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 in his trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Daniel Khalife said “I am English” and is “against the regime in Iran”.

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

Jurors on Wednesday heard about Mr Khalife’s family life and childhood, having been born in Marylebone and growing 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 would just pop in and out, do some damage and leave,” 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 court.

He also said he struggled to pay attention in class at school but got 10 GCSEs.

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

“It wasn’t abusive but it was difficult growing up in that environment.”

Mr Khalife told the court that he felt a “level of shame” about his poor background, adding: “We were a poor family living in a relatively wealthy area, so the relationships I formed in essence were fake.”

Asked what his family thought about the regime in Iran, he said: “My mother detests the regime, and probably the country as well.”

“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 as “she wanted to show us how people lived”.

“One of the things I remember was how educated much of the youth were and how little opportunities they had,” he told jurors. “Every day that I was in that country I wanted to come back.”

“I hated it. I thought it was a horrible place. The weather, the government everything.”

At the age of 16, Mr Khalife joined the Army, doing his Phase One (initial) training in Harrogate.

He told 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 the UK were, he said “I am a patriot, It’s as simple as that. I love my country.”

“I am English and that is how I see it.”

Mr Khalife denies escaping from prison, gathering information useful for Iran, collecting names of special forces soldiers useful to terrorists and perpetrating a bomb hoax at his barracks in Stafford.

He also faces charges under the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.

His evidence, and the trial, continues.