07 September 2023 , 12:58
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Police hunting escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife have a 48-hour window to find him before it potentially becomes a "long, slow slog", an intelligence expert has told the Mirror.
Colonel Philip Ingram, an ex-British Army intelligence officer, told the Mirror the 21-year-old former soldier will have gone to ground, but will not have had specialised training in escape and evade - rather just a basic annual refresher video. He also adds that he must have had help from the outside. He also does not believe the fugitive will have been able to flee the country due to all transport hubs being on high alert - and the difficulties of obtaining the correct forged documents. Instead, he believes the plan would be to lie low for up to a couple of months when search resources have dwindled, then make his next move.
Khalife, from Kingston, London, was previously stationed at Beacon Barracks in Staffordshire while working as a computer network engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals. He was arrested at the site and charged with terror offences and charges relating to the Official Secrets Act earlier this year, after he was accused of carrying out a bomb hoax at the RAF base. He is due to go to trial in November and was being held on remand at HMP Wandsworth before he escaped yesterday morning, just before 8am.
To follow our live blog on Daniel Khalife's prison escape click here
Daniel Khalife escaped Wandsworth Prison on WednesdayIt's understood he clung to the underside of a truck making a delivery to the prison's kitchen, while wearing a chef's uniform. Chaos ensued at airports and the Port of Dover as extra checks were introduced in a bid to catch him at the border.
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Mr Ingram - who served in the British Army for over 25 years - told the Mirror police will find him eventually, but added: "How long is a piece of string?" He explained: "They’ll find him eventually, the network is pretty good. I’ve no qualms about that whatsoever. The best window is within the first 24 to 48 hours, so we’re still within that window. It depends on the level of help that he’s got and where he’s gone.
Khalife was charged on alleged terror offences (PA)"If he has gone to ground it then becomes a long, slow slog from an intelligence perspective to look at all intelligence threads, whether those be individuals in criminal networks, those operating inside organisations that support the terror activities he’s charged with, or whether those be other technical means, and it’s how long is a piece of string?"
Mr Ingram said Khalife is "not highly trained" in escape and evasion and will at best have had an annual video that gives brief pointers if he were to be captured out in the field. He said: "He is a trained soldier, he was in the Royal Signals, so - when it comes to assessing his wider intelligence - he will have been at the top of the intelligence bracket.
It's believed he absconded from the prison by clinging to a delivery truck (PA)"He’ll have been chosen for the Royal Signals because he had displayed his ability to use initiative. Basic military training will give most people a level of confidence and basic skills. Combine that with a bit of out of box thinking and you can solve most problems. He’s just applied that into an escaping perspective."
But, he emphasised: "He would have had no specific training on escape and evasion, bar an annual video that says name, rank, number, if you get captured. He’ll have done some exercises in the field but most of those will have been to do with being able to live in the woods and bits and pieces if you manage to get caught behind enemy lines. So he’s got some basic military skills that every soldier would have that would allow him to hide for a period of time."
Colonel Philip Ingram (Sunday Mirror)However, Mr Ingram said in contrast to that the police and security services have got a "massive net that they'll have cast out and will be using every possible technique to try and find him". He said an alert was put out immediately to all airports in the UK and enhanced security checks were brought in, while specially trained officers will be "sitting just watching what's going on" in the crowds, including at all railway stations.
He added that the Met has a group of specialists called Super Recognisers who will be monitoring CCTV closely and "they'll pick him up if he moves". Mr Ingram went on to say Khalife will "almost certainly" have gone to ground "which means he's had help". He said: "Someone else will have helped him plan this, this is not something he will have done on the spur of the moment."
Ingram served for over 25 years (Sunday Mirror)He believes he will have been communicating with someone outside prison in order to get picked up and get out of "such distinctive" clothing quickly. "He would want to be somewhere he’s not having to use public transport or walk down through the streets where CCTV could pick him up. There are almost certainly people on the outside who have picked him up, and he will be in hiding at the minute."
Referring to the prison escape, he said: "He’ll have seen his windows of opportunity, had dates in his mind, he will have had to have co-ordinated with someone to pick him up on the outside, as quickly as possible. That’s what police will be looking at now. The routines in prison, any communications he had in and out of prison and be analysing that to see if there are any clues and indicators as to who might be helping him. The more people involved, the more people who have helped him, the greater chance the intelligence services find him."
Travellers faced chaos yesterday as airports were put on alertReports that Khalife will have likely remained in London, where the prison is based and where he grew up, is likely wrong, says Mr Ingram. "He’s planned this carefully, if you’ve planned something carefully you don’t go somewhere you are associated with," he said. "He will almost certainly be somewhere he is not associated with."
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Asked if there is any chance he has managed to get abroad, Mr Ingram said: "To get abroad it would mean someone getting him a passport, a false passport, and other bits and pieces, and flight tickets. The airports were closed down very quickly in the morning. He escaped about 10 to eight in the morning, and before 9am the notice had gone round the airports, so chances of him getting to an airport and getting out of a country are remote.
"Ports, rail lines and all the rest of it will be being monitored closely. If I were in his position I would go to ground locally. I wouldn’t try and do anything until everything had blown over. You go to ground for six to eight to 10 weeks and the resources aren’t going to be out there looking for you continuously. Then you escape. And we are an island nation, it’s not difficult to get off this island nation."