UK terror suspect in court over prison escape

LONDON: A former soldier facing terror charges appeared in court in London on Monday, accused of escaping from the prison where he was being held.

Daniel Khalife, 21, was arrested on Saturday after a huge four-day hunt to locate him after his disappearance from Wandsworth prison in south London. He strapped himself to the underside of a food delivery truck, possibly using bedsheets, to escape, Westminster Magistrates Court was told.

Khalife, wearing a grey jumper and jogging bottoms, appeared in the dock flanked by two police officers and a security guard. He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and was remanded in custody until a further hearing at the Old Bailey court in London on September 29.

Khalife was awaiting trial over two incidents at the Royal Air Force based in Stafford, central England, near the army barracks where he lived.

He is accused of “attempting to elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” in August 2021. He was also charged with a bomb hoax at the base on January 2 this year.