A summary of today's developments
Met Police commander Dominic Murphy said officers had so far not received any confirmed sightings of Daniel Khalife since he escaped from Wandsworth prison in South London on Wednesday morning.
Commander Murphy added there were more than 150 investigators and police staff from counter terrorism command working in London on the “fast paced investigation” to find Khalife, with support from forces and agencies around the country.
Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, told Sky News that Wandsworth prison should be shut down. Speaking on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge programme, he said: “When you find a prison like Wandsworth, it really needs closing ultimately - it is not a suitable prison. “In an ideal world one would, but of course you need jails because you need to service the courts.”
Wandsworth prison’s performance was rated as a “serious concern” and watchdogs had issued a string of warnings about the jail in the past year. In the Annual Prison Performance Ratings for 2022/23, published in July, Wandsworth was among nine rated as a “serious concern”.
The Metropolitan police have confirmed a video of a man who appears to look like Khalife, the prisoner who escaped from Wandsworth prison, being arrested in the Banbury area is not him.
An investigation is under way into why Khalife, a former soldier accused of terrorism, was held in a lower-security prison, Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, said.
The escape of a former soldier from a London jail has provoked a furious political row with ministers criticised over cuts and staff shortages that have left potentially dangerous inmates in low-security prisons, writes Haroon Siddique, Dan Sabbagh and Aletha Adu.
With the hunt for Daniel Khalife involving 150 counter-terrorism officers, the police were on Thursday urgently trying to establish whether the 21-year-old had help fleeing from HMP Wandsworth.
Detectives said Khalife, who is facing espionage charges, strapped himself to the bottom of a van, raising questions about the equipment he used and how he was not detected as the vehicle left the prison.
The chief inspector of prisons, the chair of parliament’s justice committee and the prison officers’ union, the POA, all said HMP Wandsworth was known to have staffing issues, adding to pressure on the government over Khalife’s escape on Wednesday morning, which Labour said “beggars belief”.
Khalife’s presence in a category B prison when he has been charged with such serious offences also prompted concerns that other high-risk inmates might not be held in security conditions commensurate with their alleged crimes.
Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, told Sky News that Wandsworth prison should be shut down.
Speaking on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge programme, he said: “When you find a prison like Wandsworth, it really needs closing ultimately - it is not a suitable prison.
“In an ideal world one would, but of course you need jails because you need to service the courts.”
Mr Taylor said there’s a “crisis” in prisons at the moment and “there are only just enough prison places available”.
While the sheer extent of decrepitude in the nation’s schools uncovered by the crisis over aerated concrete might have been an eye-opener to some policymakers, a story that highlights the parlous state of the prisons service will have surprised almost no one.
There are two main problems with prisons, which while interlinked are not entirely down to the same causes: the crumbling state of the prisons themselves, and the lack of space inside them.
Wandsworth prison in south-west London, from which terrorism suspect Daniel Khalife’s escaped on Wednesday, is supposed to hold 900 men. But Steve Gillan, head of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said it currently has 1,600.
The picture with overcrowding is a slightly complex one. The 120 prisons across England and Wales hold a fraction over 87,000 people, 96% of them men, which is less than 1,000 below the service’s maximum capacity.
About 20% of prisoners are held in overcrowded conditions, often spending most of their time in cramped cells.
Here are some of the questions about the incident which remain unanswered, compiled by the PA news agency.
– Why was Daniel Khalife in Wandsworth and not a higher security prison?
Khalife was reportedly initially in custody at maximum security Belmarsh prison, where terrorist prisoners and those accused of such offences are often held, but later transferred to Wandsworth.
John Podmore, a former governor at HMP Brixton and HMP Belmarsh, told the BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “My view is that he should have been at Belmarsh.
“It’s much more suited to the levels of security that someone like this – charged with, not convicted – needs. I can’t understand why he wasn’t at Belmarsh.”
– Why was he allowed to work in the kitchen?
