olice are persevering with to hunt for a former soldier accused of terrorism, as a senior Government minister admitted there have been inquiries to reply concerning the jail escape.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, went lacking in his cook dinner’s uniform from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, prompting further safety checks at main transport hubs.
There are fears the fugitive – who has been lacking since 8am on Wednesday – may attempt to flee the nation.
It has been reported that he escaped from a jail kitchen by clinging to a supply van.
Cabinet minister Michelle Donelan acknowledged that the general public can be involved concerning the incident, however insisted jail escapes have been extremely uncommon and the incident was being regarded into.
Professor Ian Acheson, a former head of safety at Wandsworth, stated Khalife’s escape was “at best” a “catastrophic system failure”.
He advised BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s incredibly embarrassing for the prison service but it’s not entirely surprising given what we know about what’s going on Wandsworth at the moment.”
Professor Acheson stated the jail was in “freefall”.
He added: “I mean, frankly, if you cannot even manage to get the bins emptied in a place like Wandsworth what else is going wrong?”
Ms Donelan stated there have been inquiries to reply, together with over the kind of jail Khalife was being held at, with HMP Wandsworth – a class B jail – having the second-highest stage of safety.
She later advised ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “This is not an epidemic or anything of that nature. This is an isolated incident.”
Khalife, who was awaiting trial after allegedly planting a faux bomb at an RAF base and gathering info that is likely to be helpful to terrorists or enemies of the UK, was discharged from the Army in May 2023.
He has denied the three fees in opposition to him.
He was final seen carrying a white T-shirt, pink and white chequered trousers and brown, metal toe-cap boots, the Metropolitan Police stated, and is slim and 6ft 2in, with quick brown hair.
The jail was placed on lockdown after he fled.
I feel there are a number of inquiries to reply right here. But the highest precedence clearly must be catching him as effectively
Ms Donelan advised LBC: “It is my understanding it is not as black and white as that when you determine where somebody goes into which type of prison, but that is something that is being looked at.
“I’ve spoken to the Justice Secretary, I know that the investigation is taking place.
“I think there are a lot of questions to answer here. But the top priority obviously needs to be catching him as well.”
She batted away questions on a hyperlink between the escape and the UK’s over-stretched jail system.
“We’ve always said that the prison estate needs an upgrade and we need to expand the capacity.
“But I don’t think that we should draw a parallel between the two things here. It is extremely rare for a prisoner to escape.
“We shouldn’t politicise the topic, really. We should look at exactly what has happened and then how can we deal with that to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Ms Donelan stated.
The head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy, has stated there's “no reason to believe Khalife poses a threat to the wider public” however has urged folks to not method him and to name 999 in the event that they spot him.
Khalife was held at Belmarsh jail however later transferred to Wandsworth, in accordance with studies.
He has hyperlinks to north-west England and Kingston in London however Mr Murphy stated the hunt is overlaying the entire of the UK.
Khalife was beforehand stationed on the Ministry of Defence’s Beacon Barracks in Stafford.
The barracks are residence to the Royal Corps of Signals 1st Signal Brigade, the Defence Electronics Agency, the RAF Joint Helicopter Command’s Tactical Supply Wing and No 22 Group air drive cadets.
According to the Telegraph, he described his function on social media as being a pc specialist with expertise together with info know-how and system administration.
The 21-year-old appeared on the Old Bailey in late July the place he denied the costs.
He is accused of eliciting or making an attempt to elicit info that might be helpful for a terrorist on August 2 2021, and breaching the Official Secrets Act by gathering info that might be helpful to an enemy between May 1 2019 and January 6 2022.
The ex-serviceman can also be accused of a felony offence referring to the alleged bomb hoax.
It is claimed that he positioned “three cannisters with wires on a desk in his accommodation” with the intention of inducing in one other a perception this was “likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property”.
A trial date has been set for November 13 at Woolwich Crown Court.
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