Daniel Khalife only escaped because of a "catastrophic breakdown of procedures" at Wandsworth prison, Vanessa Frake, the former head of security at Wormwood Scrubs jail told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Every delivery vehicle that enters the prison is thoroughly searched, and is assigned a staff member to escort it to wherever it was going - in this case, the the kitchen, she says.

After the delivery, there should have been a headcount in the kitchen “to ensure every single prisoner is accounted for”, Frake says.

She was unsure how Khalife was even allowed to the work in the kitchen as he was not a convicted prisoner.

“Everything that should have happened, didn’t.”

Gem O'Reilly
Live reporter

A specialist in counter-terrorism and policing, Pete Williams, says the investigation into Khalife's escape is a "major enquiry... which could take many more days".

The former police inspector says the nature of Khalife's charges, linked to Iran, mean counter terrorism police are likely going to be involved in finding him.

"Most successful enquiries always contain an element of forensic evidence and intelligence. They will also be liaising very heavily with the security service, MI5," says Williams.

Due to Khalife's previous role as a serving soldier and his "expertise in computers and technology", there's a likelihood of GCHQ involvement - the UK's Government Communications Headquarters - he says.

"There will be traditional policing methods as well, such alerting all the airports of facial recognition. Should he come into police custody, then he will have his finger prints taken and he would be tracked down."

Nick Johnson
BBC News

Along the leafy residential roads between Wandsworth roundabout and the town centre, plain clothes police officers are making door-to-door enquiries.

It’s a matter of minutes from here to the location where police say they’ve received reports of a possible sighting of Daniel Khalife.

Amid the buzz of a helicopter and police knocking on doors, one resident told me “it’s nice to have a bit of excitement”.

Another said while he’s reading online news reports, it’s not something everyone is talking about in the local pub.

One resident, Polly, in her 90s, says it reminds her of when Ronnie Biggs escaped from Wandsworth in the 1960s, when she still lived in the area.

This is the route that the delivery van took after leaving Wandsworth prison, which Daniel Khalife reportedly escaped on by strapping himself to its underneath.

Met police clarified the route after carrying out further CCTV enquiries, and they said a member of the public had spotted Khalife walking away from the BidFood van near the Wandsworth roundabout.

Image source, .

Here's the latest on the police search for escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife:

• The Met police is investigating a sighting of terror suspect Daniel Khalife who escaped from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery van
• Khalife was reportedly seen walking away from the BidFood van near the Wandsworth roundabout, at the top of Trinity Road in south-west London, police say
• Police are offering £20,000 for information leading to the 21-year-old's arrest
• Khalife is accused of trying to spy for an enemy state, understood to be Iran, and plotting a fake bomb hoax
• The sighting is one of several "key lines" of enquiry, the Met says
• Met Commander Dominic Murphy said the force had received 100 calls from the public and the latest sighting "could be very significant"

• London's Mayor Sadiq Khan has pointed to a lack of investment and poor staffing at Wandsworth prison, which may have contributed to conditions that could have allowed Khalife to escape
• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said police are working "night and day" to recapture the prisoner

Dominic Casciani & Chris Bell
Home and legal affairs correspondent

Image source, Social media

Daniel Khalife - Britain's most wanted man - was born in Westminster in 2001 - along with his twin sister.

He is British and has Lebanese heritage on his father's side. His parents split up when he was young.

Growing up, Khalife's family life was in and around the south-west London borough of Kingston upon Thames.

He attended Teddington School, a local mixed comprehensive with good results, and left after his GCSEs in 2018.

People who remember him from the time who have spoken to BBC News have not recalled anything that would have made them think he would end up a terrorist suspect on the run.

One former school friend said he was quite a funny character, just a normal teenager - and certainly not badly behaved.

Khalife was also remembered as a talented runner - a natural gift that may have been in use since his prison break-out.

"He was the 100m school champion... they're not catching him."

Read more here.

Callum May
BBC News

A delivery driver who made several trips to Wandsworth Prison has told BBC News that security staff never checked underneath his van.

Allan, who works for an electrical supplies firm in Derbyshire, said he made a dozen trips to the prison, most recently around a year ago, to deliver light fittings and equipment.

He said unlike in other prisons he had visited, there were no checks of the underside of his vehicle.

Allan said the security procedure at the prison involved a “pat-down” search and checks inside his vehicle. He was also made to hand over his mobile phone.

He asked BBC News not to publish his surname or the name of his employer.

A spokeswoman for the prison service said: "We expect all vehicles coming in and out of prisons to be searched and we have no evidence to suggest this was not happening when these vans entered HMP Wandsworth.

"However, this is an allegation we take incredibly seriously so we have asked this company to provide us with information to help reassure ourselves that the proper security checks were in place."

Image source, Reuters

Wandsworth prison was the subject of a pretty damning report, external last year that criticised a lack of action to upgrade security systems like CCTV.

The report said funding to upgrade the CCTV was granted to Wandsworth in 2020, but it took at least a year for work to begin, and "little has been done since".

Works were supposed to have been completed by now, but the delays have pushed the estimated completion date back to 2025.

The previous year's report had flagged a need for shower refurbishment, rodent control and the replacement of the CCTV and perimeter intruder detection at Wandsworth.

The Met have released a number of images showing the chef's uniform Daniel Khalife would have been wearing as he escaped from the kitchens of Wandsworth prison on Wednesday.

Image source, Met police

Image source, Met police

Image source, Met police

Image source, Met police

The Met says it has been able to clarify the route taken by the delivery van after it left Wandsworth prison.

