Daniel Khalife's 'strange' remark to dog walker who he chatted to while on run
Runaway prisoner Daniel Khalife reportedly made a strange remark to a dog walker, who he ended up chatting to whilst evading the law.
The ex-soldier turned suspect terrorist quickly became the most wanted man in the UK after he escaped from Category B prison HMP Wandsworth last Wednesday. Aged 21, he was being held on remand ahead of a trial in November on charges relating to terrorism and the Official Secrets Act. He had allegedly planted three fake bombs at an RAF base and gathered information that might be useful to a terrorist, allegations that he denied.
But, last week he strapped himself to the bottom of a food delivery van and vanished into busy London rush hour, triggering a national manhunt for him. After 75 hours on the run, he was caught in west London, hauled off a bike by plain-clothed officers. But whilst out of prison, the day before being caught, Khalife ended up chatting to a random member of the public.
Khalife, 21, was being held on remand (AP)
The ex-soldier had been booted from the army in May of this year (Sky News)Gabrielle Lewis said the ex-soldier approached her and asked her for the time as she sat on a bench at Chiswick House and Gardens, in West London. During their brief interaction, she said that he appeared to actually look “very clean” for someone on the run, but his ear looked like it had a bit missing, or split.
The runaway squaddie made the strange comment, telling her that he had just left the army, as they made polite small talk. Speaking to The Sun, the 52-year-old said she had noticed his injured ear had been badly stitched up with what appeared to be fishing line.
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After he sat down next to her, she said: “So to break the ice I said, ‘Lovely day, isn’t it?’. He replied, ‘I’ve just got out of the Army’, which I thought was a strange way to start a conversation. I just said, ‘Oh. That’s good’. I thought if he had just left the Army he might have post-traumatic stress disorder, so I was trying to be nice to him.”
The route the food delivery van took that Khalife escaped under (Press Association Images)Khalife was eventually caught in Northolt, around 12 miles from his prison, around 11am on Saturday 9 September. That morning, officers swarmed the area after a number of reports of sightings. Officers were seen stopping and checking cars in the area with cops asking residents for their IDs and looking in car boots on Church Street and Chiswick Lane South.
Armed police officers were also seen searching up and down the road, according to reports from the scene. A police boat was spotted on the River Thames close to the roads, and police dogs have also been at the scene. Khalife had escaped prison wearing the chef’s clothes he had been working in, but had at one point changed and was eventually arrested wearing a white shirt, shorts and running shoes.
During the arrest that brought the dramatic four-day hunt to an end, an officer shouted: "Don’t move or we’ll shoot" as they finally caught the jailbreak terror suspect, who was heard crying: "It's not me! I ain't done anything" as he was wrestled to the ground before his hands were tied together. Officers perched on a grassy verge behind a wall before pouncing at 10.41am on Saturday morning.
Student Ethan Andrews, 20, saw the arrest and was left shocked after Khalife looked up at him and winked. When he was finally nabbed, he had a cool bag and sleeping bag with him.
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