Daniel Khalife – live: Suspect used bed sheets to strap himself to van in Wandsworth prison escape, court hears

Daniel Khalife has been charged with escaping from custody at HMP Wandsworth, the Metropolitan Police have said.

The terror suspect will ppear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.In a statement, the Met said: “Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday September 11 charged as follows: On the 6th day of September 2023, then being a prisoner in His Majesty’s Prison at Wandsworth, being remanded in custody pending trial as ordered at the Central Criminal Court on the 21st day of July 2023, escaped, contrary to common law.”

Daniel Khalife’s ‘ingenious’ escaoe from Wandsworth jail led to his eventual capture - involving police dogs, helicopters and back gardens.

The Metropolitan Police noted Khalife’s “ingenuity” as he escaped HMP Wandsworth in ‘prison break’ fashion by strapping himself to the underside of a delivery lorry.

A national manhunt then followed as the police scoured Richmond Park.

Two days later a confirmed sighting is believed to have helped officers locate the 21-year-old.

S member of the public reported seeing a man matching Khalife’s description walking away from a Bidfood van that had stopped near the south entrance to Wandsworth Roundabout shortly after his escape.

Commander Dominic Murphy said on Friday evening that police conducted an intelligence-led search at a residential property in the Richmond area.

He said: “We had the helicopter up, we had dogs, we had an awful lot of resource.

“I’m aware that it caused some concern for residents seeing police officers trying to search around their houses and in some cases, I’ve heard on the media… in their back gardens.

“This was all in an effort to try and locate Daniel Khalife.”

After reports of further sightings in the Church Street and Chiswick Mall area, further officers were deployed.

Khalife was eventually found on a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, around eight miles from where he was last seen by a member of the public.

Read the full story here:

See where and how the 75-hour search unfolded after Daniel Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth.

It is believed the former soldier strapped himelf to a Bidfood delivery van to get out of jail.

75-hours and a mass police search later, Khalife was arrested just over an hour away from his cell.

Read the full report here

Around 40 inmates of HMP Wandsworth have been moved out of the Category B prison after terror suspect Daniel Khalife’s escape, the Justice Secretary has said.

Justice Secretry Alex Chalk said on Sunday that the preliminary findings of his investigation into the ageing London jail have found that the relevant procedures and security staff were in place.

But he said dozens of individuals on remand have been moved to different sites “out of an abundance of caution” amid questions over why a former soldier accused of a terror offence was not in the highest security prison.

Mr Chalk 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.”

Read the full story here

An inmate of HMP Wandsworth has been stabbed four days after another prisoner escaped, the Met Police have confirmed.

The man remains in a critical condition after emergency services were called just after 3pm today and an air ambulance was sent to the scene.

It is believed the incident broke out between two prisoners.

Police say they were called to the scene at 3.20pm to reports of an assault.

No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor gives a shocking account of day-to-day life inside vermin-infested HMP Wandworth.

He writes exclusively for The Independent: “We inspected Wandsworth in September 2021 after a spate of self-inflicted deaths at the jail, and returned again less than a year later because we were so concerned about what we found.

“The cells at Wandsworth are small, dark and cramped, with an unscreened toilet in the corner, a sink and a plastic chair. Those on the lower floors suffer from vermin and damp, while the cells on the top landings are unbearably hot during the summer.”

The inspector says inmates are refined to their cells to periods of up to 22 hours a day and staffing levels are dangerously low.

With a lack of educational and developmental opportunities behind bars, Taylor explains it is no wonder the crumbling correction unit has become the perfect gateway for high levels of drug use and violence.

Read the full account about life inside Wandsworth here:

Khalife was arrested on a towpath near Rowdell Road, Northolt on Saturday 9 September following a policing operation led by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

After a mass land and air search aided by the security services, Khalife was detained on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner at 10.41am on Saturday after being pulled off a push bike by a plain-clothed counter terrorism officer.

He was arrested on a canal towpath in west London, around eight miles from where he was last seen by a member of the public.

Khalife was “fully cooperative” as he was handcuffed, with some reports claiming he was “laughing” as he was arrested.

Daniel Abed Khalife, a former British Army soldier, is thought to have used makeshift straps to cling onto a food delivery van while wearing a chef’s uniform to escape from HMP Wandsworth.

He was wearing a prison-issue chef’s uniform of a white T-shirt, red and white chequered trousers and brown steel toe cap boots, police said.

Dressed as a chef, the former Royal Signals soldier evaded guards and cameras as the lorry was driven out as he clung on using makeshift straps taking him out of the jail in seconds.

After various sightings a national manhunt led by the police involving helicopters, dogs and back gardens led officers to track him down.

Commander Dominic Murphy said on Friday evening that police conducted an intelligence-led search at a residential property in the Richmond area.

He said: “We had the helicopter up, we had dogs, we had an awful lot of resource.

“I’m aware that it caused some concern for residents seeing police officers trying to search around their houses and in some cases, I’ve heard on the media… in their back gardens.

“This was all in an effort to try and locate Daniel Khalife.”

After reports of further sightings in the Church Street and Chiswick Mall area, further officers were deployed.

Khalife was eventually found on a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, around eight miles from where he was last seen by a member of the public.

Read the full story here

A woman says she sat and had a chat with prison escapee Daniel Khalife the day before he was found.

Gabriella Lewis told The Sun that the 21-year-old revealed he had just left the Army and had a badly stitched ear injury at Chiswick House and Garden.

Feeling uncomfortable, the 52-year-old dog walker says she turned to him to say: ‘Lovely day, isn’t it?’, as reported in The Sun.

“He replied, ‘I’ve just got out of the Army’, which I thought was a strange way to start a conversation. I just said, ‘Oh. That’s good’.

“I thought if he had just left the Army he might have post traumatic stress disorder, so I was trying to be nice to him.”

She also told The Sun: “Considering he had been on the run for two days he didn’t look dirty at all. He actually looked very clean.

“But his ear looked like it had a bit missing or it had split. It had stitches in it but not like the kind you get from a doctor. It looked like he had used a blue fishing line.”