No confirmed sightings of escaped terror suspect - police

1. There have been no confirmed sightings of terror suspect Daniel Khalife since his escape from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday, police say
2. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, says it is "perhaps a testament to Daniel Khalife's ingenuity" that he has not been spotted
3. Police have revealed the lorry Khalife used to escape left HMP Wandsworth at 07:32 on Wednesday - he was reported missing 18 minutes later
4. The ex-soldier is accused of trying to gather information for Iran, it can now be reported
5. The 21-year-old is charged with terror offences including "collecting information which might be useful to an enemy"
6. He is also alleged to have left fake bombs at a military base while serving in the Army and was due to stand trial in November
7. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, who has announced a series of reviews into the escape, told MPs Khalife will be found

That's it for today

That ends today’s live coverage of Daniel Khalife’s escape and the ensuing manhunt. Thank you for following along.

To remind you, the Met Police has said this evening there have been no confirmed sightings so far of the 21-year-old former soldier and appealed to the public to come forward with any information.

You can read our latest on the story here, and we will keep you updated with any developments.

The writers across the day were Emily Atkinson, Malu Cursino, Alex Binley, Ece Goksedef and Barbara Tasch. The editors were James Harness, Alex Therrien and Rob Corp.

What's happened today?

Barbara Tasch

Live reporter

We're pausing our live coverage for today, so here’s a look back at the key developments in the hunt for Daniel Khalife.

• The Metropolitan Police said there had not been any confirmed sightings of Khalife and appealed to the public to contact them with any information

• The Met also detailed the route taken by the food delivery lorry after it left Wandsworth prison before being stopped by police
• Detectives confirmed Khalife strapped himself to the underside of the lorry to escape
• Khalife, is a 21-year-old former soldier accused of trying to gather information for Iran and is charged with terror offences including "collecting information which might be useful to an enemy"
• Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said investigations into the security breach would leave "no stone unturned" and ordered an investigation into why Khalife was held in a category B prison - rather than a high security category A jail
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer criticised the heavy rotation of justice secretaries – 10 over 10 years – as having produced “instability and inconsistency”
• The Prison Officer’s Association also criticised the government, saying HMP Wandsworth was "overcrowded and under resourced"

You can read more on the hunt for Khalife in our news story.

Metropolitan Police

Daniel Khalife is still on the run.

WATCH: Met police on food lorry route

Daniel Khalife: Met police on van escape route

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of counter terrorism at the Met Police, said officers stopped the van after it had been on the route for an hour.

"Daniel Khalife could be anywhere on the route taken by that van" he said.

WATCH: 'Prisons failing public protection responsibilities'

Charlie Taylor says lack of staff at Wandsworth make prisoner escapes more likely

Charlie Taylor, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, says prisons have a responsibility to keep offenders "locked up" and to be less likely to reoffend when they are released.

Khalife not a ‘criminal mastermind'

Daniel Khalife had been brought in as a vulnerable prisoner to work alongside other inmates in the kitchen and did not appear to be a "criminal mastermind", according to an inmate who knew him.

Chris Jones worked alongside Khalife in the kitchens at HMP Wandsworth, preparing food while the ex-soldier unloaded lorry deliveries.

"We always used to joke about that lorry; jump in it and drive off, but there was a lot of security staff around the kitchens so it is a surprise he got through there,” Jones said, explaining that prison staff stood around the lorry and logged inmates’ comings and goings.

Jones added that he was “surprised but not surprised” that Khalife managed to escape, as mistakes occurred often, mostly as a result of staffing issues.

Jones, who was released from jail in June and works as a roofer, said his fellow prisoner seemed "quite down to earth and up for a laugh."

Supplied

Chris Jones (pictured) told the BBC he worked with Daniel Khalife in the kitchens at Wandsworth Prison

More than 150 investigators looking for Khalife in London alone

Metropolitan Police Commander Dominic Murphy has said that more than 150 investigators were working on this case in London alone.

