Moment British soldier accused of spying for Iran 'escapes from prison while clinging to bottom of food lorry using "makeshift sling" before going on shopping spree across London'
Jurors have been shown CCTV of the dramatic moment British soldier Daniel Khalife escaped from prison while clinging to the bottom of a food lorry.
Jurors have been shown CCTV of the dramatic moment British soldier Daniel Khalife escaped from prison while clinging to the bottom of a food lorry.
The British soldier, 23, slipped out of custody while working in the kitchens at HMP Wandsworth on September 6 last year - triggering a huge nationwide manhunt.
Using a ‘makeshift sling’ he had attached to the underside of a food delivery lorry, he stowed himself there as the oblivious driver left the prison estate.
CCTV footage from the prison – played to his trial at Woolwich Crown Court today (Wednesday) - shows the food delivery lorry pausing outside the prison, before being allowed to continue on its way.
A compilation of footage was then shown to the jury, showing Khalife making his way on foot across London.
The British soldier, 23, prepares to slip out of custody while working in the kitchens at HMP Wandsworth - triggering a huge nationwide manhunt
He attaches a makeshift sling to the underside of a food delivery lorry and stows himself there as the oblivious driver leaves the prison estate
CCTV footage from the prison – played to his trial at Woolwich Crown Court today (Wednesday) - shows the food delivery lorry pausing outside the prison, before being allowed to continue on its way
Khalife (pictured) denies the charge of escaping from lawful custody. He had been awaiting trial for allegedly spying for Iran when he escaped from HMP Wandsworth
Just hours after his escape, he was seen next to a thick throng of passersby on Richmond riverside, none of whom appear to twig that they have just seen Britain’s most wanted fugitive.
He was able to pick up a change of clothes at a branch of Marks and Spencer and Mountain Warehouse, with his wardrobe changing regularly while he was on the loose.
Just after 8am on September 8, two days after his escape, he was even seen popping into a newsagents and leafing through a copy of the Daily Mail - apparently reading an article about his own escape.
He then bought that day’s edition.
Khalife is said to have bought a Samsung J5 mobile phone for £89 from The Gift Shop in Hammersmith and it is alleged he used the device to contact an Iranian spy.
The British soldier had been awaiting trial for allegedly spying for Iran when he escaped from HMP Wandsworth.
Khalife is seen walking along George Street in Richmond on September 6 2023 - the day of his escape
The escaped prisoner is seen wearing a mask again as he walks into a Sainsburys in King Street, west London
Khalife was also seen wearing a cap as he wandered into a Marks and Spencers in Kew, London
Handout CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police dated 8/9/2023 of Daniel Khalife at a newsagents in Grove Park Road, Chiswick, London
A message recovered from the phone showed he texted his Iranian handler, who used the alias David Smith, on the Telegram instant messaging app, saying: ‘I wait.’
He was eventually detained riding a bicycle along a canal towpath in Northolt, north London, on September 9 - three days after his escape.
Several witnesses also saw Khalife while he was at large around the capital.
Bartender Sinead Shepherd said in a statement she was working at the Rose of York pub in Richmond, west London, on the evening of his alleged escape when a man matching his description walked in.
‘He looked a bit geeky and reminded me of a bird watcher,’ Ms Shepherd said.
The man asked to borrow the landline, because he had been walking around in the heat all day and wanted to ring his friends.
Daniel Khalife walking past the White Cross Pub in Richmond, London, which was shown to a jury at the Old Bailey
Handout CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police dated 9/9/2023 of Daniel Khalife at a branch of McDonalds branch in Uxbridge Road, Southall, London
Daniel Khalife at a branch of Mountain Warehouse in Richmond, London, which was shown to a jury at the Old Bailey, London, during his trial
Escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife (pictured) was able to wander around London and go on a shopping spree despite being Britains most wanted man
She agreed because he looked tired and saw him ring numbers he had written down in a small black notebook, which she thought was unusual given that people his age usually owned mobile phones.
He spent around 15 minutes on the phone before leaving, she said.
Khalife denies the charge of escaping from lawful custody, but a list of facts agreed by the prosecution and the defence say ‘Mr Khalife deliberately escaped from HMP Wandsworth under a food delivery lorry’ and that he was ‘being kept in lawful custody pending his trial’.
He was said to have managed to escape the Category B prison by exploiting his role working in its kitchens to strap himself underneath a food delivery vehicle.
He was not seen going underneath the lorry, but when the driver was later shown a picture of Daniel Khalife, he told police: ‘That’s the guy who was supposed to help me but didn’t show up.’
During his three days at large, Khalife was seen wearing a rotating wardrobe of outfits, which were found stuffed in a Waitrose bag he was carrying at the time of his arrest
A statement from the driver, Balazs Werner, said that he had been alerted to a possible missing inmate before his vehicle - with Khalife underneath - was allowed to leave HMP Wandsworth.
He said that he had arrived with his lorry at around 6.30am, with security guards checking his vehicle.
After unloading the food delivery, he began to drive his lorry towards the main gates to leave and was stopped by two prison guards.
‘I heard (the guards) saying someone in the prison was missing,’ the driver said.
‘The two guards looked around my vehicle again as a result of this and I think used a mirror at the back.
‘I said “are you sure I can go, I thought there should be a lockdown if someone is missing?”.
‘They said I could go. I thought this was strange.’
Motorist Skye Vokins described seeing Khalife drop from the lorry and ‘pencil roll’ out at a pedestrian crossing in Wandsworth, before ‘casually’ walking away.
When police eventually caught up with the lorry, a sniffer dog prompted them to look below the vehicle.
Prosecutor Tom Williams told the court: ‘Officers then searched underneath the truck. They discovered a makeshift sling between the chassis rails, behind the rear differential.
‘The sling was attached to the metal frame, width-ways, with two metal carabiner clips on each end of the sling to secure it in place.
‘There were clean scuff marks underneath the truck, which was otherwise dirty underneath, suggesting that a person had been there, using the makeshift rope to support his weight while holding on to the frame of the truck.’
Khalife denies committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, eliciting information about members of the armed forces, perpetrating a bomb hoax and escaping from lawful custody.
The trial continues.
