Terror suspect Daniel Khalife charged with escaping custody at Wandsworth prison

Terror suspect Daniel Khalife has been charged with escaping custody at HMP Wandsworth, London.

The Metropolitan Police said the 21-year-old former soldier will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Khalife was arrested on Saturday morning after being "pulled off a push bike" by a plain clothes officer on a towpath near Rowdell Road in Northolt.

His capture followed a mass land and air search over four days after he went missing from the prison on Wednesday.

He is charged with escaping custody on September 6 while on remand at Wandsworth pending trial at the Old Bailey, contrary to common law.

Prior to his alleged escape, Khalife was on remand at HMP Wandsworth after being charged with terror offences in January.

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.

Khalife, who according to reports is accused of gathering information for Iran, is understood to have gone missing in a cook’s uniform from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning.

Likely someone helped Khalife, says former prisons minister

Former prisons minister Rory Stewart said somebody would have helped Khalife's alleged escape.

“In this particular case, it seems clear if he had strapping underneath this vehicle, that there was some kind of collusion and support," he told Sky News.

"But it’s also clear that they seemed to spend, I don’t know, half an hour/45 minutes before they even noticed he was gone from the kitchen, and he shouldn’t be in the kitchen in the first place.”

He added that prisons in England and Wales are “unmanageable”.Mr Stewart added: “The bigger issue is the prison population, these prisons are totally unmanageable. And the main thing that I was trying to do when I was in government is reduce the prison population.”

Details of Khalife's arrest after four-day manhunt

Commander Dominic Murphy, the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism chief, vowed police will ensure that anyone who helped or supported Khalife in his escape faces justice too.

The Met said a 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 on Wednesday morning.

Officers then carried out a search in the Richmond area and, although Khalife was not found there, the force received a number of calls from the public with sightings of the suspect nearby.

Police were seen checking people’s gardens, stopping cars, inspecting car boots, and asking residents for their IDs throughout Saturday morning.Revealing details of Khalife's arrest on Saturday, Mr Murphy said: "He was actually arrested by a plain clothes officer… and he was riding a push bike at the time, was pulled off that push bike by that officer and arrested at that location.

"Upon being detained by the officer he was fully co-operative and handcuffed and arrested."

It happened at 10.41am on Rowdell Road in UB5 in London on the canal towpath.

He revealed the police had received "well over 100 calls" from members of the public to report sightings of Khalife, and that the public have been "absolutely integral" in capturing the ex-serviceman.

"It’s been about 75 hours since he went missing from the prison to the point of his arrest," he said. "That’s pretty quick given the challenge of trying to find this individual."

40 inmates moved out of HMP Wandsworth

His charge comes as around 40 inmates at the Category B jail have been moved out of the prison amid an investigation into how Khalife escaped.

Justice Secretary Alex 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".

He said an investigation has suggested the prison did have the correct security protocols and staff in place at the time of Khalife's escape.

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