A Serco vehicle outside Wandsworth prison. Reuters
A Serco vehicle outside Wandsworth prison. Reuters
A Serco vehicle outside Wandsworth prison. Reuters
A Serco vehicle outside Wandsworth prison. Reuters

Daniel Khalife charged with escaping custody


Gillian Duncan
  • English
  • Arabic

Terrorism suspect Daniel Khalife has been charged with escaping custody at HMP Wandsworth, the Metropolitan Police said on Sunday.

The 21-year-old former soldier, who was recaptured by police on Saturday, is believed to have escaped the prison by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform on Wednesday.

He is due to appear in Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday.

Preliminary findings of an investigation determined that relevant procedures and security staff were in place at the time Mr Khalife went missing, said the Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, on Sunday.

But about 40 people on remand have been moved to different sites "out of an abundance of caution" amid questions over why a former soldier accused of a terror offence was not in the highest security prison, he said.

He 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.

"But also, out of an abundance of caution, around 40 prisoners have been moved just while we get to the bottom of what took place in Wandsworth. That is a sensible, precautionary measure."

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk speaks to the media outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, after appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. PA
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk speaks to the media outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, after appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. PA

Mr Chalk said the investigation has looked into whether protocols were in place relating to the unloading of food from a van and searching the delivery vehicle.

"Those protocols were in place, point one," he said. "And point two, the relevant security staff were also in place.

"Plainly what we've yet to establish is whether those protocols were followed."

He said he will set out "next week" the terms of reference of the separate independent investigation to ensure that the conclusions are "rock solid".

Mr Khalife was dramatically arrested on Saturday in the north-west London suburb of Northolt after four days on the run.

RETRANSMITTING CORRECTING AREA The canal towpath in Northolt, west London where terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife was arrested. PA
RETRANSMITTING CORRECTING AREA The canal towpath in Northolt, west London where terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife was arrested. PA

He was being held in Wandsworth at the time of his escape ahead of his trial on offences relating to terrorism and the Official Secrets Act.

Mr Khalife is suspected of trying to pass information during his time working for the Royal Corps of Signals, which handles sensitive communications, and is accused of leaving hoax bomb devices at a military base in Stafford, West Midlands, near the army barracks where he lived.

He is also facing accusations that he passed information to Iran.

Mr Khalife was brought up in west London with his twin sister by a single mother who was born and raised in Iran.

One friend said the family had initially lived in central London, and moved to Teddington when Mr Khalife was around 10 years old.

He was described as “a bit lost and generally quite sweet” by those who knew him as a child.

Land and air search

He gained a “handful” of GCSEs and then dropped out of school to join the army, where he was serving at Beacon Barracks in Staffordshire, the base for the 1st Signal Brigade.

After a mass land and air search aided by the security services, Mr Khalife was detained on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner at 10.41am on Saturday after being pulled off a push bike by a plain-clothed counter terrorism officer.

He was arrested on a canal towpath in west London, around eight miles from where he was last seen by a member of the public, and remains in police custody.

Officers conducted an "intelligence-led search at a residential premises" 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.

The Met's counter-terrorism boss Commander Dominic Murphy said Mr Khalife was "fully co-operative" as he was handcuffed, with some media reports claiming he was "laughing" as he was arrested.

It is unclear whether he will be returned to the category B prison or a higher-security location.

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  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
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Fixtures and results:

Wed, Aug 29:

  • Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
  • Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
  • UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs

Thu, Aug 30: UAE v Nepal; Hong Kong v Singapore; Malaysia v Oman

Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal

Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore

Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu, Sep 6: Final

TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Director: Mahdi Fleifel

Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa

Rating: 4.5/5

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Three tips from La Perle's performers

1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.

2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.

3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Scotland v Ireland:

Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Josh Strauss, James Ritchie, Ryan Wilson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Allan Dell

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, Rob Harley, Ali Price, Pete Horne, Blair Kinghorn

Coach: Gregor Townsend (SCO)

Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour

Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Updated: September 10, 2023, 12:48 PM`