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor told the PA news agency a prisoner has to earn a “certain level of trust” in order to be allowed to work in a kitchen.
– Was this a pre-planned escape, an inside job, and did he get any other help?
Police have not divulged their theories on this or whether there is any evidence to suggest this, but it will form part of their investigation.
No-one has been arrested or interviewed under caution in connection with the incident.
Podmore also told the BBC programme there was a “possibility” Khalife’s escape was an inside job.
– Are staffing shortages a factor in how the escape was able to take place?
Taylor said inspectors are “particularly concerned” about staffing at the prison, adding: “That ultimately is the source of many of the problems in the jail.”
Wandsworth has one of the highest rates of sickness absence among staff, official Government figures show.
Unions and watchdogs say they have raised repeated concerns about staffing levels there.
– When will a royal commission looking at the criminal justice system be launched, as promised in the Conservative manifesto?
Ministers are facing growing calls to urgently honour its manifesto pledge of carrying out a review of the criminal justice system.
Prison officers’ union the POA called for an “urgent” royal commission in the wake of the incident, saying that, without one, problems are “just going to get worse”.
So far the government has been unable to say what recent progress has been made to honour the commitment.
The Metropolitan Police has released an image of a white Bidfood delivery lorry searched by officers in relation to the disappearance of Daniel Khalife from Wandsworth prison.
Khalife is believed to have escaped by holding onto strapping underneath the van.
Updated
The Metropolitan Police published the following route taken by the van, which the prisoner is believed to have been strapped to the bottom of.
The van left HMP Wandsworth at 7.32am on Wednesday, taking a right turn out of the gates onto Heathfield Road.
It then turned left onto Magdalen Road.
The van then turned left onto Trinity Road (A214), up to the Wandsworth roundabout, taking the first exit onto Swandon Way (A217).
It then turned left onto Old York Road, past Wandsworth Town train station, then left onto Fairfield Street.
It turned right onto Wandsworth High Street (A3), staying straight ahead onto West Hill and then on to Upper Richmond Road (A205), where it was stopped by police near the junction with Carlton Drive.
The van had turned around by the time police stopped it and had been returning to Wandsworth prison because the driver had been phoned by the company which owns it.
The company has been “co-operating fully with the inquiry”, commander Dominic Murphy said.
More than 150 investigators and police staff working on finding Khalife
Commander Dominic Murphy added there were more than 150 investigators and police staff from counter terrorism command working in London on the “fast paced investigation” to find Daniel Khalife, with support from forces and agencies around the country.
He said the van the prisoner is believed to be strapped to the bottom of left HMP Wandsworth at 7.32am on Wednesday. He was declared missing at 7.50am.
Police were then notified at 8.15am and the van was stopped on Upper Richmond Drive near to the junction of Carlton Drive at 8.37am.
Updated
Asked about whether Daniel Khalife had been helped to escape and if he had access to money, Commander Dominic Murphy said this forms part of the Metropolitan Police investigation, adding: “He’s out in the open now, so who’s to say whether he has money available to him now, but that’s part of our inquiry and what we’re trying to understand.
“He’s a very resourceful individual, clearly, and our experience of him shows that, so nothing is off the table with him at the moment.”
No confirmed sightings of Khalife since his escape
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said officers had so far not received any confirmed sightings of Daniel Khalife since he escaped from Wandsworth prison in London on Wednesday.
As he set out details of the route taken by the van before it was stopped by police, which Khalife was believed to have been strapped underneath as it left the prison, Murphy said the force had received more than 50 calls from the public which provided “some really valuable lines of inquiry”.
He told reporters: “This was a really busy area of London and we’ve had no confirmed sightings in any of that information, which is a little unusual and perhaps a testament to Daniel Khalife‘s ingenuity in his escape and some of his movements after his escape.
“It’s important that we remember we have some of the best military in the world here in the UK and he was a trained soldier.
“So, ultimately, he has skills that perhaps some sections of the public don’t have and I am really keen that we are using everything in our means to find him.”
A former prisoner of HMP Wandsworth said he is “not surprised” that Daniel Abed Khalife was able to abscond and described the jail in South London as “absolute dysfunction and chaos”.
Speaking to Sky News, Chris Atkins said the prison has “nowhere near enough resources” and there are “far too few officers with very little training”.
“It didn’t surprise me all that [Khalife escaped] - I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often, to be honest with you.”
Atkins described how he saw “dozens of assaults” on officers every day in the prison, which led to a shortage of workers taking up shifts.
He said morale was “at an all-time low” when he was there seven years ago.
This live blog will continue into the evening, but if you would prefer to read our full report on the ongoing hunt for Daniel Khalife, you can do so here:
Wandsworth prison's performance rated as 'serious concern' by watchdog
Wandsworth prison’s performance was rated as a “serious concern” and watchdogs had issued a string of warnings about the jail in the past year.
In the Annual Prison Performance Ratings for 2022/23, published in July, Wandsworth was among nine rated as a “serious concern”.
Its overall performance score, based on a range of measures including security, rehabilitation and training and expressed as a proportion of 100%, was 46.4% – one of the lowest out of all 119 prisons.
Wandsworth was handed the same “serious concern” rating in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Both Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, and the prison’s independent monitoring board raised concerns about staffing levels, among other issues, in reports published last year.
In findings published in January 2022 after an inspection in September 2021, Taylor warned: “Staffing shortfalls were preventing the prison from running a decent and predictable regime. More than 30% of prison officers were either absent or unable to work their full duties. Around a quarter were less than a year in post and more than 10% had resigned in the last 12 months.”
Man being arrested in viral video is not Daniel Khalife, say police
The Metropolitan police have confirmed a video of a man who appears to look like Daniel Khalife, the prisoner who escaped from Wandsworth prison, being arrested in the Banbury area is not him.
A statement said:
We are aware of a man being stopped by police in the Banbury area earlier today.
We have liaised with colleagues in Thames Valley and confirmed the man in question is not Daniel Khalife.
Updated
The prison officers’ union (POA) has called for an “urgent” royal commission after the incident, warning that, without one, problems are “just going to get worse”.
It comes after, earlier this year, watchdog Andrew Cayley KC, the chief inspector of the HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI), urged ministers to stick to their promise of launching a royal commission, which was announced about four years ago in the wake of repeated claims that the justice system was “crumbling” and “on its knees”.
At the time, he warned the justice system was heading for “crisis”.
The royal commission pledged in the Conservative party’s manifesto, and unveiled in the 2019 queen’s speech, promised to carry out a “fundamental review” in a bid to improve “efficiency and effectiveness”, PA reports.
Updated
The BBC shared this bird’s-eye view photo of Wandsworth prison, which shows the suspected route Daniel Khalife took when he escaped. It is thought that he escaped via the kitchens, dressed in a chef’s uniform, before strapping himself to the bottom of a food delivery van.
The white dotted line shows the route he likely took, passing through three security gates to escape.
The BBC have shared an image which appears to show the route that the escaped prisoner from #Wandsworth may have take out of the prison. Passing through 3 security gates. pic.twitter.com/cpYrV5Ml6e
— BradleyMitchell (@Bmitchell0794) September 7, 2023
Updated
John Podmore, a former governor at HMP Brixton and HMP Belmarsh, told the BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that there was a “possibility” Daniel Khalife’s escape was an inside job.
He added:
My view is that he should’ve been at Belmarsh.
It’s much more suited to the levels of security that someone like this, charged with [terrorism offences but] not convicted, needs. I can’t understand why he wasn’t at Belmarsh.”
Khalife was held at Belmarsh prison but later transferred to Wandsworth, according to PA.
He has links to north-west England and Kingston in London but Murphy said the hunt was covering the whole of the UK.
Khalife was previously stationed at the Ministry of Defence’s Beacon Barracks in Stafford.
