Former soldier Daniel Khalife marked a page in his diary with an asterisk after he decided he was going to break out of prison, a court has heard.
The 23-year-old escaped from HMP Wandsworth in the hope that he would be kept in a high security unit (HSU) at a different prison away from “sex offenders” and “terrorists” after his recapture, his trial was told.
Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were shown a page of Khalife’s prison diary with an asterisk marking September 6 2023 – the day he was to escape.
The former soldier tied himself to the underside of a food delivery truck using a sling made of kitchen trousers, the court heard.
Khalife told jurors he planned a fake escape attempt for August 21 in the hope he would be moved to the HSU, but decided escaping for real was his only option after the incident was not reported to senior prison staff.
Jurors were shown his diary entry for that day, which also had an asterisk as well as the word “failed”, which he told the court he wrote a few days later.
The former soldier wanted to be kept in the HSU at HMP Belmarsh – a prison-within-a-prison holding some of the country’s most dangerous criminals – because he believed he would be safer there, the court heard.
After being taken to Wandsworth prison in January 2023, he was told he would be kept on a wing for vulnerable prisoners because there were “terrorist offenders” who “want to kill you”, the court heard.
Khalife told jurors that “95%” of those in the unit were “serious sex offenders, rapists, paedophiles, that sort of thing”.
Five days before his successful escape, he attached a sling to the underside of the lorry made from “kitchen trousers” and carabiners, the jury was told.
The sling “wasn’t spotted at Wandsworth gate or any other prison”, Khalife said.
“When the tail lift raised it covered me entirely.
“If the makeshift sling wasn’t noticed, they’re hardly going to notice me,” he added.
While on the run, Khalife bought clothes from Marks & Spencer, a coffee from McDonald’s and walked by the River Thames before being caught by police three days later.
“I accept that I left the prison and I didn’t have any permission,” he told jurors.
“I was never a real spy.
“I would do anything to go back to my career (in the Army).”
As well as the prison escape, Khalife also faces charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.
He denies all the charges, and the trial will continue on November 11.