Daniel Abed Khalife, prison kitchen worker at HMP Wandsworth who escaped jail, has been caught by the police. Who is he and what is he charged with?
Khalife hid under the food delivery truck to make his escape while working in the prison kitchen on Wednesday morning.
He fled in a chef’s uniform of a white T-shirt, red and white chequered trousers and brown steel toecap boots.
The terror suspect thought to have used makeshift straps to attach himself to the truck as it was waved out of the notorious lock-up.
A huge manhunt has been launched for Khalife with security checks taking place at UK airports and ports.
Following his escape, prison chiefs have been branded a laughing stock.
Also, the terror suspect’s prison co-worker has spoken and revealed how he told him he would be famous and kept checking himself out in mirror.
After four day of serious search for missing convict, Khalife, he was recaptured by undercover police in a dramatic moment.
But who is Daniel Khalife, what did he do, why was he arrested and how did he escape prison? Read on for more.
Who is Daniel Abed Khalife?
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, is an ex-soldier and a convict who escaped from prison and a serious manhunt was immediately launched.
The ex-squaddie was based at Beacon Barracks, Staffs and was attached to the Royal Signal Corps before being discharged.
He was working on C Wing, which houses vulnerable cons like sex offenders.
Khalife was charged over a bomb hoax incident at an RAF base. Allegedly, he had collected information which would have been “useful to a terrorist”.
On Wednesday morning (September 6, 2023), reports about his escape from the HMP Wandsworth, south London jail went viral garnering a lot of concern.
Khalife was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, red and white chequered trousers, and brown steel-toe cap boots. He is of slim build, has short brown hair, and is around 6ft 2ins tall.
A police manhunt for terror suspect Daniel Khalife who escaped from prison after “sneaking out of the kitchen and clinging to a delivery van” was later launched after his disappearance was noticed and has continued for days now.
Met Police offered a reward of up to £20,000 for information concerning Khalife.
On September 9th, after almost four day of thorough search, he was recaptured by the police and sent back to jail.
How did Daniel Abed Khalife escape from prison?
Terror suspect Daniel Khalife broke out of jail on September 6, 2023, by clinging to the underside of a delivery truck
He was hanging upside-down in his red chequered chef’s trousers when the van was waved through the front gates at HMP Wandsworth in South West London.
Security experts last night likened the former soldier’s Colditz-style getaway to something you only see in “old World War Two films”.
After serving breakfast to lags, kitchen worker Khalife made his way to the delivery area at around 7.50am, armed with makeshift straps.
An insider told The Sun: “He slipped under the delivery van dropping off groceries at the kitchen and strapped himself under the vehicle.
“After the food supplies were unloaded, the van drove back out through the main gate and was given a cursory inspection before being waved through. Then he disappeared into thin air.”
As an urgent probe got under way, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk demanded an explanation from governor Katie Price.
Although not considered dangerous, the public were warned not to approach the escapee — who is slim with brown hair and around 6ft 2in tall — but to call 999.
His disappearance was not immediately noticed.
But the jail later went into lockdown in a search for the lag, who was wearing a white top, red and white trousers and brown boots with steel toe caps.
An all-ports alert was issued over fears Khalife, attached to the Royal Signal Corps when charged in January, could sneak abroad.
And dozens of flights could be delayed as security forces across the country were put on watch for the alleged terrorist.
Police said they are “making extensive and urgent inquiries” to find the prisoner, who grew up in the nearby area with his mum and twin sister and has links to Kingston upon Thames.
What was Daniel Khalife charged with?
The ex-soldier is accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act and acting against the “safety and interests of the State”.
He allegedly collected information, notes and documents which might be “useful to the enemy”, under the Official Secrets Act. It is also said he took details from MoD files “useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
Khalife is also accused of a bomb hoax, by allegedly leaving “three canisters with wires” on a desk at RAF Stafford on January 2.
He vanished for more than three weeks after the bomb hoax before being arrested on January 26.
He was discharged from the Army in April and was due to stand trial on November 20.
A bail application had been refused.
He was initially held at top-security Belmarsh in South East London, before a move to Wandsworth, a Category B Victorian jail.
The embarrassing security bungle sparked outrage.
Ex-Met Police commander John O’Connor said: “This sounds like something which could have happened at Colditz rather than a modern prison. It makes the prison service look like a laughing stock.
“It is utterly ridiculous he managed to escape so easily with such a basic old-fashioned ploy. Escaping by clinging to the underside of a van is the sort of thing you see in old World War Two films.”
Tory MP Paul Maynard, who sits on the Justice Select Committee, said: “Whilst the focus right now should clearly be on tracking down this individual, there must be serious questions asked in the near term about how a person accused of acts prejudicial to national security could be permitted to escape.”
Ian Acheson, former head of security at Wandsworth, added: “This is incredibly serious. An escape from custody, as this appears to be, would have to defeat multiple layers of physical/human security. We must know what’s happened.”
Chris Jones, fellow prisoner who worked with Daniel Khalife reveals how desperate the terror suspect was to gain fame and would always kept checking himself out in mirror.
Chris Jones was in the same kitchen at HMP Wandsworth where the 22-year-old plotted his audacious jail break.
He said Khalife was brought in as a vulnerable prisoner to work alongside other inmates.
Jones, who left the prison after seven months on remand when he acquitted, said the terror suspect “seemed like an odd sausage”.
He told the BBC: “One lunchtime he came in saying that he was going be famous. I told him: ‘I think you’ve got on the wrong bus, mate.’
“He would come to work with a comb and mirror constantly checking his appearance, although I can’t say I thought much of it.”
Jones said Khalife, who escaped strapped to the bottom of a food truck, unloaded lorry deliveries at the Category B jail.
He told how inmates used to “joke” about jumping in the lorry and driving off with it when it arrived to drop off supplies.
But he said there was always a swarm of security surrounding the truck so he was “surprised” Khalife actually made it.
Jones added: “Having said this, many mistakes were made all the time, all down to staffing issues.
“One time we were put on lockdown because there was an inmate missing, but it turned out that he had been released the day before but it hadn’t been correctly registered.
“So in that sense, I’m not surprised that someone slipped up, or that they didn’t have enough people to staff the kitchen, and that he took his chance to unload the truck and vanish underneath the lorry.”
How was Daniel Khalife caught?
Khalife has been caught after he escaped prison. He was captured on September 9th around 11 am and he was found with a bike, a sleeping bag and a Waitrose cool bag of groceries when plain-clothes cops swooped, before forensics officers attended to scour the scene, the Metropolitan Police confirms.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: “Metropolitan Police officers have arrested Daniel Khalife, who escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday 6 September.
“Officers apprehended him just before 11am today, in the Chiswick area, and he is currently in police custody.
“We would like to thank the public and media for their support throughout our investigation to locate Khalife and we will provide a further update on his arrest in due course.”
And this afternoon they revealed he was pulled off a bike by plain-clothes police who finally caught up with him.
Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s counter terrorism command, said Khalife was “fully co-operative” with officers when detained.
The suspect was taken into custody at a west London police station.
Cdr Murphy said Khalife would “still stand trial for original offences”.
Rishi Sunak said he was “very pleased” Khalife had been arrested, while praising efforts by the police and the public to find him.
He said: “This is obviously very welcome news. And again, my thanks to the police but also to the public for their help.”