The mistakes that helped spy Daniel Khalifé evade detection and escape from prison

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

But when the 23-year-old’s trial on espionage charges began in October, a recurring theme of embarrassment over the way he was treated by the army, police and British security services also came to light.

In this article, the AP news agency looks at the military security lapses that emerged during the trial, as well as the mistakes that allowed the spy to evade detection and escape from prison.

In September 2018, two weeks before his 17th birthday, Khalifé joined the British Army, completing basic military training before joining the Royal Signal Corps, a specialist unit that provides communications, IT and cyber support to the army.

At the beginning of 2020, the soldier completed a year of specialist training and was assigned to the 16th Signal Regiment in Stafford.

Misuse of WhatsApp is “common”, defense lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain KC told a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court.

Soldiers, including Khalife’s superiors, sent training instructions, 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 Falcon military communications system they were working on.

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

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

An experienced military IT specialist agreed and told jurors he was concerned to learn that confidential information had been sent via WhatsApp.

The trial heard that the Ministry of Defense banned soldiers from using WhatsApp for “any official purposes”, but no one in Khalife’s unit was ever disciplined over the issue.

In June 2021, an internal spreadsheet of trooper promotions was posted to a group chat called Brew Room Boys, of which Khalifa was a member.

Before logging into the internal HR system to book leave, he pulled data from a spreadsheet to try to learn the names of the soldiers.

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

“Leaks are not at all uncommon in the military,” Hussain said.

In November 2021, Khalife made an anonymous call to the MI5 public reporting line, admitting to having been in contact with Iran for over two years.

He offered help to the British security services and stated that he wanted to return to normal life.

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

Back in August 2019, the whistleblower emailed MI6 about his plan but never received a response.

MI5 tried to call him back nine times but could not reach him.

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

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

In January 2023, after being released on police bail, Khalife escaped from his barracks.

He spent three weeks in a stolen van just five miles from the barracks before he was caught, but police did not find the vehicle, which contained vital evidence, for another eight months.

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

Five days before his successful escape, he attached a belt made of kitchen pants and carabiners to the bottom of his truck.

Mercedes truck driver Balazs Werner said that while delivering to the site on the day of the escape, he noticed that “both kitchen doors were open,” which he found “unusual.”

As he was leaving the prison, two guards checked the vehicle “with a flashlight and a mirror” and informed him that someone was missing from the prison.

When the guards told him he could leave, he was surprised that the prison wasn’t locked and asked “are you sure?” however, he was allowed to leave through the prison gates.

In a report published earlier this year, HMP Wandsworth’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), made up of volunteers commissioned by ministers to inspect prison conditions, said the audit found a number of security failings at the prison following the escape.

The IMB said the incident led to multiple reviews and actions, including finding “previously unavailable resources” to improve security and “significant investment” to stop “illegal items” being brought into the prison.

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

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not yet published these documents, presented its findings or confirmed whether any disciplinary action has been taken against prison staff.