A massive police manhunt continues overnight after a suspected terrorist escaped from prison 'clinging to a delivery van'.
Former British Army soldier Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, was reported to police after escaping from HMP Wandsworth at around 7.50am on Wednesday morning. Khalife was on remand at HMP Wandsworth, awaiting trial in relation to terrorism and Official Secrets Act offences.
He was last seen clad in a white t-shirt, red and white checked trousers, with a pair of brown steel to cap boots. Police confirmed this evening that he was wearing chef's clothes during his get away. The 21-year-old, who was discharged from the army in May, has been described as being of "slim build" with "short brown hair and is around 6ft 2ins tall". Cops say they believe he is likely to still be in London, and has links to Kingston, but that he may have travelled "further afield".
The escape has lead to delay chaos across UK airports as police were seen checking passengers identification documents as they boarded flights at Glasgow and Manchester, it has been claimed. Enhanced checks are also being carried out at the Port of Dover, London Heathrow and Gatwick. Although Khalife is from Kingston, it is understood that his family recently moved to Wales. Officers have been seen searching cars at Holyhead, Wales Online reported tonight.
According to the BBC, Khalife was accused of planting fake bombs - three cannisters with wires protruding from them - at the MOD Stafford military base on January 2. He had previously appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court. The court heard how he left the device "with the intention of inducing in another the belief the item was likely to explode or ignite".
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Huge queues at Glasgow Airport as police search for the suspectAccording to the terror charges, he extracted his colleagues' personal information which would be "useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". Khalife has denied any wrongdoing. Officers are keen to hear from anyone with information that might assist with locating Khalife - even if it doesn’t relate to a live sighting.
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “We have a team of officers who are making extensive and urgent enquiries 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 or the 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.”
If seen, the public are advised not to approach Khalife and to call 999 immediately, quoting reference CAD 1631/06SEP23.
A 'national incident' was declared at multiple UK airports with security gates closed as 'police search for someone'. People waiting for flights at Manchester Airport and Glasgow Airport have faced long queues with police checking everyone’s ID after they have gone through the security hall on Wednesday afternoon. Delays and queues hundreds deep continue at Heathrow tonight as Border Force officials are focused on finding the escapee.
Ports across the UK were also facing delays as cops frantically searched for Khalife. Witnesses in Wales noticed officers stopping people's cars and checking inside in Holyhead, as it's believed Khalife has connections there.
Khalife 'used army training to escape'
On how he managed to escape, one expert has said Khalife's army training will have proved vital. Mark Leech, managing director of the Prison Oracle, told the Mirror: “As a soldier he will have been trained to escape captivity. As a soldier he will have been aware of how to conduct himself, trained in how to groom others, how to give false impressions, how to spot weaknesses in security and how to fully exploit them as he clearly did here.
“The question is why he was not as a terror suspect detained in Belmarsh - his security classification will have been assessed as Category B and his Escape Risk assessed as low, that is something that in hindsight they will want to review and the investigation will look into that.
“It may well be he was wrongly security classified, detained in the wrong establishment as a result, and his escape risk was not properly assessed - he may well have given the impression to perhaps inexperienced staff who conducted his security categorisation he was far less of a security escape risk than in reality he has proved to be.”
Police on high alert
In a statement shared with the Mirror this afternoon, the Metropolitan Police said: "An alert was issued by the Counter Terrorism Command earlier today in relation to Khalife through established operational briefing channels to relevant UK police and law enforcements agencies, including those at UK ports and borders."
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Today's escape also disrupted hearings for other defendents at the Old Bailey. Accused murderer Earl Morin-Britton, 36, from Sutton, missed his first appearance by video link because of the lockdown at HMP Wandsworth, the Independent has reported.
During the hearing, Judge Alexia Durran presiding asked a prison officer to explain the problem on the call. He told her: “We have got an operational emergency and no movement across the establishment. No bodies are being moved due to the severity of the matter. A lot of appearances in court will be delayed.”
The UK prison service says it is "urgently investigating" how Daniel Abed Khalife managed to escape. It was reported that he turned suspected terrorist clung onto the bottom of a food delivery van, after sneaking into the kitchen at the category B prison.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are working with the Metropolitan Police to recapture this prisoner and are urgently investigating how he escaped.”
Escapes from Her Majesty's prisons have become rarer, with only five jail breaks since 2017. Since 2010, there have been less than 20. The most-recent high-profile escape involving terror suspects happened in 1994 when IRA prisoners broke out of Whitemoor prison in 1994.
In January 2022, an HM Inspectorate of Prisons report said "a serious security breach" was the cause of a 2019 escape from HMP Wandsworth, reports the BBC.
The inspectorate had been given "some assurance that action to prevent further escapes had been taken", the report read, adding "current local security data evidenced some concerns in the physical aspects of security".
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