Former British soldier who escaped from prison is guilty of spying for Iran | BBC News

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Former British army soldier Daniel Khalife has been found guilty of spying for Iran.

Khalife, who escaped prison while awaiting trial, collected information and passed it to Tehran and was found to have gathered the names of special forces soldiers. He was cleared of a charge of perpetrating a bomb hoax at his army barracks.

The 23-year-old admitted breaking out of Wandsworth prison in London in September 2023 by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery lorry.

Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Khalife should expect "a long custodial sentence". Khalife, whose actions breached the UK’s Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act, did not show any emotion as the verdicts were read out.

Prosecutors said Khalife played a "cynical game" after he contacted a man linked to Iranian intelligence soon after joining the army in September 2018, before later telling the UK intelligence agency MI6 he wanted to be a double agent.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Daniel Sandford.

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