Daniel Khalife: Woman, 25, arrested over alleged prison escape of terror suspect, Met police says

Detectives investigating terror suspect Daniel Khalife's alleged escape from prison last year have arrested a second person. The Metropolitan Police said the 25-year-old woman, who is not a member of prison staff, was arrested at an address in east London on suspicion of assisting an offender and has been bailed until April.

This follows the arrest of a 24-year-old man, who is also not a member of prison staff, on January 17, on suspicion of assisting an offender. The arrests by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is part of their investigation into the alleged escape of 22-year-old Khalife from HMP Wandsworth on September 6, 2023.

Khalife is due to go on trial at the Old Bailey in October 2024 after pleading not guilty to charges alleging he escaped from HMP Wandsworth.

Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, head of operations for the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, which is leading the investigation, said: "We continue to carry out a thorough investigation into the full circumstances of the alleged escape of Khalife, and we have now arrested two other people as part of this.

“I know there continues to be a great deal of interest in this case, but I must remind the public that Khalife is awaiting trial. It is therefore extremely important that people do not report, comment upon or share information which could in any way prejudice the future court proceedings."

The former soldier is believed to have escaped from the prison by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform. Strapping was found underneath the delivery lorry which police stopped just over an hour after it left the prison at 7.32am, with officers suggesting Khalife held on to the bottom of the vehicle to escape.

After extensive search operations, Khalife was arrested three days later on September 9 in the Chiswick area. Khalife was previously arrested in January 2023, charged with terror and Official Secrets Act offences. He was accused of planting fake bombs (carrying out a bomb hoax) at his own military base. According to court documents, Khalife allegedly placed “three canisters with wires at RAF Stafford, with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property.”

He is also accused of “eliciting or attempting to elicit” information about soldiers from the Ministry of Defence Joint Personnel Administration System. This was said to be “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

Khalife was first arrested in January 2022 on suspicion of a separate offence, but was bailed before later being re-arrested following an investigation by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command. The former British Army soldier has denied all charges against him.