Ex-soldier Khalife admits to Wandsworth prison escape

The former soldier Daniel Khalife yesterday pleaded guilty to escaping from prison.

- JOSH PAYNE & ALEX CROFT

The 23-year-old absconded from HMP Wandsworth in southwest London in September 2023 by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers.

The sling “wasn’t spotted at Wandsworth gate or any other prison”, Khalife told jurors. “When the tail lift raised it covered me entirely. If the makeshift sling wasn’t noticed, they’re hardly going to notice me.”

Khalife escaped in the hope he would be kept in a high-security unit at a different prison, away from “sex offenders” and “terrorists” after his recapture, he previously told his trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb told jurors she had asked Khalife if he wanted the prison escape charge to be put to him again. When the charge was put to the former soldier, he replied: “I’m guilty.”

The court heard he planned a fake escape attempt for 21 August in the hope he would be moved to the high-security unit, but decided that a genuine escape was his only option after the incident was not reported to senior prison staff.