Police mistake Banbury kitchen porter for escaped prisoner

Horatio Castille said he could see why someone might mistake him for Daniel Khalife

A kitchen porter who police mistook for escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife said the experience was "nerve-wracking".

Horatio Castille from Banbury in Oxfordshire says he was handcuffed by officers after they received a possible sighting of Mr Khalife, who is on the run after escaping from Wandsworth prison.

A video of 19-year-old Mr Castille's arrest was viewed thousands of times.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the man was not Daniel Khalife.

Thames Valley Police has been approached for comment.

The Met is offering a £20,000 reward for information that leads to Daniel Khalife's arrest

On Thursday, Mr Castille was waiting at Banbury station for a train to London when Thames Valley Police officers approached him.

While sat on a bench on the platform, he was put in handcuffs and told that they had received a phone call from a woman who said he matched the description of Mr Khalife.

"They told me about this Daniel guy who's broken out of prison, and showed me a picture of him and I was like 'no, no, that's not me'," he explained.

Over the next few minutes, about 20 other officers then turned up on the platform.

Mr Castille said his fingerprints were taken and cross-checked on the police's database.

"I wouldn't say it was scary, but I would say it was kind of nerve-racking as you can imagine, just randomly being put in cuffs."

He said the officers were "very professional" and that he felt lucky that it had been a "positive experience".

"I could see why someone would see me and think it was the same guy."

A Met spokesperson said: "We are aware of a man being stopped by police in the Banbury area.

"We have liaised with colleagues in Thames Valley and confirmed the man in question is not Daniel Khalife."

Mr Khalife, 21, who escaped from prison on Wednesday, is accused of trying to spy for an enemy state, understood to be Iran, and plotting a fake bomb hoax.

On Friday a sighting of Mr Khalife near the Wandsworth roundabout was being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.