No confirmed sightings of Khalife since his escape Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said officers had so far not received any confirmed sightings of Daniel Khalife since he escaped from Wandsworth prison in London on Wednesday. As he set out details of the route taken by the van before it was stopped by police, which Khalife was believed to have been strapped underneath as it left the prison, Murphy said the force had received more than 50 calls from the public which provided “some really valuable lines of inquiry”. He told reporters: “This was a really busy area of London and we’ve had no confirmed sightings in any of that information, which is a little unusual and perhaps a testament to Daniel Khalife‘s ingenuity in his escape and some of his movements after his escape. “It’s important that we remember we have some of the best military in the world here in the UK and he was a trained soldier. “So, ultimately, he has skills that perhaps some sections of the public don’t have and I am really keen that we are using everything in our means to find him.” A summary of today"s developments Met Police commander Dominic Murphy said officers had so far not received any confirmed sightings of Daniel Khalife since he escaped from Wandsworth prison in South London on Wednesday morning. Commander Murphy added there were more than 150 investigators and police staff from counter terrorism command working in London on the “fast paced investigation” to find Khalife, with support from forces and agencies around the country. Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, told Sky News that Wandsworth prison should be shut down. Speaking on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge programme, he said: “When you find a prison like Wandsworth, it really needs closing ultimately - it is not a suitable prison. “In an ideal world one would, but of course you need jails because you need to service the courts.” Wandsworth prison’s performance was rated as a “serious concern” and watchdogs had issued a string of warnings about the jail in the past year. In the Annual Prison Performance Ratings for 2022/23, published in July, Wandsworth was among nine rated as a “serious concern”. The Metropolitan police have confirmed a video of a man who appears to look like Khalife, the prisoner who escaped from Wandsworth prison, being arrested in the Banbury area is not him. An investigation is under way into why Khalife, a former soldier accused of terrorism, was held in a lower-security prison, Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, said. The escape of a former soldier from a London jail has provoked a furious political row with ministers criticised over cuts and staff shortages that have left potentially dangerous inmates in low-security prisons, writes Haroon Siddique, Dan Sabbagh and Aletha Adu. With the hunt for Daniel Khalife involving 150 counter-terrorism officers, the police were on Thursday urgently trying to establish whether the 21-year-old had help fleeing from HMP Wandsworth. Detectives said Khalife, who is facing espionage charges, strapped himself to the bottom of a van, raising questions about the equipment he used and how he was not detected as the vehicle left the prison. The chief inspector of prisons, the chair of parliament’s justice committee and the prison officers’ union, the POA, all said HMP Wandsworth was known to have staffing issues, adding to pressure on the government over Khalife’s escape on Wednesday morning, which Labour said “beggars belief”. Khalife’s presence in a category B prison when he has been charged with such serious offences also prompted concerns that other high-risk inmates might not be held in security conditions commensurate with their alleged crimes. Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, told Sky News that Wandsworth prison should be shut down. Speaking on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge programme, he said: “When you find a prison like Wandsworth, it really needs closing ultimately - it is not a suitable prison. “In an ideal world one would, but of course you need jails because you need to service the courts.” Mr Taylor said there’s a “crisis” in prisons at the moment and “there are only just enough prison places available”. While the sheer extent of decrepitude in the nation’s schools uncovered by the crisis over aerated concrete might have been an eye-opener to some policymakers, a story that highlights the parlous state of the prisons service will have surprised almost no one. There are two main problems with prisons, which while interlinked are not entirely down to the same causes: the crumbling state of the prisons themselves, and the lack of space inside them. Wandsworth prison in south-west London, from which terrorism suspect Daniel Khalife’s escaped on Wednesday, is supposed to hold 900 men. But Steve Gillan, head of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said it currently has 1,600. The picture with overcrowding is a slightly complex one. The 120 prisons across England and Wales hold a fraction over 87,000 people, 96% of them men, which is less than 1,000 below the service’s maximum capacity. About 20% of prisoners are held in overcrowded conditions, often spending most of their time in cramped cells. Here are some of the questions about the incident which remain unanswered, compiled by the PA news agency. – Why was Daniel Khalife in Wandsworth and not a higher security prison? Khalife was reportedly initially in custody at maximum security Belmarsh prison, where terrorist prisoners and those accused of such offences are often held, but later transferred to Wandsworth. John Podmore, a former governor at HMP Brixton and HMP Belmarsh, told the BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “My view is that he should have been at Belmarsh. “It’s much more suited to the levels of security that someone like this – charged with, not convicted – needs. I can’t understand why he wasn’t at Belmarsh.” – Why was he allowed to work in the kitchen? Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor told the PA news agency a prisoner has to earn a “certain level of trust” in order to be allowed to work in a kitchen. – Was this a pre-planned escape, an inside job, and did he get any other help? Police have not divulged their theories on this or whether there is any evidence to suggest this, but it will form part of their investigation. No-one has been arrested or interviewed under caution in connection with the incident. Podmore also told the BBC programme there was a “possibility” Khalife’s escape was an inside job. – Are staffing shortages a factor in how the escape was able to take place? Taylor said inspectors are “particularly concerned” about staffing at the prison, adding: “That ultimately is the source of many of the problems in the jail.” Wandsworth has one of the highest rates of sickness absence among staff, official Government figures show. Unions and watchdogs say they have raised repeated concerns about staffing levels there. – When will a royal commission looking at the criminal justice system be launched, as promised in the Conservative manifesto? Ministers are facing growing calls to urgently honour its manifesto pledge of carrying out a review of the criminal justice system. Prison officers’ union the POA called for an “urgent” royal commission in the wake of the incident, saying that, without one, problems are “just going to get worse”. So far the government has been unable to say what recent progress has been made to honour the commitment. The Metropolitan Police has released an image of a white Bidfood delivery lorry searched by officers in relation to the disappearance of Daniel Khalife from Wandsworth prison. Khalife is believed to have escaped by holding onto strapping underneath the van. The Metropolitan Police published the following route taken by the van, which the prisoner is believed to have been strapped to the bottom of. The van left HMP Wandsworth at 7.32am on Wednesday, taking a right turn out of the gates onto Heathfield Road. It then turned left onto Magdalen Road. The van then turned left onto Trinity Road (A214), up to the Wandsworth roundabout, taking the first exit onto Swandon Way (A217). It then turned left onto Old York Road, past Wandsworth Town train station, then left onto Fairfield Street. It turned right onto Wandsworth High Street (A3), staying straight ahead onto West Hill and then on to Upper Richmond Road (A205), where it was stopped by police near the junction with Carlton Drive. The van had turned around by the time police stopped it and had been returning to Wandsworth prison because the driver had been phoned by the company which owns it. The company has been “co-operating fully with the inquiry”, commander Dominic Murphy said. More than 150 investigators and police staff working on finding Khalife Commander Dominic Murphy added there were more than 150 investigators and police staff from counter terrorism command working in London on the “fast paced investigation” to find Daniel Khalife, with support from forces and agencies around the country. He said the van the prisoner is believed to be strapped to the bottom of left HMP Wandsworth at 7.32am on Wednesday. He was declared missing at 7.50am. Police were then notified at 8.15am and the van was stopped on Upper Richmond Drive near to the junction of Carlton Drive at 8.37am. Asked about whether Daniel Khalife had been helped to escape and if he had access to money, Commander Dominic Murphy said this forms part of the Metropolitan Police investigation, adding: “He’s out in the open now, so who’s to say whether he has money available to him now, but that’s part of our inquiry and what we’re trying to understand. “He’s a very resourceful individual, clearly, and our experience of him shows that, so nothing is off the table with him at the moment.” No confirmed sightings of Khalife since his escape Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said officers had so far not received any confirmed sightings of Daniel Khalife since he escaped from Wandsworth prison in London on Wednesday. As he set out details of the route taken by the van before it was stopped by police, which Khalife was believed to have been strapped underneath as it left the prison, Murphy said the force had received more than 50 calls from the public which provided “some really valuable lines of inquiry”. He told reporters: “This was a really busy area of London and we’ve had no confirmed sightings in any of that information, which is a little unusual and perhaps a testament to Daniel Khalife‘s ingenuity in his escape and some of his movements after his escape. “It’s important that we remember we have some of the best military in the world here in the UK and he was a trained soldier. “So, ultimately, he has skills that perhaps some sections of the public don’t have and I am really keen that we are using everything in our means to find him.” A former prisoner of HMP Wandsworth said he is “not surprised” that Daniel Abed Khalife was able to abscond and described the jail in South London as “absolute dysfunction and chaos”. Speaking to Sky News, Chris Atkins said the prison has “nowhere near enough resources” and there are “far too few officers with very little training”. “It didn’t surprise me all that [Khalife escaped] - I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often, to be honest with you.” Atkins described how he saw “dozens of assaults” on officers every day in the prison, which led to a shortage of workers taking up shifts. He said morale was “at an all-time low” when he was there seven years ago. This live blog will continue into the evening, but if you would prefer to read our full report on the ongoing hunt for Daniel Khalife, you can do so here: