'Big questions to answer' over terror suspect's prison escape

A POLICE manhunt for a former soldier accused of terrorism entered a second day as a Cabinet minister admitted there were "big questions to answer" about his prison escape.

- Anthony France, John Dunne and Ross Lydall

Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, went missing in his jail cook's uniform having strapped himself underneath a delivery lorry leaving Wandsworth prison yesterday morning. Extra security checks have been put in place at airports and ports amid fears the spying suspect, from Kingston, may be planning to flee the country. Questions were being asked why Khalife had been placed in a Category B jail instead of Belmarsh, which often holds inmates on terror charges. During a hearing at Westminster magistrates' court, the ex- Royal Signals soldier was denied bail because he was considered a flight risk.

Professor Ian Acheson, a former head of security at Wandsworth, said: "At best, this is a catastrophic system failure that actually starts with the allocation of Khalife to Wandsworth and ends with a terror suspect working in a prison kitchen of an establishment in crisis and escaping in a vehicle.