The former British soldier Daniel Khalife has changed his plea to guilty of trying to escape from Wandsworth prison, part way through his trial.

The 23-year-old, who is giving evidence at Woolwich crown court, initially pleaded not guilty to escaping from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London in September 2023.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told jurors on Monday she had asked Khalife if he wanted the escape charge to be put to him again. When it was, he said: “I’m guilty.”

He continues to deny gathering information useful to an enemy, collecting a list of Special Forces soldiers that would be useful for terrorism, and perpetrating a bomb hoax.

Khalife escaped from the prison by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers. After his recapture he claimed he was hoping to be kept in a high-security unit (HSU) at a different prison, the court had previously heard.

The court heard he made a fake escape attempt on 21 August in the hope he would be moved to the HSU but decided that a genuine escape was his only option after the incident was not reported to senior prison staff.

Khalife 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.

Five days before his successful escape, he attached a sling to the underside of the lorry made from kitchen trousers and carabiners. The sling “wasn’t spotted at Wandsworth gate or any other prison”, Khalife said.

“When the tail lift raised it covered me entirely,” he continued. “If the makeshift sling wasn’t noticed, they’re hardly going to notice me.”

While on the run, Khalife bought clothes from Marks & Spencer and a coffee from McDonald’s, and walked beside 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].”

Khalife stole a hat from a Mountain Warehouse store and used a bicycle he found, his trial heard on Monday.

“[The bike] was rotting away, I gave it new life,” he said.

The trial continues.