Daniel Khalife appears in court charged with Wandsworth prison escape
Daniel Khalife has appeared in court charged with escaping from Wandsworth prison.
The 21-year-old terror suspect allegedly broke out on Wednesday before being arrested in a London suburb on Saturday – ending 75 hours on the run.
The former soldier was said to be working in the prison kitchen and wearing a cook’s uniform when he disappeared.
He arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court around 9.45am in an armoured police van before appearing in the dock charged with escaping from lawful custody in HMP Wandsworth on 6 September.
Wearing a grey prison-issue tracksuit, Khalife was flanked by a security officer and two uniformed police officers, with three more plain-clothes officers in the well of the court.
Khalife, a former member of the Royal Signals who was based at Beacon Barracks in Stafford, spoke to confirm his name and date of birth but was not asked to indicate a plea to the charge.
It states that while at Wandsworth prison “being in custody on a criminal charge” he “escaped from the said custody”.
Khalife’s lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain KC made no application for bail and deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram remanded him in custody ahead of his next court appearance as part of the so-called terrorism list at the Old Bailey on 29 September.
At the time of the alleged offence, he was on remand at HMP Wandsworth awaiting trial. He had been accused of leaving fake bombs at a military base, a charge under the Terrorism Act, and another under the Official Secrets Act, which alleges he committed “an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state”.
He was discharged from the army in May and appeared at the Old Bailey via video link in July, denying the charges against him.
About 40 inmates of HMP Wandsworth have been moved out of the prison after Khalife’s alleged escape, the Justice Secretary told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.
Alex Chalk said dozens of individuals on remand had been moved to different sites “out of an abundance of caution”, he said.