Terrorists showed off their “skills” as an ex-soldier told a jury he escaped from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders.

Daniel KhalifaThe 23-year-old Iranian, accused of passing secrets to Iran, said he was “never a real spy” but planned to fake defect to the state after he was arrested after watching the American television show Homeland.

He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was receiving unwanted attention from sex offenders in the vulnerable prisoners’ ward, and as a British soldier he was afraid of being moved to Belmarsh prison because terrorists wanted to kill him.

Khalife said he first wanted to “show off” by running away from a food delivery truck, acting suspiciously and covering himself with soot while working in the prison kitchen on August 21 last year.

He told the jury he was spotted and reported to security, but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened and so decided to take “all precautions”.

Speaking about his escape for the first time at Woolwich Crown Court hearing, Khalife told how he made a makeshift hanger from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by prisoners to protect their belongings from mice.

On September 1 last year he attached it to the Bidfood truck to check if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons along his delivery route.

“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope under the truck,” he said.

“When I made the decision to actually leave prison I was going to do it properly so I tested security and not just at Wandsworth.

“Strangely, I could see him over the next few days but he was not seen at Wandsworth or any other prison.”

Later, on the morning of September 6, Khalifa said that while the truck was being searched, he hid himself under the truck and leaned his back on the hanger.

“They checked the area normally with torches, but they couldn’t find me. Then a governor came to the tunnel and asked, ‘Did you search the vehicle?’ he said.

“I was looking up. There was movement around the truck.”

He said that when the vehicle stopped, he “emerged from under the truck and remained in a prone position until the truck moved.”

Khalife, who joined the army at 16 and started work at the Royal Signals at Beacons barracks in Staffordshire, said he had not attempted to leave the country and had no intention of “escape” the charges he faces.

He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal at Northolt, west London. nationwide manhunt.

When asked why he did not surrender after escaping, Khalife said: “I was finally showing what a stupid idea it was to keep one of my talents in prison. What good was it to anyone?”

“I accept that I left prison and that I did not have any permission to do so,” he said. “I absolutely accept that I should not have done what I did.”

We were inspired by Homeland

The court heard Khalife contacted Iranian intelligence officers after being told he would not undergo enhanced screening because his mother was born in Iran.

Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and thought he would “congratulate” him in court, but described his arrest as a “punch in the face”.

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The man, wearing a blue checkered shirt and chinos, said police were “blindened by the prospect of a successful investigation” but did not think it would be in the “public interest” to be in prison.

“I did nothing to harm our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.

“I actually believed that I could continue my work in the Iranian state.”

Khalife said he was inspired by watching the Netflix movie Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover.

“I found that one of the characters on the show accidentally defected to a particular country and used that location to advance the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.

“The country in question, Iran, thought this was real. It did this to advance its own country’s interests.”

Khalife told jurors he was a “patriot”, adding: “I love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to hurt, I never did any harm.”

He added: “It’s tragic that it’s come to this and I would do anything to get my career back.”

Khalife, of Kingston, south-west London, denies a charge of doing any act prejudicial to the security or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

He also pleaded guilty to charges under the Terrorism Act of collecting information on Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, making a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023, and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.

The trial continues.