Daniel Khalife: Police search Richmond Park for terror suspect

The prison escape of terror suspect Daniel Khalife was "pre-planned" and "extremely concerning", the head of the Metropolitan Police has said.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told LBC the force is exploring the possibility that the former soldier was helped by other prisoners or guards.

An overnight search of Richmond Park in south-west London has also taken place.

The 21-year-old is accused of trying to spy for an enemy state, understood to be Iran, and plotting a fake bomb hoax.

The search of Richmond Park was not based on any specific lead or intelligence, and search efforts have been scaled back, BBC News has been told.

Mr Khalife - who joined the British Army in 2019 - clung to the underside of a delivery lorry to make his escape from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning.

Detectives believe he was still wearing his prison-issue cook's uniform when he slipped out of the category B jail.

Sir Mark said the escape was "clearly pre-planned, the fact that he could strap himself onto the bottom of the wagon" and it was "unlikely to be something you do on the spur of the moment".

Asked if police are looking into whether it was an "inside job", the commissioner said: "It is a question. Did anyone inside the prison help him? Other prisoners, guard staff? Was he helped by people outside the walls or was it simply all of his own creation?"

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said people should be reassured "that police are working around the clock".

The search operation was expanded on Thursday night to include police helicopters which were seen flying over Richmond Park - the biggest in the capital and located 2.8 miles (4.6km) from Wandsworth prison.

Residents saw two aircraft flying overhead, shining lights into the park, and said there were officers on the ground guarding gates from about 23:30 BST on Thursday.

The police helicopters may have been using infra-red technology to look for body heat. It has been suggested the park was a good place to search due to its position between the prison and Kingston upon Thames to where Mr Khalife has links.

A Royal Parks spokeswoman confirmed Richmond Park was temporarily closed overnight, but is now fully open.

There have been no confirmed sightings of Mr Khalife since he was declared missing.

Mel Thomas, retired acting inspector at Leicester Police who features on Channel 4 show Hunted where contestants evade capture, told the BBC it was "pretty unique" the way Mr Khalife managed to escaped from Wandsworth prison.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Khalife might be "quite experienced" depending on the amount of military training he has had, but it boils down to his resilience and network - important factors when trying to disappear.

Sue Sim, former chief constable from Northumbria Police who led the man hunt for Raoul Moat in 2010, told BBC Radio 5 Live Mr Khalife's flight from prison is "more than a spontaneous opportunistic escape" and that "he's been able to disappear into thin air".

Mark Fairhurst, chair of the Prison Officer's Association, told the BBC Wandsworth prison is "chronically overcrowded and understaffed" blaming it on "crippling" government budget cuts.

"They only had 69 prison officers on duty, during this escape they should have had at least 120 prison officers on duty," he said.

Meanwhile, Lord Carlisle, barrister and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told BBC Radio 5 Live it was "mind-boggling" a terrorism suspect was allowed to work in the kitchen with access to knives.

The government has ordered an independent review of how the prisoner escaped.

Some 150 Met Counter Terrorism Command officers have been deployed in the search since Khalife was declared missing at 08:15 BST on Wednesday.

The lorry carrying Mr Khalife left HMP Wandsworth at 07:32 BST and headed west - but the alarm was not raised by prison staff for a further 20 minutes. Another 25 minutes passed before the police were called in.

While the search for Mr Khalife is largely focused on London, he is also thought to have links to the north-west of England.

Speaking on Thursday, the head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, Cdr Dominic Murphy, said it was "absolutely possible" Mr Khalife might have already left the country, and security at ports and airports has been tightened.

These enhanced security checks will continue throughout the weekend, with all car boots being checked at ports such as Dover and the Eurotunnel. Travellers have been warned to expect delays as a result.

On Thursday evening, a man took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to recount how a member of the public mistook him for Mr Khalife and alerted the police.

Pictures on social media show the man being spoken to by police at Banbury train station in Oxfordshire on Thursday but Scotland Yard said it was not Mr Khalife.

Mr Khalife joined the Army in 2019 and was based at MoD Stafford - also known as Beacon Barracks - when he disappeared on 2 January after an alleged bomb hoax.

A later court hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court heard he allegedly planted fake devices "with the intention of inducing in another the belief the item was likely to explode or ignite".

He was arrested "in or near his car" on 26 January after "active efforts to look for him", a court heard. He was placed in Wandsworth two days later.

Mr Khalife was due to appear in court on 13 November to face charges including preparing an act of terrorism, and collecting information useful to an enemy - an offence under the Official Secrets Act.

He denied the charges against him at the Old Bailey in July.

Additional reporting by Simon Jones and Daniel Sandford