ormer soldier Daniel Khalife laughed when he was arrested according to an eyewitness who saw the terror suspect who has since been charged with escaping from Wandsworth Prison.
Khalife’s hands were bound behind him as he sat on the west London canal towpath where he was finally found after a huge manhunt and one eyewitness said he was “laughing” while being arrested.
He told The Times he heard Khalife say to the officer: “It’s not me. I haven’t done anything.”
The 21-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged with escaping from custody at HMP Wandsworth.
It comes as 40 inmates were moved out of the prison in southwest London for what the Secretary of State for Justice called “an abundance of caution”.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has said around 40 inmates of HMP Wandsworth have been moved out of the jail after terror suspect Daniel Khalife’s escape (Yui Mok/PA)
/ PA WireAlex Chalk told Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Out of an abundance of caution, some prisoners there – some of those on remand – have been moved (this week).
“Additional resources have, of course, gone into Wandsworth, so there’s additional governor support, a former governor with particular expertise in security.
“But also, out of an abundance of caution, around 40 prisoners have been moved just while we get to the bottom of what took place in Wandsworth. That is a sensible, precautionary measure.”
There was a further blow to the prison’s reputation on Sunday when an inmate was stabbed.
Sky News reported the man injured in the incident is in “a critical condition” and was taken to hospital just after 3pm.
Police said they were called at around 3.20pm to reports of an inmate being assaulted at the prison.
They said no arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Staff swiftly responded to an incident between prisoners at HMP Wandsworth today.
“We have a zero tolerance approach to violence and will always take strong action against those who break these rules.”]
Khalife was arrested after he was pushed off a bike by a plain clothes police officer in Northolt.
Officers had flooded the area after confirmed sightings of the escaped prisoner in the area and apprehended the suspect at 10.41am on Saturday.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism chief, said the terror suspect “was arrested in Rowdell Road, UB5 in London on the canal towpath”.
He added: “He was actually arrested by a plain clothes officer… and he was riding a pedal cycle so a pushbike at the time, was pulled off that pushbike by that officer and arrested at that location.
Police in west London
/ PA“Upon being detained by the officer he was fully co-operative and handcuffed and arrested.”
Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.
A manhunt was soon launched for the 21-year-old who was awaiting trial after allegedly planting a fake bomb at an RAF base and gathering information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK. He was discharged from the army in May.
Mr Murphy added: “It’s been about 75 hours since he went missing from the prison to the point of his arrest. That’s pretty quick given the challenge of trying to find this individual.
“He was arrested for being unlawfully at large and for being an escaped prisoner.
“In terms of the investigation, it really gathered momentum yesterday afternoon, with a number of calls from the public, but really took a different course last night, when we did an intelligence-led search in the Richmond area in the early hours of this morning.
“Whilst we didn’t find him at that search, while we were at that search, we had a number of calls from the public over the next hour or two, giving us various sightings of him.”
He added that the Ministry of Justice and Prison Service are exerting “huge amounts of effort” to understand how Khalife escaped.
He told the PA news agency: “I know huge amounts of efforts are taking place within the Ministry of Justice and the Prison Service now to understand how Daniel escaped.
“That will form part of our investigation but my interest… has always been in trying to find Daniel and put him back into custody.
“We now pivot our resources into the investigation to understand how he escaped and that’s where our focus will be.
“In terms of the prison, it’s really a matter for the Prison Service and the Ministry of Justice.”
Mr Murphy said any accomplices to the escape “before, during or after” the event will form part of the police investigation.
Asked if police think there are other people involved, Mr Murphy said he was “open minded” about the possibility.
He said: “Clearly we are moving resources now into that investigation.
“I should say while the manhunt was ongoing, that the investigation continued the whole time and of course, as part of being open minded, if anyone did help or support Daniel in his escape, either before, during or after, they will form part of our investigation.”
Khalife was reportedly working in the prison kitchens, when he escaped dressed in his cook’s uniform at 7.50am on Wednesday.
The Bidfood delivery lorry left HMP Wandsworth at 7.32am on Wednesday and he was declared missing 18 minutes later.
Police were then notified at 8.15am and the van was stopped on Upper Richmond Road near to the junction of Carlton Road at 8.37am.
Strapping was found on the underside of the lorry, with officers suggesting Khalife held on to the underside of the vehicle to escape.
