Former soldier Daniel Khalife has pleaded guilty to escaping from a prison in south London last year half way during his trial.
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.
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.
He made the admission midway through the trial, although continues to deny all other charges.
Grabs of the lorry Daniel Khalife escaped on leaving Wandsworth prison (Picture: CPS)Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told jurors she had asked Khalife if he wanted the prison escape charge to be put to him again.
When the charge was put to the former soldier, he replied: I’m guilty.
The court heard he planned a fake escape attempt for August 21 in the hope he would be moved to the HSU, but decided that a genuine escape was his only option after the incident was not reported to senior prison staff.
When previously asked what prompted the escape, Khalife said it was unease at being placed in a high-security unit with sex offenders and terrorists who wanted to harm him.
Khalife told jurors that 95% of those in the unit were serious sex offenders, rapists, paedophiles, that sort of thing.
He said: It was not a nice place to be… people on that wing said strange things to me.
The former soldier told Woolwich Crown Court he was helped by a man in his unit to get a job in the prison stores.
Khalife was re-arrested after three days on the run (Picture: PA Wire)Asked if he expected to have to return the favour, Khalife said: I just thought he was trying to do me a favour.
He certainly wanted something, he continued.
This individual was a prolific sex offender, a homosexual one.
Khalife told the court he was terrified of being kept in a similar situation at HMP Belmarsh should he be moved.
I knew what Belmarsh was, he said, adding: I knew what type of clientele it had.
Five days before his successful escape, he attached a sling to the underside of the lorry made from kitchen trousers and carabiners.
The sling wasn’t spotted at Wandsworth gate or any other prison, Khalife said.
Eighty prison officers at HMP Wandsworth did not attend their shifts on the day Daniel Khalife escaped from the prison (Picture: PA)When the tail lift raised it covered me entirely, he continued.
If the makeshift sling wasn’t noticed, they’re hardly going to notice me.
While on the run, Khalife bought clothes from Marks & Spencer and a coffee from McDonald’s, and walked beside the River Thames before being caught by police three days later.
I accept that I left the prison and I didn’t have any permission, he told jurors.
I was never a real spy.
I would do anything to go back to my career (in the Army).
Khalife denies charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.
The trial continues.
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