The mother of an alleged terrorist who went on the run from prison has told of his struggle with mental health.
Farnaz Khalife has urged her son Daniel Khalife – who is accused of spying for Iran – to seek psychiatric help, saying he has suffered episodes since he was a teenager and that he ‘does not live in reality’.
Farnaz’s mun reveals mental health of her son
The 47-year-old former nurse from Kingston, south-west London, moved to Wales for a quieter life in 2020 – two years after her son joined the army.
She said he had enjoyed watching TV programmes about the SAS and always wanted to join the regiment.
Khalife escaped Wandsworth Prison, south-west London, last Wednesday but was caught on Saturday.
He attended the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, before basic training in Pirbright, Surrey, and then the Defence School of Communications Information Systems in Blandford Forum, Dorset.
Khalife, 21, was eventually posted to the 1st Signal Brigade of the Royal Signals at Beacon Barracks, Stafford.
‘The army was so strict. He was disciplined, he was happy,’ Mrs Khalife told the Times.
But she said her son became more distant after turning 18 and ‘hardly called’.
‘I hugged him but he was embarrassed’
The last time she saw him was at Christmas when she was on her way back to Teddington, south-west London, from visiting her daughter and saw him at a bus stop.
‘I hugged him but he was embarrassed,’ she said. ‘He was really happy and he looked well.’
Khalife was taken to a child and adolescent mental health services clinic as a teenager, his mother said.
After his arrest, she notified the Army, but said: ‘It doesn’t sound like he was getting help at all.’
She added: ‘I told him to go to the army doctor to get help but I don’t think he did.’
She added: ‘When he was arrested, he laughed and winked, that’s not normal. This is not reality, it is a fantasy.’
Mrs Khalife, who was born in Iran but does not support the regime, said she had found out he had escaped from prison during a visit to see her daughter.
Khalife appeared in court, accused of using clips and makeshift straps which ‘may have been from bedsheets’ to secure himself to the underside of a truck when he escaped last week.
Arrest and charge
Following a manhunt, Khalife was arrested on a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, on Saturday morning.
Prosecutor Thomas Williams told Westminster Magistrates’ Court: ‘There was a four-day manhunt of 150 police officers per day, using resources from other police forces and government agencies.’
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is due to receive a report from prison chiefs shortly about the escape.
Khalife was charged with escaping from jail ‘contrary to common law’ while remanded in custody.
He is also facing trial for committing an act prejudicial to the interests or safety of the state by collecting information that might be useful to an enemy between May 1, 2019 and January 6, 2022.
A third charge alleges he elicited information about soldiers from the MoD Joint Personnel Administration System at the barracks that was likely to be useful to commit an act of terrorism on August 2, 2021.
