Sept. 11 (UPI) — A British fugitive who was recaptured this weekend may have used bed sheets to strap himself to the underside of a food delivery truck when he escaped from prison, a court in London heard Monday.
Terror suspect Daniel Khalife, 21, appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with escaping lawful custody two days after being detained by police in west London.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram remanded the former soldier in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Sept. 29 after hearing Khalife made his escape from HMP Wandsworth by tying himself beneath the vehicle using material “made from bedsheets with clips at each end.”
Khalife’s break out Wednesday from a south London prison where he was awaiting trial in November on charges of allegedly obtaining information useful to the enemy, eliciting information about members of the armed forces contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000, sparked a major manhunt.
He is accused of working on behalf of a hostile foreign state while working at the Ministry of Defense’s Stafford station from where he disappeared in January after reportedly planting a fake bomb but was captured several days later.
Khalife was re-arrested Saturday by a counter-terrorism officer as he cycled along a canal towpath.
He was brought to court Monday in a bullet and bombproof truck in a police convoy from Belmarsh Prison, a maximum security facility in southeast London where he was transferred after being captured.
During the court hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes, Khalife’s defense counsel, barrister Gul Nawas Hussain KC, said his client would not be entering a plea with Khalife speaking only to confirm his name and date of birth.
Authorities earlier said Khalife was working in the prison kitchens and slipped through security by dressing as a chef and clinging to the beneath of a food truck, but it was unclear until now how he was able to hold on long enough to make his escape.