How Daniel Khalife managed to escape London prison minute-by-minute

Khalife had 65 minutes in which to disappear into the throng of London or beyond (Picture: PA/Met Police)

Daniel Abed Khalife had just over an hour to disappear completely before police caught up with his escape vehicle.

The former soldier, 21, slinked out of Wandsworth prison clinging to the underside of a lorry on Wednesday morning.

Scotland Yard has revealed he had a 65-minute window between the van leaving the gates and when it was stopped and searched by police four miles away.

Here is a minute-by-minute account of how he escaped.

21-year-old Khalife was remanded, awaiting a six-week trial when he escaped from the prison (Picture: Met Police/EPA)

First thing in the morning, Khalife serves breakfast to inmates at HMP Wandsworth.

He is wearing his chef’s uniform, which consists of a white shirt, red and white chequered trousers and steel boots.

While he is supposed to be working, Khalife slips outside the kitchen and manages to climb underneath a Bidfood grocery lorry, which is parked just outside the kitchen to make a routine delivery.

He uses a makeshift strapping to secure himself underneath the lorry, which police suspect he carried with him from the kitchen.

The lorry then makes to leave the prison at around 7.30am, the driver apparently totally unaware of the stowaway.

It drives 250 yards along the road within the walls through the prison and is waved through a total of three checkpoints en route to the exit.

Two internal security gates had to be opened to allow the lorry through.

The lorry is waved through, past guards and CCTV cameras, with no-one thinking to check underneath the vehicle.

It departs the prison at the main gate at 7.32am.

The fugitive left the kitchens and strapped himself to the underside of a Bidfood lorry (Picture: Metropolitan Police)

The lorry went through three checkpoints before leaving Wandsworth prison at the main gate (Picture: PA)

The route that the Bidfood lorry took after leaving HMP Wandsworth (Picture: metro.co.uk)

The lorry then continues on its route through the roads of south London.

Exiting from the main gate at HMP Wandsworth, the lorry turned right onto Heathfield Road, a residential street, then left and left again up the A214 Trinity Road towards the River Thames.

It then turned left along Old York Road and left again to join the A205 South Circular road towards Putney.

Continuing on its journey, the lorry was finally stopped at the A205 junction with Carlton Drive in Putney.

Khalife could have slipped away at any point on this route.

The escapee wasn’t discovered missing until 7.50am, at which time prison officers launched an urgent search for him. So he immediately had an 18-minute head start.

And it wasn’t until 8.15am, 43 minutes after Khalife left the prison under the lorry, that police were alerted to his escape.

The lorry driver was also alerted to what had happened by his company and was ordered to turn around and drive back towards the prison.

Police didn’t catch up with the lorry until it was four miles away from the prison (Picture: metro.co.uk)

All the roads the Bidfood grocery lorry took after leaving Wandsworth prison (Picture: metro.co.uk)

Khalife is suspected to have spied for Iran (Picture:
grab from Sky News)

Then at 8.37am, police officers finally caught up with the lorry outside a coffee shop, but all they find is the remnants of the strapping that Khalife used to secure himself to the vehicle.

In a statement, Scotland Yard counter-terror commander Dominic Murphy said: ‘We searched it, but we found no trace of him. But we did find strapping that meant he had been underneath.’

The Met Police have confirmed there have been no sightings of Khalife by members of the public, leading to speculation that he may have been picked up by an accomplice in another vehicle.

There is no suspicion attached to the Bidfood driver and they have been co-operating fully with the investigation.

Police issued an all-ports alert and widened their search, confirming that one area they were focusing on was Kingston-upon-Thames, around four miles from where the lorry was stopped by officers.

But Mr Murphy also added that the fugitive could be anywhere by now.

The Met Police is continuing to search for Khalife and is urgently appealing for the public’s help.

In a statement last night, the Met said: ‘We continue to appeal for the public’s help locating Daniel Khalife who escaped from Wandsworth prison yesterday.

‘Commander Murphy, who’s leading the investigation, has asked for anyone with information that may help us to call 999 urgently.’

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The 21-year-old clung to the underside of a delivery lorry without being noticed.