The Met, while continuing to focus its search in London and the Wandsworth area, is also working with police across the UK in an effort to find Khalife.

Route food lorry took after leaving HMP Wandsworth revealed

Metropolitan Police Service

The police have released a still from CCTV footage of the Bidfood delivery lorry

Met Police Commander Dominic Murphy has set out the route taken by the food service lorry which Khalife used to escape and is appealing to the public for help.

It left HMP Wandsworth at 07:32 on Wednesday and took a right turn out of the gates onto Heathfield Road.

It then turned left onto Magdalen Road, left onto Trinity Road (A214) up to the Wandsworth Roundabout and took the first exit onto Swandon Way (A217).

The lorry then turned left onto Old York Road, left onto Fairfield Street, right onto Wandsworth High Street (A3) and went straight ahead onto West Hill and then to the Upper Richmond Road (A205).

Police officers stopped the vehicle at 08:37 on the Upper Richmond Road near the junction with Carlton Drive.

Khalife was declared missing at 07:50 on Wednesday morning.

“It is crucial for the public to help us with this search and to call us immediately if they have any information on the whereabouts of Khalife,” Murphy said.

Khalife a 'resourceful individual'

BBC

Officers are keeping an "open mind" as to where Khalife might be, Met Police Commander Dominic Murphy has said.

He said the focus of the search remains on Wandsworth, but personnel across the country are trying to locate him.

Murphy said that since Khalife was trained by the UK military he is a "resourceful individual".

He said that it "sounds like it was a planned escape" and police are "working closely" with Wandsworth Prison to understand what happened.

Murphy asked the public to come forward with any sightings or information, and reminded anyone who may be helping or harbouring the suspect that doing so is a "serious criminal offence".

"I will find out" if you are, he added.

BreakingNo confirmed sightings so far of Khalife - Met Police

There have not been any confirmed sightings of Daniel Khalife since he escaped from Wandsworth Prison on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Prison officers' union boss questions staff training

More from Mark Fairhurst of the Prison Officers' Association - who told BBC 5 Live that the training kitchen and gate staff at HMP Wandsworth must be looked into.

He added that cuts and a lack of personnel could mean that not enough people were on duty or they had not received the proper instruction.

"I am severely worried about adequate staffing levels in critical areas of our prison estate and the lack of training staff receive because of the pressure on the system," he said.

And when you talk about Khalife, maybe he wasn't upgraded to a category A because that would have meant him moving to a long-term, high-security prison and we're short of space in there as well, so has a lack of cell space throughout the estate had an impact on that decision-making process?"

Low staffing 'contributed' to escape, says prison union boss

Low staffing numbers "certainly contributed" to what happened at Wandsworth Prison, the national chair of the Prison Officers' Association told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"Last time I visited Wandsworth they were holding 1,600 prisoners and only had 69 prison officers on duty," said Mark Fairhurst.

He added that the next government must take "the criminal justice sector seriously, you cannot get criminal justice on the cheap".

Fairhurst said that since 2010, £900m had been cut from the prison service's budget and there are 4,000 fewer staff members.

A lack of staff combined with overcrowding in prisons makes them "the most hostile environment workplace of anywhere in the world", further putting people off from joining the profession, he said.

Iran link in counter terrorism investigation

Earlier we reported the hostile nation that Daniel Abed Khalife is accused of trying to gather information for is Iran.

He is charged with offences under both the Terrorism Act and the Official Secrets Act.

BBC correspondent Daniel De Simone says that anyone who is suspected of such offences will be investigated by counter terrorism police.

He adds that earlier this year Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes of the Metropolitan Police said they were spending more time on investigations into hostile states, state threats and espionage.

BBC Verify

Are fewer prisoners escaping under the Tories?

Many more people escaped from prisons when Labour was last in power than under the current Tory government, science minister Michelle Donelan told BBC News.

It was “something like four or five times higher”, she said on Radio 4’s Today this morning.