Updated
British authorities have issued an all-ports alert to track down Daniel Khalife, who escaped from prison yesterday by clinging to the bottom of a delivery van. Here are some more images showing the delays along the M20 for vehicles heading to the Port of Dover:
Updated
After his comments about staffing shortages (see 1.02pm), the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, is asked if the way the UK runs its prison system is working. He tells BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme:
I think, ultimately, prisons have got two responsibilities: they have a public protection responsibility to keep people locked up, and to stop them from getting out and so they serve their sentence; but they also have a public protection responsibility to make sure that people are less likely to reoffend when they come out.
And, if prisoners are coming from a jail where they’ve been banged up in their cell for 22 hours a day, if they’re not getting any opportunities to fill in the huge skills gaps that there are for many prisoners, if they’re not getting a chance to get into work or education, then my concern is that prisons are failing to fulfil that public protection function.
And prisoners, when they come out, are more likely to reoffend, to create more victims, to cause mayhem in communities. And that can’t be good enough.
Updated
The SNP frontbencher Richard Thomson says it will strike people as “quite extraordinary” the escapee was being held in a category B prison. The justice secretary, Alex Chalk, responding in the Commons, says:
I am very instinctively sympathetic to the point that he makes about why was he in a category B estate, and that is precisely what I want to have some information about.
The chair of parliament’s home affairs committee, Diana Johnson, says she understands a role in the prison’s kitchens is “really for trusted inmates”, and asks Chalk if he was surprised Khalife was in such a position. The justice secretary replies:
That is precisely a question that has occurred to me, and that is precisely what I want to have answers on.
He also tells the Commons there would have been space to put Khalife in a category A prison if that was the assessment made, saying: “What we have to get to the bottom of was was that exercise properly conducted.”
Updated
Chief inspector bemoans staff shortages after 'extremely concerning' escape
Staff shortages are “the source of many problems” at HMP Wandsworth, where a suspected terrorist soldier escaped undetected, the chief inspector of prisons warns.
Charlie Taylor has said it is “concerning when anybody escapes from prison”, insisting escapes are “now very rare”. But the nature of the allegations levelled at Khalife make this case “extremely concerning”, he adds.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Taylor says it “should be standard practice” for vehicles entering and leaving the prison to be checked and a prisoner has to earn a “certain level of trust” in order to be allowed to work in a kitchen.
Something obviously went wrong in terms of security, and that will come out over time. But the issue that we are particularly concerned about is there are too many prisoners in Wandsworth for the amount of staff who are there. And that ultimately is the source of many of the problems in the jail.
Updated
Escaped prisoner accused of collecting information for Iran
Among the charges faced by Daniel Khalife is that he may have collected, recorded, published or communicated sensitive information that might have been useful to an enemy in breach of the Official Secrets Act 1911, the Guardian’s defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh writes. The country in question is understood to be Iran, although it is unclear how strong the link is alleged to be.
Updated
Here is more from Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson, who said Downing Street has rejected blame for the prison escape being apportioned to cuts to the Prison Service but admitted there is a need for more staff.
Asked about claims cuts were to blame, they said:
That would be very much acting without all the facts.
There is an investigation that’s taking place, that has just begun.
We are delivering the biggest expansion of prison places in over a century. There’s an investment of £4bn to create 20,000 extra places. We’re increasing pay to prison officers and so we are acting both to increase places and to boost staff.
Asked whether the prime minister was concerned about staff shortages, PA reports that the official added:
We recognise the need for more staff and that’s why we’ve increased the workforce by 4,000 since 2017. We’re hiring 5,000 more across the estate in the coming years. We’re also boosting pay by 7% so the starting salaries have gone from £22,000 to £30,000. And we’re retaining more staff. The resignation rate amongst junior prison officers is down around 2.5% compared to last year.
Updated
The Labour MP for Tooting said the conditions for staff at Wandsworth prison were “unworkable and unsafe”.
