Man sentenced for helping escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife

A prisoner found guilty of helping a former soldier after he escaped from jail has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Adeel Khan, 32, was convicted earlier this year of sending money to Daniel Khalife after he escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London in September 2023.

Khalife escaped after clinging to the underside of a food delivery lorry to break out of the Category B jail.

It sparked a nationwide manhunt and he evaded capture for three days before he was spotted riding a stolen mountain bike along a canal towpath in Northolt, west London - about 14 miles away.

He was sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison in February last year after being found guilty of spying for Iran.

Snaresbrook Crown Court previously heard that Khan, who worked with Khalife in the prison kitchen, helped him from inside jail.

He asked another person to withdraw £400 for Khalife after his escape and arranged for him to be paid £120 for the job, jurors were told.

When Khalife was arrested, police found he had a diary with Khan's name, an illegal prison phone number, a personal mobile number, and his Snapchat account.

The court also heard that after his escape, Khalife called Khan several times using the phones of members of the public in a pattern of "regular and persistent" contact, the court heard.

Sentencing Khan, Judge Murray Shanks told him Khalife was "assisted greatly, no doubt, by the money you organised from Wandsworth".

He said that while Khan was not charged with assisting the escape itself, he was "quite sure" there had been some discussion about Khalife's plan.

"That was why he had your number and your brother's details I think when he escaped in that little book," the judge said.

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Khalife, a serving soldier in the British Army at the time, was being held on remand awaiting trial for spying for Iran when he escaped from Wandsworth prison on 6 September 2023.

At the time of the escape, Khan was on remand at HMP Wandsworth, facing extradition to France having been convicted in absence of playing a leading role in a human trafficking operation along with firearms offences.

Khalife was found guilty of a charge under the Official Secrets Act and another under the Terrorism Act after a trial, having admitted escaping from lawful custody part-way through his trial. He was cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax at his base.

(c) Sky News 2026: Man sentenced for helping escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife