Terror suspect Daniel Khalife’s escape from prison was “clearly pre-planned” and “it is a question” whether it was an inside job, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said.
Sir Mark Rowley branded it “extremely concerning” that the 21-year-old, who was able to sneak out of HMP Wandsworth in south west London on Wednesday, was “on the loose”.
His comments come as the force confirmed officers had overnight been searching Richmond Park – just miles from the jail – as part of the nationwide manhunt.
Khalife, an ex-soldier who was awaiting trial after allegedly planting a fake bomb at an RAF base and gathering information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK, was discharged from the Army in May.
He is believed to have escaped by strapping himself on to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.
Sir Mark told LBC: “It is clearly pre-planned, the fact that he could strap himself onto the bottom of the wagon.”
A prison escape is “unlikely to be something you do on the spur of the moment”, he added.
The Met chief did not rule out the escape being an “inside job” when asked if police were looking at that possibility.
“It is a question. Did anyone inside the prison help him? Other prisoners, guard staff? Was he helped by people outside the walls or was it simply all of his own creation?”, he replied.
Khalife’s disappearance has prompted questions over staffing levels at the Victorian jail and whether he should have been in a higher security prison.
Sir Mark said it did “seem odd” when asked if he was surprised to learn the terror suspect, who is reportedly accused of gathering information for Iran, was being held in a category B facility.
The hunt for Khalife is a “massive operation” involving “well into three figures of officers” as well as help from constabularies around the country and Border Force, the Commissioner told the radio station.
“At the moment we are still really keen to get any reports from members of the public,” he added.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly declined to say if he is confident Khalife will be found.
“We do have fantastic security services and police services. I don’t think it would be useful or credible for me to speculate,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme.
“The important thing is that we let the police, the investigators, do their work.”