It says it had previously given details of the route based on GPS data detectives had obtained from the vehicle - which they believe Khalife used to escape from prison.

"As a result of further CCTV enquiries, we can clarify that the van took the following route upon leaving Wandsworth prison.

"After exiting Wandsworth Roundabout onto Swandon Road, the van remained on the road until turning left onto Fairfield Street."

Dominic Murphy, the Met's Counter Terrorism Commander, explains that Khalife was spotted by a member of the public walking towards Wandsworth town centre.

"We are continuing to focus our efforts in London but also look at other parts of the UK" Murphy added.

The confirmed sighting of Daniel Khalife near Wandsworth Roundabout "could be very significant," Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met's counter terrorism command, says.

"We continue to urge the public to contact us straight away if they think they have seen Khalife or have information on his whereabouts," he says.

The Met says it has received more than 100 calls from the public regarding the hunt for Khalife.

It says that it is still concentrating investigative efforts in London, but added that security at UK borders has been increased, and it is engaging with police forces across the UK.

The Met police has just released a statement saying they've received information about a possible sighting of Daniel Khalife, who escaped from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday.

The statement says a member of the public said they saw a man resembling Khalife walking away from the BidFood delivery van that had stopped near the south entrance to the Wandsworth roundabout, at the top of Trinity Road, shortly after his escape.

"The man was then seen walking towards Wandsworth town centre," the statement reads.

The sighting is one of several "key lines" of enquiry the police are following, it says.

Additionally, the Met says it is offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information concerning Khalife.

Did Khalife use his military training to escape?published at 16:37 British Summer Time 8 September 2023

16:37 BST 8 September 2023

There has been speculation about whether Khalife may have used military training to escape from HMP Wandsworth and then try to evade capture.

BBC Verify has been looking at a LinkedIn profile that appears to match his name and general service history. It states that a Daniel Khalife served as a network engineer in the Royal Corps of Signals based in Stafford, England.

Some members of the British armed forces - for example, elite forces who may operate behind enemy lines - receive training known as SERE, which stands for “survive, evade, resist and extract”.

But a British Army employment advertisement, external outlining network engineer roles - with the Royal Corps of Signals - makes no reference to SERE or such training.

We have asked the Ministry of Defence what type of training Daniel Khalife would have received but it has said it is unable to comment on the matter.

Lord Alex Carlile KC is a leading barrister and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

He tells the BBC: "The idea that someone who was judged with spying for Iran and also terrorism offences was able to work in a category B prison, in the kitchen where he had access to knives is mind-boggling."

Khalife was awaiting trial for the alleged offences, which he denies.

The BBC has obtained a new image of Daniel Khalife, the 21-year-old who remains on the run after escaping Wandsworth prison.

The image was taken in September 2022.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

Escapes from British prisons are rare and when they happen they often hit the headlines. Here's a look at some of the most famous:

• Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs - One of the so-called Great Train Robbers, Biggs broke out of Wandsworth prison in 1965. He scaled the wall using a rope ladder and escaped in a removals van. He spent 36 years in Australia and Brazil and was rearrested when he voluntarily returned to the UK in May 2001
• Soviet spy George Blake - The Soviet double agent escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in west London in 1966 along with two other inmates, using a rope ladder with rungs made out of knitting needles. He flew to the then-Soviet Union and lived in Moscow until his death in 2020
• IRA mass escape from the Maze - The biggest prison escape in UK history took place in 1983 when 38 IRA prisoners broke out of the maximum security Maze prison in County Antrim. The men took a number of prison guards hostage - using weapons they'd smuggled in - killing one and seriously injuring another. The majority were tracked down and attempts to capture the final five ended by 2002
• Matthew Baker and James Whitlock - the pair broke out of Pentonville in 2016 after creating dummy heads and piling clothes in their beds to make it look like they were asleep. They'd had cutting tools smuggled in and sawed through the cell bars and window before escaping on to the roof and using a bedsheet to scale the perimeter wall. It took 15 hours to discover they were missing. Both were caught within a week

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we heard from Robert Barrington, a professor of anti-corruption at the University of Sussex who said it wouldn't surprise him if corruption played into Khalife's escape.

He told Radio 4's World at One programme that prisons are an exceptionally high risk for corruption in any country, and in the UK tight budgets have impacted the state of the prison service.

"In any other country, you'd be asking, 'who was bribed?', so it wouldn't be any surprise if this were happening in this case," he said.

"One cannot say this was definitely corruption, one cannot say this was definitely bribery, but it definitely needs to be looked at very carefully," Barrington said.

Image source, .

Here's what we understand to have happened to the escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife.

Khalife was working in the kitchens when he made his escape from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday.

From the kitchens, we know he was able to strap himself to the underneath of a delivery van which then made its way out of the prison.

Delivery vehicles arriving at Wandsworth have to pass through three gates and two pens before they reach the kitchens.

So during his escape, Khalife managed to evade detection on at least two specific occasions as the vehicle he hid under passed through the two pens and three gates on its way out.

Read more about how Kahlife broke out of jail here.

John Podmore is a former governor of Belmarsh, Brixton and Swaleside prisons. He told BBC Radio Newcastle he doesn't understand why Daniel Khalife was at Wandsworth, a category B prison.

"Without a doubt he should have been at Belmarsh" - a category A prison - he says. "It is well-suited to holding terrorist suspects and those convicted of terrorism."

"It's also a prison that serves Woolwich Crown Court and this man was due to go there. So the illogic of him going somewhere else baffles me."