CCTV footage shows delivery van missing terror suspect Daniel Khalife used to escape prison

CCTV footage of the vehicle missing terror suspect Daniel Khalife used to escape prison has been publicly released.

Daniel Abed Khalife escaped Wandsworth Prison on the morning of Wednesday (6 September), just before 8am.

The 21-year-old former member of the army is believed to have broken out of the Category B men's prison from the facility's kitchen by clinging to the bottom of a food delivery van.

CCTV footage has revealed the moment the food delivery van travelled through Putney, in south London.

Khalife was in Wandsworth Prison awaiting trial, accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act and of various terrorism offences.

The 21-year-old allegedly collected personal information about soldiers from the Ministry of Defence Joint Personnel Administration System in 2021 to pass onto a hostile state, believed to be Iran.

The 21-year-old is also accused of leaving a fake bomb device at the Ministry of Defence Stafford, where he was based as a soldier.

Khalife denies all charges.

Met Police

Khalife was last seen in a white T-shirt and red and white chequered trousers - a prison-issue chef's uniform - and wearing brown steel toe cap boots. Police describe him as 6ft 2in tall.

He is believed to have escaped the prison via the kitchen by clinging onto the underside of the food delivery van using ties - despite normal procedure seeing the underside of vehicles coming in and out of the prison checked by members of the security team using mirrors.

The delivery van travelled from Wandsworth prison, along Trinity Road, before passing near Wandsworth Town train station and heading to Upper Richmond Road.

The vehicle was stopped and searched by police at 8.37am on Upper Richmond Road, but Khalife had vanished.

Head of Met's Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy said: "This was a really busy area of London and we’ve had no confirmed sightings in any of that information, which is a little unusual and perhaps a testament to Daniel Khalife‘s ingenuity in his escape and some of his movements after his escape."

Sky News

Khalife has, so far, evaded police for over 48 hours, an 'urgent' nationwide manhunt remaining underway to try and locate the suspect. While he's considered 'low risk' to members of the public, people have been urged to call 999 if they spot him.

The 21-year-old is believed to have ties with the area of Kingston, London so counter-terror officers have been deployed across the capital as a focal point, according to Commander Murphy, as per the BBC.

Richmond Park was also closed off this morning (Friday, 8 September) as part of the ongoing search.

Khalife is reported as having links to the North West too and extra security checks are taking place at airports and ports in a bid to prevent him escaping the country.

A prison service spokesperson stated, as quoted by BBC: "An internal investigation is under way and the justice secretary is working to understand from operational colleagues this evening both the categorisation decision and the situation that led to the escape, what protocols were in place and if they were followed."

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Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.