Daniel Khalife – live: Suspect used bed sheets to strap himself to van in Wandsworth prison escape, court hears
Daniel Abed Khalife appears before Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with escaping from prison
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Daniel Khalife used a material that may have been from “bed sheets” to strap himself to the underside of a van when he escaped from prison last week, a court has heard.
Khalife appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday after being captured and charged with escaping from prison. He was remanded in custody.
The suspected terrorist was arrested on a canal towpath in west London at 10.41am on Saturday after being pulled off a push bike by a plain-clothes counter-terrorism officer.
His detention brought a dramatic end to a 75-hour nationwide land and air manhunt after Khalife went missing from the prison on Wednesday.
Prior to his alleged escape, Khalife was on remand at HMP Wandsworth after being charged with terror offences in January.
The incident has highlighted inadequacies in the condition of the facility, with the chief inspector of prisons calling for it to be shut down.
Prison inspector reveals what life inside Wandsworth facility is like
Terror suspect Daniel Khalife escaped from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday, leading to a 75-hour manhunt that led to his capture.
His Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor reveals what life inside the “vermin-infested, crumbling” prison is like.
The prison, which holds over 1,500 inmates is a “squalid, overcrowded” prison with 600 more prisoners than its original capacity, he says based on his account of the facility.
The inspector probed the facility in September 2021 following a string of self-inflicted deaths at the jail and returned again less than a year later.
At the prison, each cell is small, dark, and cramped, with an unscreened toilet in the corner, a sink, and a plastic chair.
Cells on the lower floors suffer from vermin, while those on the top are “unbearably hot” during the summer, the prison inspector says.
However, he adds that the prison’s staff still manage to do “an amazing job” despite the “most difficult circumstances.”
Why I believe squalid prisons like Wandsworth should be closed| Charlie Taylor
Exclusive: His Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor gives a gripping eyewitness account of life inside the vermin-infested, crumbling Victorian prison from which suspected terrorist Daniel Khalife made his escape
Read more about the inspector’s first-hand account of the Wandsworth prison here.
What is terror suspect Daniel Khalife accused of?
The 21-year old terror suspect Daniel Khalife, who escaped from the Wandsworth facility, is set to go on trial in November over charges that he left fake bombs at a military base.
His intentions were reportedly to stir fears of a terrorist attack.
The terror suspect is also accused of gathering information that could benefit a foreign enemy, reportedly Iran.
Prior to his initial arrest, the 21-year-old had formerly been a soldier in the British Army since 2018.
He had worked as a computer network engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals.
Mr Khalife allegedly placed “three canisters with wires at RAF Stafford with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property.”
Khalife is believed to be of Iranian descent and the 21-year-old allegedly attempted to pass on “information that could be useful to an enemy” to a foreign power, believed to be Iran.
Questions that remain about Khalife's prison escape
Police commissioner Mark Rowley said the terror suspect’s escape from the Wandsworth prison was “clearly pre-planned.”
Daniel Khalife escaped from the prison by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery truck leaving the facility.
Mr Khalife’s escape has posed questions about the suitability of his incarceration at a Category B prison, when terror accused individuals are usually imprisoned in Category A facilities.
Justice secretary Alex Chalk has held an urgent call with the prison governor to seek assurances about the security of the jail.
“As people already know, the Justice Secretary has initiated an inquiry into the circumstances of his escape and that work will continue,” UK prime minister Rishi Sunak told broadcasters at the G20 summit venue in New Delhi.
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife ‘laughed' during arrest
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife “laughed” after he was tackled off his bike by a police officer on a canal towpath and then arrested, ending a 75-hour nationwide manhunt.
The former soldier – who was found with a sleeping bag, change of clothes, bottle of water and Waitrose cool bag – laughed at police and winked at passersby during his arrest, according to a witness.
Student Ethan Andrews, 20, told The Sun: “The guy looked up at me, winked and started laughing. I thought, how arrogant is that? I can’t believe he was just sitting there, looked at me and just winked.”
Runner describes seeing Khalife hours before arrest
Runner, Frank Noon, saw Wandsworth Prison terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife further down Thames hours before his arrest in Northolt.
Noon saw the 21-year-old “lying on his back” while he was running along the river.
“It was only when I saw him three hours later and he was wearing the same clothes that I thought that’s the same guy that’s weird,” Mr Noon told Sky News.
