Daniel Abed Khalife’s escape from Wandsworth prison was either a “giant” blunder or involved “some sort of collusion”, a former governor and inspector has said.
Professor John Podmore, who previously ran HMP Belmarsh, said the terror suspect should have been held on remand at the maximum-security Category A jail rather than Wandsworth.
Speaking to Niall Paterson on the Sky News Daily podcast, he said no one awaiting trial on terror offences should be allowed to work in a kitchen at a Category B prison.
Khalife, a 21-year-old former soldier, is believed to have broken out on Wednesday morning by strapping himself to the bottom of a food delivery truck.
Prof Podmore said such escapes used to happen in the 1980s but explained any vehicles coming in and out of prisons now go through an airlock, with mirror searches carried out on top and underneath, and people going inside to make checks.
“That’s kind of bog standard, routine security and it clearly didn’t happen,” he said.
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“At best it’s a giant cock-up, at worst there’s some form of collusion.”
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The head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, told LBC’s Nick Ferrari on Friday his officers are “looking at” whether Khalife was assisted by prison guards or other inmates in his “clearly pre-planned” escape as part of their investigation.
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Former Wandsworth inmate David Shipley, who spent time at the prison between 2020 and 2021, said overpopulation and understaffing was a “huge contributing factor” to the issue of escape.
“Often officers don’t really know the men in their charge by face and by name. They’re not really clear who should be on what wing and in what cell,” he said, speaking on the podcast.
Image: Former HMP Wandsworth inmate, David Shipley
“When I was at Wandsworth it regularly happened that there was a prison lockdown because they had lost track of a prisoner, who would invariably turn out to be in a different cell, on another wing, or had been released and no one had bothered to record that.”
Mr Shipley described the “complete chaos” inside the prison. He also said remand prisoners were given jobs as they spent longer periods awaiting trial due to delays caused by the COVID pandemic.
Image: HMP Wandsworth has two entry points, with gate 2 used for deliveries
Image: The food lorry would have been subject to security checks, mirrors are used to check no one is on top or under the vehicle
But he said it was “very strange” that an inmate considered a flight risk would be working in a kitchen job, which is considered the most desirable in Wandsworth because of access to food and the time spent out of the cell.
Image: The lorry was stopped in North Sheen after the alarm was raised
“Wandsworth needs to explain how this guy got into that job and then how there was a complete failure to check the van on the way out,” he said.
Prof Podmore said the “old Victorian dilapidated jail” lacked experienced staff, adding: “The problems at Wandsworth in the past and certainly the problems today with the escape are certainly a reflection of the wider malaise in the prison service and the prison service is in absolute crisis.”
A man has been detained in Leeds after being “seen with weapons” and three people were left injured.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find three people injured and a man was detained at the scene, the force said. The injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Image: Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Image: Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Image: An ambulance inside one of the cordons
Inquiries are under way to establish the “wider circumstances” and a “number” of crime scenes remain in place, they added.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Image: Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Image: Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Image: Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
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Image: Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
The trip came just a week-and-a-half after Buckingham Palace confirmed the King had been taken to hospital following side effects related to his ongoing cancer treatment.
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Pope’s coffin passes Colosseum after Vatican service
Number 10 confirmed the prime minister received an invite and so he attended the ceremony.
Speaking on Tuesday, Sir Keir said there had been “an outpouring of grief and love” for the Pope.
He added: “I think it reflects the high esteem in which he was held, not just by millions and millions of Catholics, but by many others, across the world, myself included.”
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Trump pays respects to Pope
The US president was one of the first to confirm he would be flying to Rome, adding he would be joined by first lady Melania Trump.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, he said: “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!”
The Pope had been critical of Mr Trump at times during his tenure.
In January, he said it would be a “disgrace” if the president went ahead with his crackdown on immigration, telling an Italian television station: “It would make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill.
“It doesn’t work. You don’t resolve problems this way.”
Image: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) arrives for the funeral. Pic: AP
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Scale of funeral service from above
The Italian premier, along Argentine leader Javier Milei (below) had place of pride in the seating order for the service.
The Vatican is, of course, surrounded by the Italian capital Rome, while the Pope was born and grew up in Argentina and was once Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina was also at the ceremony, despite having launched insults at Francis in recent years.
Before taking office in December 2023, the far-right politician called him “an imbecile, the representative of evil on Earth”.
Mr Milei alluded to their “differences” in his tribute to the late Pope, writing: “It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace.
“Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honour for me.”
Former US president Joe Biden, 82, was at the funeral with his wife Jill. The couple were seen taking their places in the bright sunshine prior to the service.
Mr Biden appeared to be getting some help to his seat, taking the arm of a member of the church.
• Ireland’s taoiseach Micheal Martin • Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia • Albanian president Bajram Begaj • Angola’s president Joao Lourenco • Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen • Bangladesh’s chief adviser and interim leader Muhammad Yunus • Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, along with prime minister Bart De Wever • Canada’s governor general Mary Simon • Cape Verde president Jose Maria Neves • Croatia’s president Zoran Milanovic • Cyprian president Nikos Christodoulides • Czech Republic’s prime minister Petr Fiala • Democratic Republic of Congo president Felix Tshisekedi • Dominican Republic’s president Luis Abinader • East Timor’s president Jose Ramos-Horta • Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa • Estonia’s president Alar Karis • Finland’s president Alexander Stubb • Gabon’s president Brice Oligui Nguema • German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz • Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis • Honduras president Xiomara Castro • Hungary’s president Tamas Sulyok • Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella and prime minister Giorgia Meloni • Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics • Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda • Moldova’s president Maia Sandu • Netherlands’ prime minister Dick Schoof • New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon • Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit • The Philippines’ president Ferdinand Marcos Jr • Poland’s president Andrzej Duda • Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and prime minister Luis Montenegro • Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan • Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia and prime minister Ulf Kristersson • Switzerland’s president Karin Keller-Sutter
Image: Pope Francis walks next to Putin at the Vatican in 2015. Pic: AP
The Russian president did not attend the funeral.
But the controversial leader paid tribute to the Pope, writing a message to Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is interim chief of the Catholic Church.
“Please accept my most sincere condolences on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Mr Putin said.
“Throughout the years of his pontificate, he actively promoted the development of dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, as well as constructive cooperation between Russia and the Holy See.”
Image: Pope Francis and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Vatican in 2013. Pic: AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also did not attend the ceremony, with the country’s ambassador Yaron Sideman going instead.
The Jewish state and the Vatican have had strong relations in the past, with Israel sending a presidential delegation to the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, and Pope Francis visiting Israel in 2014.
But their relationship has deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza.
A month after the conflict started in 2023, a dispute broke out over whether Pope Francis had used the word “genocide” to describe events in Gaza. Palestinians who met with him said he did, but the Vatican said he did not.
The Pope met relatives of Israeli hostages on the same day.
Israeli officials have since lobbied the Vatican to be more forceful in its condemnation of Hamas.
In January, the Pope called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “shameful”, prompting criticism from Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, who accused Francis of “selective indignation”.
Rabbi Di Segni said he would be attending the funeral, despite it taking place on the Jewish sabbath.
Was there a seating plan?
The seats were assigned in advance, with the heads of state sitting in French alphabetical order based on their country’s name, rather than on the individual’s.
This applied to everyone apart from the presidents of Italy and Argentina, who got the best seats because the Pope lived in Italy and was an Argentinian native.