Terror suspect used bedsheets as straps to escape Wandworth prison under food van, court told

Daniel Khalife has been remanded in custody after being charged with escaping from Wandsworth prison.

The 21-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday after spending four days on the run following his escape from the prison on Wednesday.

He appeared in court dressed in a grey prison tracksuit, flanked by two uniformed police officers.

The court heard Khalife escaped jail by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery vehicle using a material “which may have been from bed sheets”, according to prosecutor Thomas Williams.

A four-day manhunt for Khalife ended on Saturday when he was arrested on a canal towpath in Northolt in west London after being pulled off a bike by a plain-clothes counter-terrorism officer.

The court heard at the time of his arrest he had in his possession money and a mobile phone.

Prior to his escape, he was being held on remand at Wandsworth Prison after being charged with terror offences in January.

He has been accused of trying to spy for an enemy state, reportedly Iran, and obtaining information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him during a hearing in July.

Khalife’s escape has shone a light on the conditions within Wandsworth prison, with the chief inspector of prisons calling for it to be shut down.

On Sunday it emerged that 40 prisoners had been moved out of the jail as a precaution, as the Government said it was working “to get to the bottom of what happened” at Wandsworth”.

Khalife will next appear at the Old Bailey on September 29.

This story is being updated.