Runner who saw Daniel Khalife rang 101 a day earlier but couldn't get through
A man who believes he spotted fugitive Daniel Khalife twice the day before he was captured has told how he tried to report it to police but couldn't get through on phone lines.
Frank Noon was out on a run on Friday morning when he spotted someone who fitted the description of the suspected terrorist, 21, asleep on a bench in west London. Then a couple of hours later while walking his dog, he saw the same person sat in a shed at the entrance to an old cemetery. He tried to report it to police via 101, but said he "gave up" when he couldn't get hold of anyone. However, he told a neighbour about the sighting who then spoke to a 999 call handler later that day.
By the evening, the area was full of police - and Frank believes it may well have been the tip off the cops needed to catch Khalife, who was arrested at 10.41am on Saturday in Greenford. He escaped HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning while awaiting trial after being charged with offences relating to terrorism and the Official Secrets Act.
Today a court heard Khalife allegedly escaped prison by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery lorry using material “which may have been from bed sheets”. The former soldier was remanded into custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with escaping from HMP Wandsworth and will next appear at the Old Bailey on September 29.
Frank Noon spotted who he thinks was Daniel Khalife the day he was arrested (Frank Noon)Frank, 66, said he was jogging over Chiswick Bridge around 7am on Friday when he saw the man asleep with his cap covering his face. He told the Mirror: "He just looked a bit out of place. He just didn’t look like the normal street sleepers that you see around there. I remember just looking at him and wondering, 'is that the person they’re looking for?' I didn’t really think much of it and then I carried on with my run."
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Later that morning, Frank was out near Chiswick Old Cemetery - around a 25-minute walk away - and said the same person was sat scrolling through a mobile phone. He said: "There’s a shed at the entrance to the cemetery. There was a guy sitting in there. As I walked through, I thought 'oh, that’s the same guy I saw asleep on the bench three hours before'. I could see him in the same clothes and everything looking down at his phone, and I thought 'I wonder if that is the guy?' I sort of slightly dismissed it again."
Daniel Khalife appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court this moring (PA)Frank has lived in the area for nearly 30 years, and said one of his neighbours has nicknamed the shed 'Clarence House' after the King's royal residence. He said: "It’s kind of an open shed, I’m not sure what it’s ever been used for. You get various people just passing the time of day, sitting there and people who maybe stay the night in there. Somebody who used to live in there, a homeless guy, one of the neighbours helped him out, gave him food and blankets and stuff like that. It's a bit of a stopover place for people to get themselves sorted out. It’s not unusual to see someone sitting in there. But what pricked my ears up was from seeing him before."
He said the man didn't spot him either time. "On the bench he looked like he was asleep and had his cap covering his face. He wasn’t bothered by anyone running by. The second time he was just on his phone, quite engrossed on his phone. I just looked at it and thought 'that’s the guy I saw before'." Frank said he was wearing what he recalls as green khaki joggers, a white T-shirt and a cap. 24 hours later, Khalife was arrested while riding a bicycle on a canal towpath in Northolt. Around an hour's walk from where Frank believes he saw him. However, Frank said he didn't notice a bike, a Waitrose cooler bag or sleeping bag witnesses recounted him having when he was detained.
An undercover cop tackled Khalife under a bridge on the Grand Union Canal at Northolt (Stan Kujawa)After the second sighting, Frank told a neighbourhood WhatsApp group and was encouraged to contact police. He said: "I phoned 101 but I couldn’t get through to anyone and I gave up. I never even thought to ring 999. I’d already had an experience with the police earlier in the week where I’d reported a wallet missing and had a similar experience where I had this information but I didn’t have any way of giving it to them.
"Anyway, one of my neighbours then tipped them off and called 999 and said this is what happened. 'My neighbour saw this person, maybe you should look into it', a couple of hours later. Whether that was what tipped them off to come to Chiswick, I don't know, because there was quite a presence of police on Friday night in the cemetery and Pumping Station Road, near the river. Then there was a sighting in Chiswick Mall and Spencer Road, which is a bit further up. Whether this was the same person, I don’t really know. It could have been, it’s likely."
Frank said cops swarmed on Chiswick on Friday evening (Stan Kujawa)Frank went on to say: "It sounds like he knew the neighbourhood and just followed the river. I don’t know how he ended up in the cemetery unless he knew it." Describing the spot where he was arrested in Greenford, he said: "It would be an hour’s walk. You’d walk down to Brentford and then up to the canal, I would think. I suppose you’re avoiding the main high streets on tow paths and things like that."
Khalife had been previously stationed at Beacon Barracks in Staffordshire while working as a computer network engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals. He allegedly planted a fake bomb at the RAF base and gathered information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK. He spent 75 hours on the run last week.
A Met Police spokesperson told the Mirror last night the force did not wish to comment on Frank's claims, but reiterated that Commander Dominic Murphy, who was leading the manhunt "has thanked the public for coming forward with information".
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