Daniel Khalife: Man charged with assisting former soldier after he escaped from Wandsworth prison

A man has been charged with helping former soldier Daniel Khalife in his audacious escape from prison.

Imran Chowdury, 25, is accused of assisting Khalife when he tied himself under a food truck and escaped from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023.

Khalife used a pair of kitchen trousers for a makeshift sling under the vehicle, and was on the run for three days before being captured.

Chowdury, of Chingford, north-east London, is due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday to face a charge of assisting a prison in an escape.

Chowdury was arrested in January 2024, the Metropolitan Police said, and was he charged in December via postal requisition.

The force said no further action was taken against a 25-year-old woman who was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender in February 2024.

Khalife, a former British Army soldier, was found guilty in November of spying for Iran, after a trial at Woolwich crown court.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge over the prison break, and is awaiting sentence.

Khalife, formerly part of the Royal Corps of Signals, was being held at HMP Wandsworth on remand when he broke out on September 6 last year.

He had been carrying out kitchen duties before making the escape bid, and was caught on camera during the manhunt buying clothes from Marks & Spencer in Kew, purchasing a coffee at McDonald’s and walking by the River Thames near to Richmond Bridge.

On the day he broke out, he was spotted in Whittaker Avenue, Richmond, and entering a Mountain Warehouse shop where he browsed for clothes.

On September 8, CCTV showed Khalife casually buying a newspaper, when developments in his own manhunt were on the news agenda.

Khalife was arrested just before 11am the following day, after he had changed clothes and treated himself to a McDonald’s espresso.

He was on a mountain bike on a canal towpath in west London, carrying a Waitrose bag with a phone, receipts, a diary and around £200 in notes, when he was spotted by a plain-clothes detective sergeant.