A jury has been sworn in for the trial of former soldier Daniel Khalife, who is accused of escaping from prison and passing sensitive information to an enemy.
Khalife, 23, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday, facing four charges, including allegations of escaping from HMP Wandsworth in south London on September 6, 2023. He is accused of strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery lorry to break out of the prison, where he was on remand for terror and espionage charges.
The escape led to a nationwide manhunt, and Khalife was captured three days later on a canal towpath in west London, where he was pushed off a bike by a plain-clothes counter-terrorism officer.
The former soldier is also charged with gathering and communicating information that might have been useful to Iranian intelligence between May 2019 and January 2022, in violation of the Official Secrets Act.
Additionally, Khalife is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax in Staffordshire, where he allegedly placed three canisters with wires on a desk to cause fear of an explosion or fire.
The fourth charge alleges that Khalife attempted to elicit personal information about armed forces personnel from a Ministry of Defence system in August 2021, information that could potentially be useful to someone preparing an act of terrorism.
Khalife has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial, presided over by Justice Cheema-Grubb, is expected to last about six weeks.
