By james art The 23-year-old escaped from HMP Wandsworth in the hope he would be held in a high security unit (HSU) in a different prison, away from “sex offenders” and “terrorists” after his recapture, the trial was told.
Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were shown a page from Khalif’s prison diary with an asterisk marking September 6, 2023 – the day he was due to escape.
The ex-soldier tied himself to the underside of a food delivery truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers, the court was told.
Khalif told jurors he had planned a fake escape attempt for August 21 in the hope he would be transferred to HSU, but decided a real escape was his only option after the incident was not reported to senior prison staff.
Jurors were shown his diary entry for that day, which also had an asterisk, as well as the word “failed”, which he told the court he wrote a few days later.
The former soldier wanted to be held in the HSU at HMP Belmarsh – a prison within a prison that holds some of the country’s most dangerous criminals – because he believed he would be safer there, the court heard.
After he was taken to Wandsworth Prison in January 2023, he was told he would be kept on the vulnerable prisoners’ wing because there were “terrorist offenders” who “wanted to kill you”, the court heard.
Khalif told jurors that “95 percent” of those in the department were “serious sex offenders, rapists, pedophiles and that sort of thing.”
Five days before his successful escape, he attached a sling to the bottom of the truck made from “kitchen pants” and carabiners, the jury was told.
The sling “has not been seen on the door of Wandsworth or any other prison,” Khalif said.
“When the tail came up, it covered me completely.
“If the makeshift sling wasn’t noticed, they’re unlikely to notice me,” he added.
While on the run, Khalif bought clothes from Marks & Spencer, coffee from McDonald’s and walked along the River Thames before being caught by police three days later.
“I accept that I left the prison and I did not have any permission,” he told jurors.
“I was never really a spy.
“I would do anything to go back to my career (in the military).”
As well as escaping from prison, Khalife also faces charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act and is accused of carrying out a bomb hoax.
He denies all charges and the case will continue on November 11.