Ex-death row prisoner who escaped jail says terror suspect Khalife has ‘already fled the area’

Former death row prisoner Nick Yarris, who escaped an American jail when he was 24, has said he believes fugitive terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife has already fled the London Metropolitan area.

A nationwide manhunt is currently underway as the police continue their search for Khalife, an ex-soldier who was awaiting trial after allegedly planting a fake bomb at an RAF base and gathering information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK.

Khalife went missing in his cook’s uniform from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, prompting extra security checks at major transport hubs.

Strapping was found on the underside of a Bidfood delivery vehicle which police stopped just over an hour after it left the prison, with officers suggesting Khalife held on to the underside of the lorry to escape.

Mr Yarris, who spent 21 years in solitary confinement after being sentenced to death for a rape and murder he didn’t commit, escaped his police escort while being transported for a sentence hearing in 1985.

“After a helicopter chase that went on for several hours and conditions that were horrible, I was 24-years old and I managed to get out of the area. That’s why I believe Daniel’s already out of the area,” he told Sky News, while commenting on Khalife’s possible movements since the jailbreak.

“This is a lot of adrenaline pumping at the time. Even with or without help, Daniel’s managed to get out of the metropolitan area, somehow. Either by bicycle, which would have been the most convenient opportunity for long-range. He’s got training from the military,” Mr Yarris speculated.

The subject of a Netflix docuseries The Fear of 13 and author of a book by the same name, Mr Yarris was also asked whether he thought Khalife had any help, as intelligence sources told The Independent it is “almost certain” Khalife had inside help, calling his escape an “inside job”.

“You had to have some form of low-level assistance initially,” Mr Yarris told the news channel, explaining he managed to make it 1,100 miles away with only $150 “given to me by that first source” when he went on the run.

Mr Yarris also said he doesn’t think Khalife has escaped the country, explaining “you can’t get near a port” considering the ongoing manhunt.

“Daniel knows to go undercover, by going into the open areas of beauty,” he added.

The Metropolitan Police on Friday confirmed an overnight search in Richmond Park – involving two helicopters and officers on the ground – was connected to the hunt for Khalife.

Khalife was declared missing at 7.50am on Wednesday, with police notified at 8.15am. The lorry was stopped on Upper Richmond Road, near the junction of Carlton Drive, at 8.37am.

CCTV footage later emerged of the van driving along a road in London after it had left the prison.

Mr Yarris also told Sky News he believes Khalife “has not slept” in the last 48 hours and that he’s likely to make a “huge mistake”, expressing confidence that the 21-year-old will be found.

“My hope is that someone is not harmed by him or during the recapture.”

Once sentenced to jail alongside some of America’s worst criminals, including serial killer Ted Bundy, Mr Yarris was sentenced to death in 1981, after he was wrongly convicted for the rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig.

After Mr Yarris evaded law enforcement authorities for nearly a month in 1985, he was eventually arrested in Florida when he identified himself.

He was finally freed from a Pennsylvania prison in 2004 after DNA testing proved he was innocent.

Mr Yarris has lived in the UK since 2005.

Khalife, who denied the three charges against him, is described as slim, 6ft 2in, with short brown hair.

He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, red and white chequered trousers and brown, steel toe-capped boots, but police stressed he may have changed his clothes quickly.

Khalife has links to the West Midlands - having been stationed at the Ministry of Defence’s Beacon Barracks in Stafford - and Kingston upon Thames in south-west London, but Mr Murphy said the hunt is covering the whole of the UK.

Police have said there is no reason to believe Khalife poses a threat to the public but urged people not to approach him if they spot him and to call 999.

Additional reporting by agencies.