A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender in connection with the alleged escape of Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth.
The man, who was arrested at an address in east London on Wednesday by the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command, is not a member of staff at the prison, the force said. He has been bailed until late April.
DCS Gareth Rees said: “This arrest follows months of careful investigation into the alleged escape and inquiries remain ongoing into this.
“We understand that there will be significant public and media interest in this arrest but with Khalife now charged and awaiting trial, it is extremely important that people do not report, comment or share information – including online – which could in any way prejudice these future court proceedings.”
On 6 September 2023, Khalife, then 21 and an inmate of HMP Wandsworth in south-west London, allegedly strapped himself underneath a food delivery van with bed sheets to evade the jail’s security.
He became only the seventh prisoner to escape from prison in England and Wales in the past five years, it is alleged. His alleged escape sparked a huge police search operation to find him.
The former soldier was arrested by a plainclothes police officer on a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, after he was spotted riding a bicycle four days after his alleged escape.
Khalife, now 22, is due to go on trial at the Old Bailey in October after pleading not guilty to charges including that he escaped from HMP Wandsworth.
He will also face trial in relation to three other charges: eliciting or attempting to elicit information about members of the armed forces likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism; collecting or sharing information useful to the enemy; and devising a fake bomb.
