After his arrest, Khalife told police he had wanted to offer himself to UK security agencies, having emailed MI6 as far back as 2019.

Speaking after the verdict, Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “The threat to the UK from states such as Iran is very serious, so for a soldier in the army to be sharing sensitive military material and information with them is extremely reckless and dangerous”.

Khalife’s escape from Wandsworth also raised serious questions about security and staffing at the prison, with 40 inmates temporarily transferred to other sites while an investigation into the breakout took place.

Damien Hinds, a former prisons minister, said about 40% of prison officers did not turn up for their shift at Wandsworth on the day of Khalife’s escape, but the Ministry of Justice insisted it had been adequately staffed.

A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said that while Khalife’s case was “an isolated incident”, such matters were taken “extremely seriously, and more broadly, it is why we continue to take strong action and hold the Iranian regime to account”.