Daniel Khalife was taken on a month-long trip to Iran to bring him “down to earth” when he was a badly behaved teenager, a court has heard.

The 23-year-old, who joined the Army to escape his “very strict” upbringing, had been misbehaving in school when his mother decided to teach him a lesson, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Khalife, who has pleaded guilty to escaping from prison, is accused of collecting secret information and passing it to agents of the Middle Eastern country while a serving soldier.

Born in Marylebone, Westminster, he later moved to Kingston in south-west London with his sister and Iranian mother.

“My mother was concerned that I was misbehaving in school,” he said.

“She wanted to show me how people live in our own country to bring me down to earth.”

Khalife said the visit made him think “I definitely need to start studying for my GCSEs and stop being a twat”.

As a teenager, he went shoplifting with a group of friends after learning about powerful magnets in a physics lesson and realising they could be used to remove security tags, he previously told the court.

He said he did not enjoy his education at Teddington School and struggled to learn, but ultimately passed 10 GCSEs.

The former Royal Corps of Signals soldier was taken on the trip aged 15 with his twin sister, jurors heard.

They visited the capital, Tehran, and mostly stuck to tourist areas, Khalife said.

Asked by his defence barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain KC if he had visited any military sites or military academies, he replied: “No, no, of course not, I was just a child.

“Kids there are very educated,” he said of the country.

“It’s strange having an Uber driver with a PhD.”

Khalife denies charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and claims he wanted to work as a double agent.

He also denies perpetrating a bomb hoax.

The trial continues.