A former British soldier accused of escaping from Wandsworth prison last year contacted Iranian security forces before telling MI6 he wanted to work as a double agent, a trial has heard.
Daniel Khalife, 23, is on trial on charges of collecting sensitive military information for Iran.
Woolwich Crown Court heard that Mr Khalife obtained details of serving members of the armed forces from a personnel system.
He denies all accusations.
The prosecutor told the court that Iran posed a real threat to Britain’s security.
Mr Khalife, who was raised by his Iranian-born mother in Kingston, south-west London, joined the army in September 2018, two weeks before his 17th birthday, the jury heard.
After completing a 23-week course at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, he joined the Royal Corps of Signals, which provides communications, IT and cyber support.
The court heard that Mr Khalife underwent and obtained a security clearance before starting his specialist training in 2019, and completed the year-long course in early 2020.
Following this, he was posted to the 16th Signal Regiment in Stafford, which provides advanced digital communications and satellite services to the military.
“We are not talking about a single personal radio in this case,” said Mark Heywood QC, for the prosecution.
“If the security of these systems and communications is compromised, so too is the operational capacity and effectiveness of the military itself.”
During Mr Khalife’s trial it was heard that he had created a contact with the area code +98 for Iran in April 2019.
The jury heard that Mr Khalife told police in an interview in 2022 that he had made contact with Hamed Ghashghavi, an individual linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
He told police he was then handed over to an English-speaking supervisor.
Mr Heywood KC said: “His aim was clearly to offer himself as an asset to Iran’s external security apparatus.”
The court heard the soldier later claimed this was all part of a double bluff and that he intended to sell himself to the British security services.
A message was sent to MI6 under a false name via the ‘contact us’ page of the security service’s website, claiming he wanted to work as a ‘double agent’, the jury was told.
The message said he had been asked to provide information to the Iranian government and had sent them a false document for which they had paid $2,000, left in a dog waste bag in Mill Hill Park, north London, the court heard.
The jury was shown a selfie of Mr Khalife, taken in the park, and a photo of an envelope in a dog waste bag.
Mr Heywood KC said: “Over a period of more than two years, Mr Khalife collected and recorded a large amount of such information digitally and sometimes on paper.
“All the while he was a serving soldier of the British Army, deployed to uphold and protect national security.”
He added: “Mr Khalife had no real intention of simply putting his head down, learning his trade and becoming what he considered just an army signaller, even an expert.
“Even during this early stage of his studies, and when he was still 17, he began to entertain thoughts of espionage.”
Jurors were told that after police caught up with him and he was released on bail, Mr Khalife disappeared from his barracks, leaving canisters and wires on his desk meant to resemble an explosive device.
Mr Khalife is believed to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London while on remand on terror and espionage charges by tying himself to the underside of a food delivery truck on September 6, 2023.
Three days later he was arrested on a canal towpath in west London.
The trial, expected to take about six weeks, continues.