Khalife was tackled off his bike by a police officer on a canal towpath and then arrested, ending a 75-hour nationwide manhunt.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by a plainclothes counter-terrorism officer near Rowdell Road in west London just before 11am on Saturday (9 September) morning and is currently in their custody.
Shabnoor Irshad reports:
Runner describes seeing escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife hours before arrest
Runner, Frank Noon, saw Wandsworth Prison terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife further down Thames hours before his arrest in Greenford. Noon saw the 21-year-old “lying on his back” while he was running along the river. “It was only when I saw him three hours later and he was wearing the same clothes that I thought that’s the same guy that’s weird,” Mr Noon told Sky News. Khalife was tackled off his bike by a police officer on a canal towpath and then arrested, ending a 75-hour nationwide manhunt. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by a plainclothes counter-terrorism officer near Rowdell Road in west London just before 11am on Saturday (9 September) morning and is currently in their custody.
Justice Secretary says 40 inmates moved out of Wandsworth Prison
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said that around 40 inmates of Category B HMP Wandsworth have been moved out of the prison amid an investigation into how Daniel Khalife escaped.
He told Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Out of an abundance of caution some prisoners there, some of those on remand, have been moved (this week).
“Additional resources have of course gone into Wandsworth, so there’s additional governor support, a former governor with particular expertise in security.
“But also, out of an abundance of caution, around 40 prisoners have been moved just while we get to the bottom of what took place in Wandsworth. That is a sensible, precautionary measure.”
HMP Wandsworth had correct security protocols, suggests Justice Secretary
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said an investigation has suggested that HMP Wandsworth did have the correct security protocols and staff in place at the time of Daniel Khalife’s escape.
Discussing preliminary findings of a review he issued, Mr Chalk told Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the investigation has looked into whether protocols were in place relating to the unloading of food from a van and searching the delivery vehicle.
“Those protocols were in place, point one,” he said.
“And point two, the relevant security staff were also in place. Plainly what we’ve yet to establish is whether those protocols were followed.”
He said he will set out the terms of reference “next week” of the separate independent investigation to ensure that the conclusions are “rock solid”.
Justice Secretary has ‘absolute confidence’ in HMPPS investigation
The Justice Secretary has said he has “absolute confidence” in the senior leadership of HM Prison and Probation Service to do a “very rigorous, very searching” investigation following Daniel Khalife’s escape from Wandsworth Prison.
Alex Chalk told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that investigations into how the terror suspect was able to escape are currently underway.
He said: “I have absolute confidence in the senior leadership of HM Prison and Probation Service to do their own very rigorous, very searching investigation.”
Preliminary findings suggest it is “clear” the relevant security protocols and staff were in place at the time of Khalife’s escape, he said.
Wandsworth prisoners spend 22 hours a day in cells, says chief inspector
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor has said that prisoners at Wandsworth Prison spend up to 22 hours a day in their cells.
He told the BBC: “I think Wandsworth is failing typical of most inner city Victorian local prisons of which there is still a huge amount that are open and and there are three things really it’s about having enough staff of the right quality. It’s about the level of overcrowding that you have.
“I think Wandsworth is 600 over what it was originally designed for. It’s about, 1,600 prisoners, and that means lots of people sharing cells that were originally designed for one person.
“And the third thing is about prisoners having enough to do and what we found when we inspected Wandsworth last year was that people were largely locked in their cells for up to 22 hours a day and sometimes even worst at the weekends.”
Prison governors’ hands tied by ‘extraordinary level of bureaucracy'
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor has said that prison governors’ hands are often tied by an “extraordinary level of bureaucracy”.
He told the Laura Kuenssberg show: “It’s not just about the pipeline of people coming in. It’s also about the quality of people coming in. And the fact that many people are leaving the job after quite short periods of time.
“And one of the reasons for that, and governors tell me this is that, governors themselves have no part in the selection of staff who come and work in their jail. The boss can’t choose their staff.
“I’m a former head teacher and I sit there aghast at some of the things that governors can’t do. They can’t commission work.
“I spoke to a governor last week who said that in order to buy a pot of paint, she had to go through some long procurement exercise through the centre rather than sending someone down to Howdens to buy a pot of paint to decorate some cells.
“So there is a sort of bureaucracy around prisons, which makes things incredibly complicated and means the governors, some of them are unbelievably impressive people who do an absolutely brilliant job, but often their hands are tied by what seems to me coming from an education background, like an extraordinary level of bureaucracy.”
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