Former soldier and Teddington schoolboy, Daniel Khalife, has today been sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison by Woolwich Crown Court after he was found guilty of spying for Iran and escaping from Wandsworth Prison by clinging to the underside of a delivery truck.

Khalife is sentenced to:

• Count 1 (breaching Official Secrets Act): six years
• Count 2 (breaching Terrorism Act): six years
• Count 4 (escaping from prison): two years three months

There was no count three. It means Khalife is sentenced to 14 years and three months, as the sentences will be served consecutively.

The judge sentencing Khalife said the ex-British Army soldier "took payment on two occasions and travelled to meet intelligence officers from Iran in Turkey".

Justice Cheema-Grubb said Khalife "recorded a great deal of information", which included the full names of fellow soldiers, and she was "driven firmly to the conclusion that this was to send to the Iranians"

The 23-year-old was serving in the British Army when he "exposed military personnel to serious harm" by collecting sensitive information and passing it to agents of the Middle Eastern country.

He was paid in cash for the secrets and told handlers he would stay in the military for 25-plus years to spy for them.

In September 2023, Khalife escaped from category B prison HMP Wandsworth, but was caught on a canal towpath by a plainclothes detective days later after a nationwide manhunt.

According to the BBC, prosecutors in his trial said Khalife played "a cynical game", claiming he wanted a career as a double agent to help the British intelligence services, when in fact he gathered "a very large body of restricted and classified material".

In November, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found that Khalife had breached the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act.

He was cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax and had already admitted during his trial to escaping from Wandsworth prison.

Police described Khalife as the "ultimate Walter Mitty character that was having a significant impact on the real world".

Khalife told jurors he wanted to prove bosses wrong after being told his Iranian heritage could stop him working in military intelligence and came up with his elaborate double agent plot after watching the TV spy thriller Homeland.

The sentencing hearing - which started this morning - delayed as the prisoner was stuck in the tunnel between the prison and the court for an hour and 20 minutes, the judge was told.

The court heard Khalife identified SAS soldiers putting them at risk of potential harm and were reminded of the content of the "very sensitive" information.

Khalife "damaged public confidence" when he escaped from HMP Wandsworth, his sentencing hearing was told.

The 23-year-old broke out of the category B prison in September 2023 by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck.

Khalife has been ordered to pay £10,000 towards the court costs by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.

Born in Marleybone, Khalife later moved to Kingston where he grew up, with his sister and Iranian mother and attended Teddington School.