London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Imran Chowdhury, a 25-year-old from London, has been accused of helping Daniel Khalife’s escape from Wandsworth Prison in September 2023.
Authorities have charged a man over claims he assisted former soldier Daniel Khalife in escape from custody.
According to the Metropolitan Police, Imran Chowdhury, from Chingford in east London, was detained in January 2024 and formally charged in December.
Police officials confirmed that Mr Chowdhry will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 7 January.
Authorities have not revealed the type of assistance Chowdhury allegedly offered to Khalife while he was on the run.
The 25-year-old woman, who was detained in February for allegedly assisting an offender, will face not any further proceedings.
Khalife, a former lance corporal, used a pair of trousers to make a sling and hang onto the bottom of a food vehicle while escaping from the Category B prison.
The police conducted a manhunt involving helicopters, a large police presence, and sniffer dogs in the search.
On 9 September, he was caught after being seen riding a stolen mountain bike near a canal in Northolt, around 14 miles away from Wandsworth Prison.
The general public closely followed the media-covered search for the former soldier, who visited Marks & Spencer, had coffee at McDonald’s, and even stole a hat from Mountain Warehouse during his escape.
Daniel Khalife was found guilty of spying on behalf of Iran after being accused of collecting secret data and giving it to agents of the Middle Eastern country during his duty in the Royal Corps of Signals.
During his trial, prosecutors argued the former soldier played “a cynical game,” pretending to work as a double agent to assist UK intelligence while actually collecting huge amounts of classified information. Police also described him as the “ultimate Walter Mitty character” whose actions “having an extremely significant impact in the real world”.
Khalife’s case has received considerable media attention due to the severity of his crimes and the details of his escape, exposing both his cleverness and the weaknesses within the prison system.
The capital, London, has seen several prominent prison escapes, revealing the creativity of individuals trying to escape. The most well-known prison escape was in 1965 when Ronnie Biggs, involved in the Great Train Robbery, broke out of HMP Wandsworth. After spending just 19 months of his 30-year sentence, he used a rope ladder to climb the prison wall and run out in the van. Biggs spent 36 years on the run in Australia and Brazil before returning to the UK in 2001. He was discharged from jail in 2009 due to health problems and died in 2013.
According to official figures, only one prison run-off case was recorded in England and Wales for the 2022/23 year, the same number as the previous year’s. This marks a major drop from 1995/96, when 88 escapes were reported.