LONDON — 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 during his Woolwich Crown Court trial.

Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told his trial at Woolwich Crown Court that Khalife would face "a long custodial sentence" when he is sentenced early next year.

His actions breached the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act.

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 MI6 he wanted to be a double agent.

He collected sensitive information that posed a real danger in the wrong hands, the court heard.

Khalife contacted a man linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Facebook.

He built a relationship with Iranian contacts - at one point being sent to collect $2,000 (£1,500) left in a dog poo bag in a north London park.

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's counter-terrorism division, said that as a soldier, 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."

She added that his information sharing "could have exposed military personnel to serious harm, or a risk to life, and prejudiced the safety and security of the United Kingdom".

During his time in the army, Khalife gathered the names of 15 serving soldiers – including some from the special forces.

He denied ever having sent the list to the Iranians and claimed the information he gave them was mostly fake.

The UK will never know what the most sensitive material Khalife did send Iran — most of the messages he exchanged with his contacts on the encrypted communication app Telegram were deleted.

His lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain KC had claimed that the double agent plot was "hapless" and more "Scooby-Doo" than "007”.

Khalife became the subject of a high-profile manhunt after breaking out of prison, before being arrested 75 hours later when he was spotted cycling on a canal towpath. — BBC