Fugitive Daniel Khalife caught by police after making ‘one major error’
Fugitive Daniel Khalife is said to have made one major mistake that led to his capture on Saturday (September 8). The terror suspect was arrested yesterday morning after a four-day police manhunt in London after escaping from prison.
Khalife, 21, was reportedly knocked off his bike by a plain-clothed officer who had been waiting near a canal towpath in West London at around 11am. He had escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday (September 6).
Colonel Philip Ingram told the Daily Mirror[1] that the ‘one major error’ Khalife made was being seen walking away from a van after it stopped near a roundabout in Wandsworth soon after he escaped.
He told the Daily Mirror[3]: “It was only a matter of time before they found him from that point, and the clock started ticking.
“It does not take much effort for the police then to start piecing together all the CCTV that they need and everything else and get witnesses to come forward. And that is what has happened.
“You need a starting point, they had an exact starting point and an exact time, whereas if they had not they would have had to move into every option along the route from the lorry to the police stopping the lorry, which is a much bigger potential set of starting points. It was the significant breakthrough.”
Khalife was awaiting trial after being charged with offences relating to terrorism and the Official Secrets Act. He had been previously stationed at Beacon Barracks in Staffordshire and had allegedly gathered information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK.
The Sun[4] reports that the 21-year-old laughed at cops and winked at passers-by as he was wrestled to the floor, handcuffed and pinned against a bridge in London. Student Ethan Andrews said: “He looked up at me, winked and started laughing. I thought, how arrogant is that?”
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References
- ^ Daily Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ HGV rams police car and damages other vehicles in chase as suspect tries to flee by running along M42 (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ Daily Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ The Sun (www.thesun.co.uk)
- ^ here (data.reachplc.com)
- ^ Coventry (www.coventrytelegraph.net)