The blunders that allowed spy Daniel Khalife to avoid detection and escape from prison

Daniel Khalife’s daring escape from HMP Wandsworth in 2023 exposed significant problems with the prison system.

But when the 23-year-old’s trial on espionage charges began in October, it also revealed an ongoing theme of shame in the way he was treated by the military, police and British security services.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the security failings in the army that were exposed during the trial, as well as the blunders that allowed the spy to evade detection and escape prison.

In September 2018, two weeks before his 17th birthday, Khalife joined the British Army, where he completed his basic military training before joining the Royal Corps of Signals, a specialist unit that provides communications, IT and cyber support to the army.

The soldier completed his years of specialist training in early 2020 and was posted to the 16th Signal Regiment in Stafford.

Inappropriate use of WhatsApp was “widespread”, defense lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain KC told the trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Soldiers, including Khalife’s superiors, sent training manuals, door codes and even photos of their secure computer screens from secure areas using personal phones.

Khalife was a member of a group chat called “Fabulous Falcon F***tards” – a reference to the military’s Falcon communications system they were working on.

The signaler was never told that he was doing anything wrong by using WhatsApp.

A senior Army intelligence officer, identified only as Soldier A, gave evidence and said the messaging service is not considered a secure form of communication by the military.

A senior army IT expert agreed, telling jurors it was disturbing to hear that sensitive information had been sent via WhatsApp.

During the trial, a Defense Ministry directive was shown instructing soldiers not to use WhatsApp for “official business,” but no one within Khalife’s unit was ever disciplined over the issue.

In June 2021, an internal spreadsheet of soldier promotions was sent to a group chat called Brew Room Boys, of which Khalife was a member.

He pulled the details from the spreadsheet before logging into an internal HR system for booking leave, to try to find the soldiers’ first names.

The list of soldiers, including some who served in the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, was sent by mistake and was also leaked to the press.

“Leaks are not that uncommon in the military,” Mr. Hussain said.

In November 2021, Khalife made an anonymous call to MI5’s public hotline, confessing that he had been in contact with Iran for more than two years.

He offered to help British security services and said he wanted to return to his normal life.

If Khalife had not contacted MI5 to tell them about his contact with Iran, neither they nor the police would ever have known, his lawyer told the court.

The signaller sent an email to MI6 about his plan as early as August 2019, but never received a response.

MI5 made nine attempts to call back but were unable to reach him.

The security service reported him the following month and he was arrested in January 2022.

The police were unaware of his activities before MI5’s approach.

In January 2023, Khalife fled from his barracks after being released on bail by the police.

Before he was captured, he lived in a stolen van just five miles from the barracks for three weeks, but the vehicle, which contained key evidence, would not be found by police for another eight months.

A national manhunt was launched for the former soldier when he managed to escape from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023.

Five days before his successful escape, he attached a sling to the underside of a truck made of kitchen trousers and carabiners.

The driver of the Mercedes truck involved, Balazs Werner, said he noticed “both kitchen doors were open” during his delivery to the site on the day of the escape, which he found “unusual”.

As he left the prison, two guards checked the vehicle with a “torch and mirror” and told him that someone was missing from the prison.

When the guards told him he could drive away, he was surprised that the prison was not locked and said, “Are you sure?” but was allowed to drive out through the prison gate.

In a report published earlier this year, HMP Wandsworth’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), made up of volunteers tasked by ministers with investigating custody conditions, said an audit after the escape found a series of security failings was found in prison.

The IMB said the incident has led to multiple investigations and measures, including finding “previously unavailable funding” for security improvements and “significant investments”, in an effort to prevent “illegal items” from being brought into the prison.

The security audit was conducted in November, while an internal review completed in December made 39 recommendations, according to the report.

The Justice Department has yet to publish these documents, outline their findings or confirm whether any disciplinary action has been taken against prison staff.