‘I was just doing a mate a favour’

One of the men accused of helping Iranian spy Daniel Khalife escape from prison denied he was assisting a man ‘charged with espionage and terror offences.’

Imran Chowdhury, 26, withdrew £400 from an ATM for Khalife in Richmond, southwest London, after his jail break and was paid £120 for his help, Snaresbrook Crown Court has heard.

Chowdhury, who was working for a national newspaper in a ‘technical’ role at the time, claimed he was just doing a ‘favour’ for a friend and didn’t know who was receiving it.

Khalife, 24, sparked a nationwide manhunt when he escaped HMP Wandsworth using bed sheets to strap himself to the underside of a food delivery lorry on 6 September 2023.

Giving evidence Chowdhury said he agreed to deliver £400 cash to Khalife, who he did now know, after a Snapchat request from associate, Adeel Khan earlier that day.

Khan, 32, worked 190 shifts with Khalife in the prison kitchen and arranged help for Khalife via phone from prison, the court has heard.

The court heard Chowdhury worked in a technical role in the offices of a national newspaper in Victoria, which involved ‘dealing with customer interactions on the website’.

Chowdhury explained Khan was a family friend. But he said he had no idea that Khan had been in prison when he messaged him asking to carry out what Chowdhury called ‘a favour’ in front of Richmond Old Town Hall.

Tom Williams, prosecuting, said to Chowdhury: ‘By the time you arrived in Richmond you had seen the news and it’s not true you never made the connection untily your arrest in 2024.’

Chowdhury replied: ‘That’s not true. Until my arrest I didn’t know Adeel was in prison.’

The prosecutor continued: ‘You were paid to do a job not a favour. What you did was a considerable assistance to someone charged with espionage and terror offences.’

Chowdhury disagreed.

Mr Williams added: ‘We agree that now you know that man was Daniel Khalife. You now know that money you took out helped him buy a phone and communicate with his Iranian handlers.

‘How do you feel about that?’

Chowdhury replied: ‘Now I feel terrible. My whole life has gone to pieces, I’ve lost my job, I feel terrible’.

The prosecutor replied: ‘That’s about yourself. I asked you how you feel and you referred mostly to the impact on you.’

Chowdhury’s barrister then clarified that the question was about how he felt for helping a spy.

He replied: ‘Terrible. I would never go against the state’.

Chowdhury explained he knew Khan through his brother and had visited his family home.

Asked why he had said ‘I know why you are here’ when police stormed his east London home Chowdhury claimed this was nothing to do with Khalife – but because of a ‘bar fight’ that had resulted in a ‘murder’.

He said he had not answered police questions when his home was raided, Chowdhury said he had ‘taken his solicitor’s advice’, and added that he was in ‘shock’.

Mr Williams suggested Chowdhury had not answered questions ‘because he had not worked out what he was going to say about this’ adding:

‘You were asked why you took cash out. You said ‘no comment’ because you were not yet sure about what you were going to say.’

Chowdhury replied: ‘I do not agree at all.’

Mr Williams said: ‘If what you say is true, it was true then.’

But Chowdhury said: ‘I had not pieced together events, I had no idea of my role in this.

‘I wanted to go out of the police station. I had been there nearly 22 hours.’

Khalife, who was on remand awaiting trial for selling secrets to Iranian agents, was arrested by a canal in Northolt three days after he escaped, jurors heard.

In November 2024, the former lance corporal was found guilty of his prison escape as well as spying for Iran. He was sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison in February last year.

Chowdhury, of Parade Gardens, Chingford, and Khan, of Alma Avenue, Hornchurch, deny assisting an escaped prisoner.

Jurors were told Khan had admitted possession of an iPhone 8 in prison.

The trial continues.
ENDS