Speaking in the Commons, Rosena Allin-Khan said:
Local people in Tooting are alarmed that someone was able to escape from what is supposed to be an extremely secure prison.
It’s unworkable and unsafe. Staff are having to do double shifts with officers facing violence, abuse and struggling with their mental health. This makes staff retention impossible. In these circumstances, undoubtedly mistakes like this will happen.
Allin-Khan raised concerns about “low staffing levels”, citing information she said the government provided to her which showed that on one night last December only seven prison officers turned up for a night shift, PA reports.
Updated
Daniel Khalife was charged with three offences:
On 2 August 2021 Daniel Khalife elicited information about individuals who are members of His Majesty’s Forces, namely obtained personal information from the MOD Joint Personnel Administration System, which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to section 58A(1)(a) Terrorism Act 2000 (‘TACT’).
On or before 2 January 2023 Daniel Khalife placed an article, namely three cannisters with wires, on a desk in his accommodation with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said item was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property, contrary to section 51(1) Criminal Law Act 1977.
On dates between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022 Daniel Khalife obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated to any other person, articles, notes, documents or information which were calculated to be or might be or were intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy, contrary to section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Rishi Sunak continues to have confidence in the justice secretary over the handling of a prison escape, Downing Street has said.
Asked if the prime minister has confidence in Alex Chalk, his official spokesperson told reporters: “Yes.”
He said the justice secretary had been chairing meetings to “establish the facts, to seek assurances about the immediate measures taken to ensure the security of the prison”, PA reports.
The official said:
Obviously there is a live police operation under way right now. He’s also launched an internal investigation to understand how this has taken place, to ensure it cannot happen again.
The investigation will look into things like the categorisation decision, the situation that led to the escape, what protocols were in place that were followed, so I’m not going to prejudge what has or has not happened in this specific instance.
Updated
Keir Starmer told broadcasters there was a “lot to look at” regarding how a prisoner could escape in this way.
He said:
I think we need to have an independent insight into what went wrong. I think everybody will want to know why some of the reports of failings in Wandsworth were not acted upon more quickly. I think we may well find, as we have found in other sectors, there is a pattern of behaviour that isn’t just confined to Wandsworth.
He added that the “chopping and changing” of secretaries of state had produced “instability and inconsistency”, PA reports.
Decisions that should be made are not made in the way they should.
There is a lot to look at here.
Updated
An independent investigation will take place into how a former soldier accused of terrorism escaped prison, the justice secretary has said.
Alex Chalk told the Commons: “I have also decided there will need to be an additional independent investigation into this incident and that will take place in due course.”
Chalk said he had spoken to Prison Service leaders immediately after Daniel Abed Khalife’s escape to establish what known about it.
He said: “I made clear then and I reiterate now that no stone must be left unturned in getting to the bottom of what happened. Who was on duty that morning? In what roles, ranging from the kitchen to the prison gate? What protocols were in place? Were they followed?”
Independent investigation will take place, says justice secretary
The justice secretary, Alex Chalk, has told MPs that an independent investigation will take place after former soldier Daniel Abed Khalife’s escape from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday.
Updated
The M20 coast-bound road between junctions 8 and 9 has been temporarily shut down because of more thorough port security checks linked to the escaped prisoner, Sky news reports.
Updated
The Lib Dems’ justice spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael MP, has said there must be an independent review into prisoner categorisations amid concerns that Daniel Abed Khalife was not being held in conditions commensurate with the threat he posed.
Carmichael said:
There are serious questions to answer about how Daniel Abed Khalife escaped – and why he was placed in HMP Wandsworth in the first place.
Prison staffing shortages and retention issues have become the norm under this Conservative government. We cannot let prison breaks become commonplace too.
The Ministry of Justice has announced a review into this specific case and why a terror suspect was placed in a category B prison, but their response must go further. We now need an independent review into the entire prison categorisation process.
