Daniel Khalife, UK Prison Escapee, Is Convicted of Spying for Iran

After he escaped from a London jail last year, strapped by a sling made from trousers to the underside of a food-delivery truck, Daniel Khalife spent three days on the run, evading a nationwide manhunt launched by Britain’s embarrassed authorities.

On Thursday the former British soldier was found guilty of spying for Iran after a trial that revealed the bizarre activities of a young man who claimed he was partly drawn to the world of espionage by watching the Emmy-winning drama “Homeland.”

At Woolwich Crown Court, Mr. Khalife, 23, was convicted of collecting information useful to an enemy — in this case the government of Iran — but cleared of a charge of planting fake bombs in his military barracks.

Mr. Khalife had contested the spying charges, claiming he wanted to work for the British intelligence agencies as a double agent.

Perhaps a more convincing defense, however, was the amateurishness of his efforts to become a spy. Gul Nawaz Hussein, who defended Mr. Khalife in court, described his client’s aspirations as naïve, stupid and bordering on slapstick, adding that it was more “Scooby Doo” than “007.”

Certainly, Mr. Khalife made spying look less glamorous than in the movies. On one occasion his Iranian handlers sent him to a park in north London to collect around $2,000 left in a bag for dog excrement, prosecutors said.