Escaped convict - Anyone else slightly fascinated by how he's escaping capture?

[Malariahilaria]

I don't know why but this has captured my imagination. Daniel Khalife escaped prison by clinging to the underside of a delivery van. Now I'm wondering when did he let go? Where did he hide? Is it like the fugitive where he hides in a hen house out house and steals a doctor's uniform from a hospital? Where would you hide if you had to? Where do you get food and water and shelter?

I’m really interested in the reports he is an Iranian agent as he very clearly of Arab descent! He’s not Persian in anyway, he is middle and surname are Arab not Persian and he has an Arab appearance. Arabs tend to dislike Iranians (slight generalisation!) so I can’t imagine him working for them. The languages are different and the culture is massively different.

BBC reported that he was wearing the kitchen uniform of white shirt and red/white checked trousers and that he's 6ft2 tall. That would be memorable, and also easy to pick up on CCTV (and I bet they've got officers looking at all footage along the lorry's route across the time in question)

So the first question is where did he get off the lorry (without excessive risk of being immediately incapacitated by being run over)? Or it looking so bloody odd that someone remembered it - London schools are back, this all happened during the early part of the school run/rush hour - oodles of people about.

We know it must have happened somewhere between the prison and where the lorry was stopped and he there he wasn't. If the police do know where, they're not saying.

He would have needed immediately either to be picked up by another vehicle, or a change of clothing (to make himself less conspicuous) and ideally a means of paying for stuff. Could stuff have been left for him? If so, where?

BBC say he's 6ft2. I think someone that tall in a burqa would be pretty damned memorable

There doesn’t seem to be much on his background.

Very interesting interview on R4 (I think WatO). Remand prisoners don't normally work in prison as never quite sure how long they are going to be there. And in the kitchen....normally viewed as a 'cushy' job in prison and given to 'trustys'. Also why in a cat B prison? So many unsatisfactory issues to consider. Lots of questions for someone to answer. But I expect we've seen the last of him until he (or his accomplices) blows something up.

Remand prisoners do work, just not in jobs like kitchen/garden/maintenance. Kitchen is relatively well paid but certainly not cushty by comparison to e.g. wing cleaning or education they are up at 0530 and frequently have to cover shifts in days off etc.

Yes, you can certainly be in Belmarsh on remand if you're accused of a terrorism offence - why was he placed elsewhere? One for the enquiry, I suppose.

I've been looking at the route, and wondering if the lorry had other drop offs, because otherwise (and other Londoners' views on this would be interesting) it looks a bit odd.

I think leaving the prison and turning south is (I think) currently the only way to go, as there have been roadworks at the railway bridge on that road and it's been closed to anything bigger than a bicycle (and probably still is).

So then going round and on to Trinity Road is logical. But if heading for Putney, why didn't they turn left at Wandsworth Common Northside, instead of going down to the Wandsworth Roundabout? Another delivery, I guess (assuming no complicity from the delivery firm - but is that a wise assumption)? Because after the roundabout, they headed straight back into the Wandsworth gyratory system (which is exactly where you'd end up if you'd turned left earlier - again fellow Londoners, is there a disadvantage between going in to it from East Hill, compared to coming at it from the north?) Perhaps the police aren't releasing everything about the van's movements and stops.

Sorry for the armchair Marple-ing. Where he got off the lorry probably doesn't make much difference in the greater scheme of things!!

theres a lot more to this than we know,

one does not suddenly don a chef outfit, shimmy out a window and do a rambo under a truck.

i wonder what the intelligence services files show about the individual.

@MotherOfGodWeeFella they were arrested and charged, found in Brighton without the baby. Charged with gross negligence manslaughter

I think he was on a private jet within a couple of hours and is probably in Iran now. It sounds like he was too important to leave him in jail.

If he worked in the kitchen, that would have been his work wear. Not a fancy dress costume.

It does seem rather odd that a ‘terror suspect’ was allowed to work in a kitchen with access to knives & hot, heavy things & bleach & chemicals & stuff…

or lifted by one intelligence service or another

what about sere training ?

obviously

@Bemyclementine OMG!! snap!
That Porridge film plot was my first thought. 🤣🤣🤣

@Judashascomeintosomemoney

Maybe they are allowed to watch ealing comedy

@needtonamechangeforthis1 and @Hawkins0009 agree with you absolutely. Definitely either lifted or aided. Possibly foreign or domestic intelligence related. Be interesting to see how this plays out. Or how much is actually reported if they do find him.

Maybe better to wait until they stop checking the ports. It goes quiet and you assume already left the country and then you leave. My BIL has a boat that can easily pop off across channel and does for pleasure. There are thousands of similar vessels. It's easy if you know how.

It's easier than you realise. Just avoid cctv or cover face when near it. Quality is so bad it's laughable anyway. If you know what you are doing you shouldn't get intercepted.

I wondered if he had shirt and t shirt on under the uniform. Perfectly normal clothing for this weather.

the majority have seen james bond or episodes of spooks, these days whos' realty who etc

not always, sometimes a bunker can be a more secure location especially if the information he has is time sensitive etc

Ha!

You're right. It sounds like the plot from a badly made 'B' movie.

BBC on the state of Wandsworth prison

Wandsworth prison life: Decay, drugs and drudgery - BBC News

Some of which is about prisons in general. Cuts to prison services (or failure to increase to 'stand still') have led to simply dreadful conditions in gaols. But it's an area which is overlooked by all political parties - Rory Stewart had a go, starting back in 2018 (following an utterly dire report into HMP Liverpool - with a pledge that he'd resign if drugs/violence did not decrease - but under his watch they did. But then he got promoted, and everything fell to shite again. I think what his brief tenure shows is what can be done with competent leadership and political will.