The mother of Daniel Khalife, the terror suspect who is charged with escaping from Wandsworth Prison, has said her son does “not live in reality” as she urged him to seek help.
Speaking to the Times, Farnaz Khalife, 47, a former nurse from south-west London said her son “doesn’t think like a normal person”.
Khalife, 21, joined the Army at age 16 with his mother’s consent, but grew distant from her, with Ms Khalife saying she worried her son needed help.
“It doesn’t sound like he was getting help at all. His problems were not being taken seriously. I am just worried about Dan, he’s always in my mind, I just want to help him,” she said.
“When he was arrested, he laughed and winked, that’s not normal. I feel helpless. This is not reality, it is a fantasy. He doesn’t think like a normal person.”
Ms Khalife, who moved from Kingston to Wales in 2020, told the Times that she found out police were looking for her son during a visit to see her daughter in London.
“I was just getting back to Teddington and I got off the bus and opened my phone,” she said.
“His name came up, I didn’t read the whole thing, I thought he must have killed himself, I was shaking, I had a panic attack and then I sat down and opened my phone and read the whole thing.”
Khalife was educated at Marshgate Primary School in North Sheen and Teddington School, and later decided to join the Army after watching programmes about the SAS.
The 21-year-old was arrested on a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, on Saturday.
Khalife, a former soldier in the British army, was being held at HMP Wandsworth as he awaits a trial on terrorism charges.
A court heard on Monday, that he may have used bedsheets to break out of Wandsworth prison. He is now accused with escaping from lawful custody on September 6.
The incident prompted an urgent investigation by Justice Secretary Alex Chalk. The cabinet minister on Sunday revealed that dozens of inmates have been moved out of the Victorian prison to another jail while an investigation is ongoing.
