Bungling prison guards didn’t realise terror suspect was missing for an hour after escape

Daniel Abed Khalife was awaiting trial The hunt for a terror suspect who escaped from prison has continued into its second day as questions are raised over whether proper protocols were followed. Daniel Abed Khalife, a terror suspect who had been based at London’s HMP Wandsworth, went missing from the prison kitchen at around 7.50am on Wednesday. According to reports, he escaped by clinging to the underside of a food delivery van. He snuck into the C-Wing to the deliveries area at the prison before climbing under a van. Once there, it’s thought he used makeshift straps to tie himself to the van before being driven unknowingly out of the main gates, reports The Sun. There was a delay of around an hour between prison officials noticing Mr Khalife was missing and contacting the police, The Times has reported. An urgent inquiry is underway as police hunt the 21-year-old down. Extra security checks have been put in place at airports and ports which led to long delays for passengers on Wednesday. Authorities believed he may be attempting to leave the country after his escape. Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, said bosses need to look into “making sure there is appropriate levels of security” in prisons. Speaking on Radio 4 this morning, she said: “You have a national security subject who has also escaped from prison. You do have to look at making sure there is proper appropriate levels of security, of course it depends on the individual case. “We know there has been a failure in this case because this man has escaped from prison. We need a full investigation, we need answers from ministers. We also need to know what they have done about the security warnings in 2019 and there were warnings from the inspectorate about staffing levels and the roll out of new security and CCTV.” There have been no signs so far that police have made a breakthrough as to his whereabouts. Mr Khalife has been described as 6ft 2in tall and was last seen wearing a prison-issue chef’s uniform of a white T-shirt, red and white chequered trousers and brown steel toe cap boots. Police have said he poses a “low risk” to the public but that he should not be approached. Mr Khalife, who joined the Army in 2019, has links to the Kingston area of London and to north-west England, but the search has been expanded across the country. Trending SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info