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?

@SquirmOfEels I agree, that doesn't make much sense, looking at the map. were they intending to head over Wandsworth bridge? it's currently closed for roadworks so they may have had to change tack, hence why heading for Putney (but it doesn't make sense that if you are planning an escape to not check your intended escape route??)

I'm with you 100%. Intriguing but we'll never know the full picture.

A significant number of prison staff (across the board) are as bent as the day is long (in both meanings of the word). They'll do anything for money. You don't hear about 80% of the corruption....

Oh @Howandwhy where is the stats for that then?

And thanks, thanks for that!

That is very true, in the digital age, the same method's as was used during the cold wars etc, misinformation, deception, half truth's, spin, public relations etc intelligence services vs intelligence services, spy's vs spy's, govt vs govt, etc the technology got better, the people well, humans have always been human.

Hawkins The Infamous

@givemushypeasachance thanks for the very thorough break down of the next steps if he just made a run for it.

do you think the reality is much duller- all preplanned and paid people off and a handover to other and out of the country by now.

with the correct leverage. almost anyone can be disloyal

When I worked in a cat b prison all sorts of crazy stuff would go on. Trust me the staff can be corrupt due to various reasons, for money, manipulation, threatening them
Or their family, prisoners pry on those that are vulnerable or sometimes they're just corrupt anyway.
Also all sorts of items are smuggled in. Phones, drugs, cards, cash and a gun once.
He will have had some form of help from inside for sure.
He shouldn't have been working in the kitchen if on remand, often they don't work whilst on remand at all so the fact he was in the kitchen is suspicious.

Kitchen work whilst on remand that is suspicious. It's normally once convicted then allocation on a wing, then when bureaucracy allows given a job and kitchen would be unlikely as a first job because it's a sought after position.

Interesting. Sounds like inside help to set that up

Police focus currently on Richmond Park, according to SKY (article 25 minutes ago)

Couple of new pix of him in the article

Daniel Abed Khalife prison escape: Police scour Richmond Park for fugitive terror suspect | UK News | Sky News

If he had been spying for Iran (innocent until proven guilty and all that ), I'd assume they were involved in the escape. In which case, I would be amazed if he's still in the UK. Whisked off to an airfield, small plane over the Channel, onward journey to Tehran.

If he's got not further than Richmond Park it would suggest to me that it's not part of a carefully coordinated plan and that he's not getting much help from others.

Although I suppose he might be lying low anticipating vehicle searches and increased surveillance on ports , airports etc.

I'm local - love the idea that the way for a 6'2" man to move inconspicuously around SW London on a summer's day is to wear a burka!

One thing to bear in mind is that this escape is more than somewhat embarrassing for many in authority.

The escapee may well have been up to no good in terms of intelligence gathering and other behaviour (hence the charges that saw him in clink to start with) but it might also right now be in some people's interest to depict, and keep depicting him, as being some sort of super cook/super soldier in possession of all sorts of special skills that allow him to evade detection and capture.

Ministers and officials I'm sure will be quite happy to make statements along the lines that "Well, it's true can't find him., but you mustn't forget he's done special training that I cannot discuss in detail"

He might have had some assistance but fundamentally he might just be a young soldier who has done some very basic survival, escape and evasion training who has been smart enough to spot an opportunity.

Yes I am

from first hand information Wandsworth prison is known to be one of the easiest cat b prisons to escape (so told by two ex inmates)

why was he in that prison anyway

What gets me is that the van was stopped within a fairly short distance and he was already gone.

did he just chance dropping onto the floor at a traffic lights/junction and hoping he didn’t get run over? How come no one noticed him crawling out?

did he he make and attach the “makeshift” straps. If so what out of? How did he have time to attach them? Or where the straps attached by someone else earlier? I bet the van driver is being looked at.

why were mirrors not used to check under? Or were they used and he was missed?

BBC is quoting Mark Rowley (head of the Met) as saying the escape was "clearly pre-planned" and "extremely concerning"

I'm wondering if he was tracked by CCTV to Richmond Park, but lost thereafter. So they have to search the (huge 2,500 acres) park.

And IIRC there's only CCTV there around the car parks once inside, so if he got to the park, the pre-planning could have included a rendezvous with someone inside and a Happy Valley-inspired switch to becoming a cyclist. So even if they police saw a tall man on a bike in helmet (normal) and wrap-round sunshades (utterly plausible in this weather) leave the park, how would they know it was him? Especially if an identically clad cyclist on the same bike (the co-conspirator) had been seen entering it, maybe from a completely different direction, earlier on. And it would take ages to identify any exiting walkers for whom they could not find an entering pair, and even if they did identify one, it doesn't tell them where Khalife went.

And of course, he could also have just gone over a wall. Or maybe he'll eventually be found in there.

How well does heat seeking equipment work when the temperature is over 30? And would hanging out near the deer be a good way to hide your heat pattern overnight?

By its very definition, that is not first hand information…

Yea you are right

I’m just a little too excited by the accounts I heard and guessing where he could possibly be and how he managed the escape

basically trust nothing so to speak, the name Casey Ryback comes to mind, thankfully in that case he was the good one.

Surely he had help (ie where to avoid cctv etc) so he’ll either be out the country by now, or safely in someone’s home and supplied with a suitable disguise to bid their time before leaving the country. Or is this too simplistic?

I saw in the news a witness saw him getting off the van and into a car heading eastbound. Not sure how true it is.

one problem with any witness , we don't know if its a misdirection tactic. eg i saw him go north, but in reality it was south etc

Oh yes good point.