Escaped soldier Daniel Khalife's mother reveals 'Grand Theft Auto inspired' list of violence

28 November 2024, 16:15

Former soldier Daniel Khalife, who escaped from prison by clinging to the underside of a delivery van, loves Britain but “doesn’t live in reality” his family have said.

Appearing at Woolwich Crown Court, Khalife was found guilty of spying for Iran after passing on classified documents, military communications and information about soldiers to Iranian authorities over a period of more than two years.

The 23-year-old was cleared of a separate charge of carrying out a bomb hoax.

But the escaped soldier's family have said that, despite spying for Iran, Khalife is a patriot.

His mother, Farnaz Khalife, 48, said: “He doesn’t think about what he is going to do, he gets things in his brain.”

Read more: Escaped former soldier Daniel Khalife found guilty of spying for Iran

Ms Khalife took her son to Iran twice during his youth, once when he was just five and a second time when he was 13.

Ex-British Army soldier Daniel Khalife found guilty of spying for Iran

“Danny doesn’t know Iran, he loves this country,” one family member told The Times.

Ms Khalife said her son was obsessed with video games in his youth, especially Grand Theft Auto, spending “hours and hours” on it.

After Khalife left home to join the armed forces, his sister found a note in his room.

“The things he said he wanted to do were horrible — destroying people with acid, cutting them,” Ms Khalife said.

“I called him and he laughed and said, ‘Don’t take it seriously, it was my game, Grand Theft Auto. I was writing what I see in the game.’

“I burned it. I was worried about what his gaming on Xbox was teaching him. I was scared he might hurt himself or hurt somebody else. I blame myself, I didn’t think it would come to this.”

Before dropping out of school to join the army, Khalife also became enamoured with the idea of being a bodybuilder.

Timeline of events leading to recapture of terror suspect Daniel Khalife

“He ordered 50kg weights and used to use them all the time,” Ms Khalife said.

“I said you have to train your body to lift that much. He watched lots of programmes about the SAS and he always wanted to look like that, to look like a bodybuilder.”

After his arrest for spying, Khalife told his mother: “I’ve done something bad.”

He confessed to her that he was giving information to Iran in an effort to become a spy for the UK.

“It sounds so crazy,” his mother told the Times.

“He said he wanted to help the UK. He called MI5 to give them information on the Iranian people but they ignored him. Then they got suspicious and came and arrested him.”

He told her: “I have this thing in my brain telling me to do things.”

Khalife sparked a manhunt in September last year after escaping from HMP Wandsworth in south London while on remand for the spying charges, clinging to the underside of a food delivery lorry with homemade straps as he made his escape.

He was being held in the Category B prison accused of handing secret information and passing it to Iranian intelligence, including a list of soldiers serving in the SAS.

During the trial, Khalife told the court how he had wanted to "prove himself" to British intelligence by becoming a double-agent, working with an Iranian "handler".

However, his own lawyer described how the escapee carried out a "hapless and slapstick" spying mission that resembled a "Scooby Doo sketch".

Daniel Khalife pleads not guilty to escaping custody at HMP Wandsworth

The former British soldier was accused of passing secret information to Iran after fleeing his barracks, alongside leaving a “dodgy” device on his desk which fellow soldiers thought was "a makeshift bomb", the court previously heard.

Appearing in court to hear the jury's verdict, Khalife wore a blue shirt and pale trousers, calmly replacing his glasses as the verdicts were read out. His face showed no emotion.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, who presided over the case, thanked jurors for their work.

During the trial, the court heard how the bomb disposal unit confirmed the silver coloured gas canisters held together with green tape were not dangerous after setting up a 100-metre cordon around the device.

The former soldier allegedly fled the barracks after realising he would face criminal charges over allegations he passed classified information to Iran's intelligence service.

Prosecutors say Khalife prepared the hoax to delay the search for him but he was ultimately found and arrested on January 26 in the town of Stone, not far from his barracks, the court heard.

Following the verdict, Bethan David, Head of the Counter Terrorism Division at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “As a serving soldier of the British Army Daniel Khalife was employed and entrusted to uphold and protect the national security of this country. But, for purposes of his own, Daniel Khalife, used his employment to undermine national security.

“He surreptitiously sought out and obtained copies of secret and sensitive information which he knew were protected and passed these on to individuals he believed to be acting on behalf of the Iranian state. The sharing of the information could have exposed military personnel to serious harm, or a risk to life, and prejudiced the safety and security of the United Kingdom.

“The prosecution was able to use mobile phone evidence, notes written by Khalife himself and CCTV footage to piece together and demonstrate that Khalife had gathered and shared much of this classified information, accepted hundreds of pounds for his efforts and even travelled to Turkey as part of his unlawful conduct.

“It is against the law to collate and share secret and sensitive information for a purpose against the interests of the United Kingdom.

"Such hostile and illegal activities jeopardise the national security of the United Kingdom, and the CPS will always seek to prosecute anyone that carries out counter state threats.”