The UK justice secretary, Alex Chalk, has refused to express confidence in the governor of Wandsworth prison, as he said a full complement of staff were on duty when a former soldier was able to escape by strapping himself to the underside of a delivery van.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, is in custody after he was arrested as he cycled along a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, on Saturday morning, four days after he got away from the prison, about a dozen miles away.
Chalk said about 40 of the 1,600 prisoners inside the jail had been moved to other prisons as part of efforts to assist the inquiry into how Khalife escaped.
Chalk told Sky’s Sunday with Trevor Phillips that preliminary findings of an initial, internal inquiry should be with him by the end of this week, and that he would announce imminently the terms of reference for a wider independent investigation.
Asked if he had confidence in the prison’s governor, Katie Price, Chalk twice dodged the question, saying: “I’m absolutely confident in the senior leadership of the prison service to conduct a rigorous, searching and fair investigation.”
The Prison Officers’ Association has said the cramped Victorian jail, intended to hold 900 men, has about 70 prison officers on duty at any one time, amid a battle to recruit and retain staff.
Chalk said he had asked whether the correct number of staff were on duty at the prison kitchen where Khalife escaped, and if checks were in place, for example to look under vehicles leaving the site, and making headcounts when a vehicle had departed.
“Those protocols were in place, point one, and point two, the relevant security staff were also in place. What we have yet to establish is whether those protocols were followed,” he said.
Questioned why a terrorism suspect was held at a lower-security category B prison, Chalk said that while he could not discuss Khalife’s individual case, some terrorism remand prisoners were charged with offences such as possessing terror-related material, where both the police and the prosecution accept they had was no terrorist ideology.
The transfer of 40 prisoners, just over 2% of Wandsworth’s total, had been done “out of an abundance of caution” and to help with the inquiry, he said.
The prison’s staff had been given “additional governance support from a former governor with particular expertise in security”, he added.
Speaking later on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC 1 Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said one significant issue for governors was the “extraordinary level of bureaucracy” they faced with regards to staffing.
He said: “It’s not just about the pipeline of people coming in. It’s also about the quality of people coming in. And the fact that many people are leaving the job after quite short periods of time.
“And one of the reasons for that, and governors tell me this, is that governors themselves have no part in the selection of staff who come and work in their jail. The boss can’t choose their staff.
“I’m a former headteacher and I sit there aghast at some of the things that governors can’t do.”
Announcing the recapture of Khalife on Saturday, Commander Dominic Murphy, the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism chief, said that after Khalife was pulled from his bike by a plain-clothes officer he was “fully cooperative and handcuffed and arrested”.
Footage published by the Sun showed Khalife apparently sitting on the ground next to the Grand Union Canal after his arrest. He was found with a bike, sleeping bag and a Waitrose shopping bag full of food.
Murphy said the force was informed of two sightings in the Chiswick area. The last confirmed sighting of the suspect was in the Church Street and Chiswick Mall area, he added.
Residents had heard helicopters overhead throughout the morning as police descended on the area with police dogs as they searched residents’ gardens, and were seen stopping cars, inspecting car boots and asking residents for their ID throughout the morning.
