“I am a patriot, I love my country,” Daniel Khalife told the court

The former British soldier accused of spying for Iran and escaping from prison has said he is “a patriot” who loves his country.

Giving evidence for the first time at his trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Daniel Khalife said: “I am English” and am “against the regime in Iran”.

Prosecutors allege Mr Khalife collected sensitive military information for Iran and later hid under a food truck to escape from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London on September 6, 2023. He denies the accusations.

Jurors on Wednesday heard about the family life and childhood of Mr Khalife, who was born in Marylebone and grew up in the Richmond area of ​​west London.

Mr Khalife has an Iranian mother and a Lebanese father who he said was “not a good man”.

“He just jumped in and out, did some damage and left,” he told the court.

At the age of 15, Mr. Khalife said he got in trouble with the police for shoplifting, but the case did not go to trial.

He also said he had trouble paying attention in class, but passed 10 final exams.

“My mother was very, very strict,” he said. “A bit paranoid I would say.”

“It wasn’t an insult, but it was hard growing up in that environment.”

Mr Khalife told the court he was “ashamed” of his poor background, adding: “We were a poor family living in a relatively wealthy area, so the relationships I built were essentially fake.”

When asked what his family thought of the regime in Iran, he replied: “My mother hates the regime, and probably the country too.”

“Me and my family are against the regime in Iran.”

He said that after he was caught shoplifting, his mother took him to Iran for four weeks because “she wanted to show us how people lived.”

“One of the things I remember was how well-educated a lot of the youth were and how few opportunities they had,” he told the judges. “Every day I was in that country I wanted to come back.”

‘I hated it. I thought it was a terrible place. The weather, the government, everything.”

At the age of 16, Mr Khalife joined the army and did his phase one (early) training in Harrogate.

He said during the trial: “To put it simply: I wanted to get away from home, I wanted to feel what it would be like to be free.”

Asked what his views on Britain were, he replied: “I’m a patriot, it’s as simple as that. I love my country.”

“I’m English and that’s how I see it.”

Mr Khalife denies escaping from prison and also faces charges under the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act, including collecting information useful to Iran, collecting names of special forces soldiers useful to terrorists and carrying out a bomb fraud at his barracks in Stafford.

He denies all charges against him. His evidence and the trial continue.