks, set himself up with the means to survive and even when he was remanded in custody managed to free himself.”

Khalife is accused of planting a fake bomb in his room at his barracks in Stafford, when he went missing for three weeks in January 2023, living in a van he had stolen from the army site, with fake number plates he had also stolen.

More than £18,000 cash, some genuine and some counterfeit, was found among his belongings. A note that was also found read: “You can say with certainty that you will go to prison for a very long time. Your options are suicide or absconding.”

It went on: “Once in Iran you can manage life again and travel to interesting places freely.”

The trial also heard details about the aftermath of Khalife’s escape from prison in September last year when he allegedly went on the run for four days. “I don’t know how immigrants do it,” he was said to have told police.

Earlier, the court was shown messages sent via the encrypted Telegram messaging app between Khalife and the alleged Iranian handler Smith. They included one in which the latter said: “We can work together a lot of years.”

Khalife replied: “Absolutely, I won’t leave the military until you tell me to … 25+ years.”

The trial was also told that Iranian intelligence contact with Khalife “escalated” when he was deployed in early 2021 to Fort Hood, now called Fort Cavazos, a US military base in Texas, where he was alleged to have continued taking photos and gathering intelligence.

The hearing on Wednesday also heard that he had made two anonymous calls to MI5 in November 2021, having earlier tried to contact MI6. He said he had been in contact with Iran for more than two years and thought he could help the British security services, and wanted to return to his normal life.

An electronic note also saved by him at the same time was said to have 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.

Khalife faces a charge of gathering, publishing or communicating information that might be useful to an enemy, contrary to the Official Secrets Act, between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

He is also alleged to have 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 2 August 2021.

He denies all of the charges and the trial continues.