Food van ‘able to leave prison despite alert’

The food delivery truck that Daniel Khalife used to escape from HMP Wandsworth was allowed to leave the prison despite it being known an inmate was missing, a court has heard.

Daniel Khalife, 23, is on trial at Woolwich Crown Court accused of collecting sensitive military information for Iran, as well as escaping from Wandsworth Prison on 6 September 2023 – he denies the charges against him.

Balazs Werner, the driver of the Bidfood truck, said he was surprised when he was allowed to drive out of the main gate, because he heard security staff saying that “someone in the prison was missing”.

Earlier on Tuesday, the jury heard how a hoax bomb was found in the former British army soldier’s room after he fled his barracks earlier in 2023.

In a statement read to the jury, Mr Werner said that after he had made his delivery to the prison, “the two guards checked the vehicle again with a torch and a mirror” before letting him leave.

“I said ‘Are you sure that I can go?’ because I thought there would be a lockdown,” he added.

The court also heard that a woman driving behind the van as it stopped at a traffic light had seen a man in a white T-shirt and “pale pink gloves” roll out from underneath.

“I saw him drop to the ground and then do a kind of pencil roll,” said Skye Vokins.

“When the male got to his feet… I can remember him flicking his fringe back and behaving very calmly.”

Ms Vokins said she “did not see” which direction the man had walked in. Her flatmate later contacted the police on her behalf.

The court heard that on the same day, Mr Khalife had been to a Mountain Warehouse store, and the following day he was pictured in M&S and Sainsbury’s stores.

He was arrested on a canal towpath in west London on 9 September 2023.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC previously told the jury Mr Khalife “quite deliberately escaped” after being escorted to the prison kitchen where he had a job.

The alleged escape happened while Mr Khalife was on remand after being charged with offences under the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act, and with perpetrating a bomb hoax, all of which he denies.

He is also accused of fleeing Beacon Barracks, in Stafford, in January 2023 after realising he would face charges over allegations of passing on classified information.

The court heard that a note left near the device read: “You can say with certainty that you will go to prison for a very long time. Your options are suicide or absconding.”

On Tuesday, jurors heard that a fake device – in the form of three metal canisters taped together – was found on his desk after he failed to report for duty on 3 January 2023.

LCpl Aaron Barrett said his first impression was that it was a “makeshift bomb”.

“The wires coming out of the top were all like joined together but there was nothing connected to them like [a] charge or anything,” he told the court.

Attending officers who visited the site also considered the device to be fake, but a bomb disposal unit was called.

A 100m cordon was put in place and five accommodation blocks were evacuated by the unit until it confirmed the device was fake, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, a bomb disposal officer said the device contained nitrous oxide cylinders.

Prosecutors have said Mr Khalife prepared the hoax to delay the search for him.

The trial continues.