It’s the only way to prevent this deeply troubling situation from ever happening again.
Updated
The shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, raised concerns in the Commons over Daniel Abed Khalife’s escape from HMP Wandsworth and asked for an update on the search.
He asked whether the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden, had questioned why a “terror suspect like Mr Khalife was being held at a lower category security prison like Wandsworth in the first place”, PA reported.
Dowden replied:
The lord chancellor has asked for an urgent investigation working with the Prison Service to find out the exact circumstances of what happened in respect of this escape.
Clearly the initial law enforcement response will be led by the Home Office but I will be working with the lord chancellor, with the home secretary and others to ensure that we rapidly apprehend this individual and we learn the lessons of what led to this in the first place.
McFadden raised reports that Khalife escaped from a prison kitchen by clinging to a delivery van.
Dowden replied:
If it was the case that the individual escaped in those circumstances that clearly should not have happened and I know that my right honourable friend takes it very seriously indeed and will of course update the house on the outcome of the investigation and of course the home secretary will update the house alongside the lord chancellor on steps to apprehend the individual.
Updated
What we know so far – summary
An investigation is under way into why a former soldier accused of terrorism who is now on the run was held in a lower-security prison, Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, said. She added that the government’s “top priority” was tracking down Daniel Khalife, who absconded from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by clinging to the bottom of a delivery van, the Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti reports.
The Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, when talking to Nick Ferrari from LBC about the prisoner escape at Wandsworth prison, has said the government “sat on their hands”. She also claimed that she had raised concerns about conditions and staffing levels in the prison “many, many months ago”.
Speaking to Sky news, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, says there were “grave questions” about how Khalife, who was awaiting trial for terrorism and Official Secrets Act offences, was able to escape prison.
Responding to Khalife’s escape, the Prison Officers Association (POA), has highlighted staffing shortages and budget cuts. Mark Fairhurst, the POA national chair, said: “Wandsworth is one of the largest prisons in the country and is overcrowded and under resourced. The chronic staffing shortages and lack of adequate training for staff highlight the need for an urgent review of how our prisons are run. We await the results of an internal investigation so we may ensure this is not repeated.”
Earlier, the technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, said it wasn’t helpful to draw a link between over-capacity, understaffing, and the prison escape until there had been a “thorough investigation”. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme: “We can’t say why this happened until we’ve got the results of that investigation. I don’t think it’s helpful to get into a hypothetical of what was the cause, or what allowed this individual to evade the system and manage to escape.”
Updated
Responding to Daniel Abed Khalife’s escape, the Prison Officers Association (POA), has highlighted staffing shortages and budget cuts.
Mark Fairhurst, the POA national chair, said:
Wandsworth is one of the largest prisons in the country and is overcrowded and under resourced. The chronic staffing shortages and lack of adequate training for staff highlight the need for an urgent review of how our prisons are run. We await the results of an internal investigation so we may ensure this is not repeated.
Steve Gillan, the POA general secretary, said:
No one ever wants to see an escape from prison but since 2010 this union has been on record as saying cuts have consequences. You cannot take out £900m from the budget with reduced staffing levels up and down the country and expect the Prison Service to operate as if nothing has happened. Government needs to take responsibility for the decimation of the Prison Service with less staff and more prisoners and Wandsworth is a typical example of what life is like for serving prison officers operating in a stressful and violent workplace with inadequate staff levels caring for over 1600 prisoners at that establishment.
The POA wants an urgent royal commission to be set up for the entire criminal justice system to prevent further deterioration.
In 1851, the Guardian reported on preparations to admit the first prisoners to the newly constructed Wandsworth prison, in ‘the county of Surrey.’
The report explained how the elevated site (Wandsworth Common) upon which it stands was designed by D R Hill of Birmingham and the whole of the building was constructed with “great solidity”.
It would house “700 prisoners, including 165 females, each of whom would have a separate cell, 13 by 7 feet.” The accommodation would replicate “Pentonville and other modern gaols.”
