A former British soldier accused of escaping from prison was spotted doing a “pencil roll” from underneath a truck before “casually” walking away, a court has heard.
Daniel Khalife, 23, is alleged to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London while on remand by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery lorry on the morning of September 6 2023.
Skye Vokings, who was driving through Wandsworth at the time, said she saw a man appear from under the vehicle wearing a “white T-shirt” and “pale pink gloves”.
The truck had stopped at a set of traffic lights on Trinity Road when the man appeared from under it, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
“I saw the male roll out from underneath,” she said in a written statement read to jurors.
“I saw him drop to the ground and then do a kind of pencil roll.”
He then “walked slowly and casually towards the nearest pavement… I remember him flicking his fringe back and behaving very casually as if nothing had happened.
“I had to wait for him to walk out of my way. I did not see what direction he walked in.”
The woman’s flatmate later contacted the police on her behalf, the court heard.
Khalife was arrested on a canal towpath in west London on September 9 2023 with a number of items including a mountain bike, a Waitrose bag with a phone, receipts, a diary and about £200 in notes, the jury was told.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC previously told the jury Khalife “quite deliberately escaped” after being escorted to the kitchen where he had a job.
On September 6, Khalife had been to Richmond and went to Mountain Warehouse, and the next day he was pictured in an M&S and Sainsbury’s, the court heard.
Khalife “congratulated” the police officer who pulled him from his bike on the towpath, the jury heard previously.
His absence was discovered during a headcount and then all movement in the prison was suspended, the court heard.
Khalife also faces charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.
He denies all of the charges.
The trial continues.
