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TOTAL FARCE
Inside ‘terrorist’ Daniel Khalife’s jailbreak ‘straight out of WW2 film’ with him hanging from bottom of grocery van
PRISON chiefs have been branded a laughing stock after a terror suspect broke out yesterday by clinging to the underside of a delivery truck.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 22, 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.
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A manhunt was later launched after his disappearance was noticed.
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.
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“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.
Khalife was charged over a bomb hoax incident at an RAF base and allegedly collecting information which would have been “useful to a terrorist”.
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.
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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.
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.”
The ex-soldier, who was based at Beacon Barracks, Staffs, 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”. 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 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.
He was working on C Wing, which houses vulnerable cons like sex offenders.
The Prison Service said: “We are working with the Metropolitan Police to recapture this prisoner and are urgently investigating how he escaped.”
Do you know more? Email Harry Goodwin: [email protected]
Ronnie's run
GREAT Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escaped Wandsworth in 1965 — by scaling the wall using a rope ladder and fleeing in a removals van.
Biggs vanished 19 months into a 30-year term for his part in the mail train hold-up in 1963 and spent 36 years on the run.
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The Sun helped him voluntarily return to Britain from Brazil in 2001 and he was released in 2009.
Spy George Blake also used a rope ladder to escape jail — fleeing Wormwood Scrubs in West London in 1966 and heading for the Soviet Union, where he died in 2020.
Khalife's full list of offences
According to the Met Police, this is the full list of Khalife's offences:
- August 2, 2021 at Beaconside, Stafford, Staffordshire, elicited or attempted to elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to section 58A of the Terrorism Act 2000.
- On or before January, 2, 2023 at Beaconside, Stafford, Staffordshire, placed an article with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property, contrary to section 51 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
Khalife appeared the Old Bailey on 21 July, where the following offence was added to his indictment:
- On dates between 1 May, 2019 and 6 January, 2022 Daniel Khalife obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated to any other person, articles, notes, documents or information which were calculated to be or might be or were intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy, contrary to section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911.
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