The report also noted that the kitchen, cooking apparatus, laundry, were quite detached from the main body of the building.
Wandsworth prison opened soon after this report, first to male prisoners, then to females a year later. Its original capacity was 1,000 and it was intended for those serving short sentences. It is thought to currently hold up to 1,600 prisoners and is now a men’s-only prison.
The Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, when talking to Nick Ferrari from LBC about the prisoner escape at Wandsworth prison, has said the government “sat on their hands”.
Allin-Khan said she raised concerns with the justice secretary about the unsafe staffing levels and the unsanitary condition of Wandsworth prison, last December.
Earlier, I spoke to @NickFerrariLBC about the prisoner escape at Wandsworth Prison.
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) September 7, 2023
I raised concerns with the Justice Secretary about the unsafe staffing levels and the unsanitary condition of Wandsworth Prison, last December. The Government sat on their hands. pic.twitter.com/E0Wlo7xLcy
Updated
Aubrey Allegretti, the Guardian’s senior political correspondent, has our latest report on the situation.
An investigation is under way into why a former soldier accused of terrorism who is now on the run was held in a lower-security prison, a cabinet minister has said.
Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, said the government’s ‘top priority’ was tracking down Daniel Khalife, who absconded from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by clinging to the bottom of a delivery van.
She said the investigation launched by the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, would look at ‘all the contributing factors’ to discover how Khalife could have escaped, including ‘checking that he was in the correct facility’.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
The head of the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command, Dominic Murphy, said the force was following urgent inquiries to “locate and detain” Daniel Abed Khalife as quickly as possible.
Murphy said:
I want to reassure the public that we have no information which indicates, nor any reason to believe, that Khalife poses a threat to the wider public.
You can watch the full video below.
Updated
Speaking to Sky news, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, says there are “grave questions” about how Daniel Abed Khalife, who was awaiting trial for terrorism and Official Secrets Act offences, was able to escape prison.
"This is extremely serious"
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 7, 2023
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP says there are "grave questions" about how Daniel Abed Khalife, who was awaiting trial for terror and Official Secrets Act offences, was able to escape prisonhttps://t.co/pCn8b3k5bD
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 pic.twitter.com/A9wDqeXqpK
Updated
The Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan described the Wandsworth prison escape as a “mess of the government’s making”.
In a tweet, she said the prison was the fourth most overcrowded in the country and that she was told that less than half of shifts were filled.
Talking about the poor oversight, she added:
This prison also recently went four days without water recently.
Wandsworth Prison is the 4th most overcrowded prison in the country, but struggles to find staff. I asked a PQ on staffing levels last year and was told less than half of shifts are filled.
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) September 6, 2023
This prison also went 6 days without water recently. A mess of the Government's making. pic.twitter.com/zkumgJbRUm
Updated
The technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, said it wasn’t “helpful” to draw a link between over-capacity, understaffing, and this recent prison escape until there had been a “thorough investigation”.
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme:
We can’t say why this happened until we’ve got the results of that investigation.
I don’t think it’s helpful to get into a hypothetical of what was the cause, or what allowed this individual to evade the system and manage to escape.
That’s why we’ve got to have that thorough investigation. And then, of course, whatever that flags up, those lessons need to be learned, that changes need to be made, mitigations need to be put in place so that we don’t have this happen again.
Updated
Police appeal for public's help to find escaped prisoner Daniel Abed Khalife
Good morning. Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, escaped from Wandsworth prison in south London yesterday and is on the run.
Khalife was awaiting trial in relation to terrorism and Official Secrets Act offences. The public have been warned not to approach him but to call 999.
He was a member of the British army until May and is believed to have absconded from the Victorian-era prison by clinging to the bottom of a delivery van at 7.50am.
His escape has sparked a nationwide police appeal for the public to help find him.
This blog will keep you up-to-date with the latest about his escape.
My colleague Robert Booth has the full story here:
