Unbelievably dangerous...

Soldier's view on 'prison escape'

- Paul Jeeves

A BRITISH soldier suspected of being an Iranian spy allegedly clung to the bottom of a delivery lorry to escape prison, a jury heard.

Daniel Khalife, 23, is alleged to have slipped out of custody while working in the kitchens at HMP Wandsworth in South London on September 6 last year, triggering a nationwide manhunt before being arrested three days later.

The court heard he attached the sling under a food delivery truck's rear axle before wrapping himself inside.

When seized on a canal towpath he told the police "everything's gone to plan" and when quizzed about the daring escape told them: "I wasn't sitting in the front, you know."

Khalife, who was being held on remand accused of passing secrets to Iran, also told officers he "never thought" it was a crime to escape from prison, Woolwich Crown Court heard.