Daniel Abed Khalife escape latest: UK-wide manhunt for terror suspect who escaped Wandsworth prison

A former soldier turned terror suspect, Daniel Abed Khalife is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt after outwitting the guards at a London prison.

With airports and ports installing additional security measures and holidaymakers reporting delays at border control, his escape has posed serious questions about the suitability of his incarceration at a Category B prison.

The escape of Daniel Abed Khalife from Wandsworth prison had a knock-on effect of disrupting court hearings for other defendants on remand at the south London site.

Yesterday murder-accused Earl Morin-Britton, 36, from Sutton, south London, missed his first appearance at the Old Bailey by video link from Wandsworth prison due to the lockdown.

A prison officer told Judge Alexia Durran that there was “an operational emergency and no movement across the establishment”.

Meanwhile passengers at Manchester Airport have been facing delays of about 30 minutes at security as extra passport checks are carried out, the PA news agency understands.

Delays have been reported at the Port of Dover and Gatwick has also confirmed additional security measures are in place.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk has held an urgent call with the prison governor and senior staff in the prison service to seek assurances about what is being done to ensure the jail is secure.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are working with the Metropolitan Police to recapture this prisoner and are urgently investigating how he escaped.”

Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy, said: “We have a team of officers who are making extensive and urgent inquiries in order to locate and detain Khalife as quickly as possible.

“However, the public can help us as well and should anyone see Khalife, or have any information as to where he might be, then please call 999 immediately.

“I also want to reassure the public that we have no information which indicates, nor any reason to believe that Khalife poses a threat to the wider public, but our advice if you do see him is not to approach him and call 999 straight away.”

Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, is accused of eliciting or trying to elicit information that could be useful for a terrorist on 2 August 2021, and breaching the Official Secrets Act by gathering information that could be useful to an enemy between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

The ex-serviceman, formerly of Beacon Barracks, Beaconside, Stafford, is also accused of a criminal offence relating to the alleged bomb hoax.

It is claimed that he placed “three cannisters with wires on a desk in his accommodation” with the intention of inducing in another a belief this was “likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property”.

A trial date has been set for 13 November at Woolwich Crown Court.

A former soldier accused of terrorism has escaped jail from a prison kitchen by clinging on to a delivery van.

Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, went missing in his cook’s uniform from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday shortly before 8am, where he was being held awaiting trial for planting a fake bomb and gathering information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK.

He has denied the three charges against him.

Mr Khalife’s escape sparked a major police hunt with ports and airports placed on alert and some passengers facing delays as extra checks were carried out.

He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, red and white chequered trousers and brown steel-toe-cap boots, the Metropolitan Police said, and is slim and 6ft 2in, with short brown hair.

He made his escape, details of which were first reported in The Sun, while working in the kitchen at the category B prison.

The jail was put on lockdown after he fled.

The Labour MP for Tooting in south London, which includes Wandsworth Prison, told the BBC that the jail is “chronically understaffed”.

Rosena Allin-Khan’s team said she secured data from the government at the beginning of this year which showed that on one day last December around a third of the shifts that needed covering by prison officers during the day were unfilled.

This was after staff were offered overtime to work extra shifts.

As the search for Khalife continues into the night, police helicopters have been observed monitoring the Kingston area, the Times reports.

The escaped inmate’s family are known to have had connections in the area.

Several officers have also kept watch on an upstairs flat in Kingston, close to the edge of Richmond Park, where Khalife’s mother and sister are understood to have lived until a few years ago.

Labour demanded that the Government “urgently” explains how terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife managed to escape HMP Wandsworth.

Newly-appointed shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The Conservatives need to urgently explain how they can’t do the basic job of keeping potentially dangerous criminals locked up.

“It’s right that the police are given space to recapture this suspect. But Rishi Sunak needs to ensure there is no wider risk because his zombie Government lacks grip on the criminal justice system.”

Daniel Abed Khalife is a 21-year-old ex serviceman who has escaped from Wandsworth Prison.

He was part of the British Army’s Royal Corps of Signals and was based at Beacon Barracks in Stafford at the time of his arrest in January.

Khalife was charged with terror and explosives offences related to two incidents in Staffordshire.

The first incident was that he allegedly attempted to elicit information “about an individual who was or had been a member of His Majesty’s forces which was of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”. He is accused of committing this act in August 2021.

The second was that he that he left canisters with wires with the intent of “inducing in another the belief the item was likely to explode or ignite”. These so-called fake bombs were planted at MOD Stafford on January 2.

Khalife pleaded not guilty to both charges in July before the Old Bailey and is due to stand trial.

However, on Wednesday it was reported that he had escaped from the kitchen area of HMP Wandsworth and gained an exit by hanging on to a food delivery van.