Daniel Khalife has told a court his notorious prison break was a ploy to get away from ‘sex offenders’ and ‘terrorists’ by forcing authorities move him to a special unit.
The 23-year-old former soldier is on trial accused of escaping from HMP Wandsworth by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck in September last year.
He allegedly led police on a three-day manhunt across the capital, which saw extra security checks put in place on the streets and in airports, before being arrested on a canal footpath.
Khalife had been placed in Wandsworth on remand after being arrested for allegedly spending two years passing secrets to Iranian agents while serving with the Royal Signals Regiment.
Giving evidence on Friday, Khalife said he wanted to be put into HMP Belmarsh’s High Security Unit when moved to the prison for his trial.
He told jurors he had been placed a wing for vulnerable prisoners at Wandsworth and that ‘95%’ of its inmates were ‘serious sex offenders, rapists, paedophiles, that sort of thing’.
‘It was not a nice place to be… people on that wing said strange things to me,’ he said.
He said he had been kept on the wing because there were ‘terrorist offenders’ in other parts of the prison who ‘want to kill you’.
Khalife claimed he had ‘no intention’ of fleeing the UK once outside prison or ‘run away from these charges’ and left in the belief it wold get him reclassified as a ‘double category A’ prisoner.
The 23-year-old, from Kingston, south-west London, also said his escape showed ‘what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison’.
‘What use was it to anyone? I accept that I left the prison and I didn’t have any permission.
‘I accept that I shouldn’t have done what I did.’
The court previously heard Khalife was originally arrested after emailing MI6 and calling MI5 offering to be a double against against Iran.
On Friday he maintained that it had been his goal to become a double agent and said he was inspired to do so by the Netflix spy thriller Homeland.
‘I had seen one of the characters had falsely defected to a particular country and utilised this position,’ he said.
Prosecutors say Khalife made a hoax bomb in his cell to delay the search for him, leaving near it a note apparently discussing his plans.
‘You can say with certainty that you will go to prison for a very long time. Your options are suicide or absconding,’ the note said.
‘Once in Iran you can manage life again and travel to interesting places freely.’
Khalife told jurors the note was a ploy to ramp up the search for him, further convincing Iran of his loyalty and allowing him to work as a double agent.
‘I wanted to continue to help our country,’ he insisted.
The court was previously shown CCTV footage of Khalife a Mountain Warehouse, buying a phone and stopping in an M&S and McDonalds on the dates he’s alleged to have been on the run.
The court heard he also bought a newspaper with a story about his alleged escape, before nipping into a McDonald’s for a £1.09 espresso.
After his arrest, Khalife also told officers he ‘never thought’ it was a crime to escape from prison, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Asked why he had allegedly escaped, Khalife replied: ‘Can’t tell you. There’s a reason why I was so calm when the officer arrested me.
‘I could have jumped in the water, I could have f***** him up. Everything’s gone to plan.
‘If I was really, really keen to abscond I would have gone to Clapham (station)… the furthest train possible, go to some country and disappear.’
He is charged with gathering information useful to an enemy, collecting a list of Special Forces soldiers that would be useful for terrorism, perpetrating a bomb hoax and escaping from prison.
He denies all the charges. The trial continues.
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