Looking at Ministry of Justice figures, the number of people who either escaped from prisons or prison escorts in England and Wales has indeed fallen dramatically.

BBC

The number of escapees was about seven times higher between 1997 and 2010, when there was a Labour government.

So, it does seem that the prison service has got much better at stopping people escaping.

The figures under Labour were also considerably lower than they had been in the last two years of the previous Conservative government.

Staff sickness in prisons on the rise

Earlier today Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP whose constituency includes HMP Wandsworth, said she had raised staff shortages at the prison "many months ago".

Government data suggests that staff sickness in prisons has indeed increased in the last decade.

For the 12 months to 30 Jun 2023 there were an average of 13.3 working days lost to sickness.

BBC

In pictures: Long queue of lorries waiting for security checks at Dover

As the hunt for Daniel Khalife continues, additional security checks are taking place at ports across the country; meaning delays for anyone leaving the UK.

There is still a long queue of lorries on the M20 for a second day as they wait to get into the port of Dover in Kent.

The port has advised passengers to allow more time for border control.

Here are some of the pictures we've had in to BBC News of the queue on the M20 today.

PA Media

Security checks are being carried out at the port to track down escaped terrorism suspect, Daniel Abed Khalife, causing delays

PA Media

Lorries queue for the Port of Dover along the M20 in Kent as security checks are being carried

PA Media

Some drivers seem to be bored waiting and stretching their legs out of their lorries

What did the justice secretary announce earlier today?

House of Commons/PA

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk made a series of announcements in the Commons earlier today

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk announced a series of reviews and investigations into Khalife's escape when he addressed the House of Commons earlier.

Let's sum up what he said:

• There will be an independent investigation into the circumstances of how the escape happened
• There will be an investigation into the prison categorisation of Khalife, eg. was it right that he was in a category B institution?
• An urgent review into the categorisation and placement of all prisoners at HMP Wandsworth
• An urgent review into all those in custody charged with terror offences

Union hits out at 'decimation of prison service'

HMP Wandsworth is "overcrowded and under resourced" and the "chronic" staffing shortages highlights the need for an urgent review of how prisons are run, a union says.

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) national chair Mark Fairhurst also pointed to lack of adequate training for staff at the facility.

POA general secretary Steve Gillian hit out at cuts to the prison sector since 2010, saying: "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.

He said the government must "take responsibility for the decimation of the prison service", describing the situation at Wandsworth as "a typical example of what life is like for" officers.

Prisons failing some of their functions - chief inspector

BBC

Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, told The World at One he is concerned that some prisons are failing to fulfil some of their functions.

He said prisons “have a public protection responsibility to keep people locked up, and to stop them from getting out 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 it is that second function that some prisons are failing to fulfil when they do not provide opportunities for prisoners to do work or get an education and keep inmates “banged up in their cell for 22 hours a day", Taylor said.

"And prisoners when they come out are more likely to reoffend, to create more victims, to cause mayhem in their communities. And that can't be good enough,” Taylor added.

Concerns at Wandsworth prison raised over years - inspector

Concerns over issues at Wandsworth Prison have been flagged over many years, Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, has said.

"This is very concerning because Wandsworth had a previous escape in 2019 as well," he told The World at One on BBC Radio 4.

"Obviously any prisoner getting out of the jail is extremely rare event. But particularly a prisoner who's accused of a terrorist offence makes it all worse,” Taylor said.

The lack of staff, especially at such an overcrowded and busy prison, makes it more likely for such incidents to happen, Taylor added.

Getty Images

Prison food supplier issues statement

reut

A statement has just been released by food service company Bidfood, which is the catering supplier for prisons.

One of its lorries was delivering to HMP Wandsworth on the morning of David Khalife's escape.

The company said it was aware of a "security incident" involving one of its vehicles, adding the driver "fully co-operated with the police on this matter before returning back to the depot".

Bidfood continues to assist the police with their enquiries, the statement said.