Daniel Abed Khalife: Wandsworth prison – where fugitive escaped from – ‘really needs closing’, says chief inspector

Published

2 years ago

September 7, 2023

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The jail from which terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife escaped “really needs closing ultimately”, the chief inspector of prisons has said.

Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Charlie Taylor said there was a “crisis” in large institutions like Wandsworth prison in south London due to a lack of places and staff, and the “churn” of inmates “adds to the general complications and sometimes what feels like chaos”.

His remarks come as the manhunt continues for 21-year-old Khalife, who broke out of the Category B prison by holding on to straps underneath a food truck.

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There have still been no confirmed sightings of the former soldier and police have said it is possible he has already left the country – though more than 150 counterterrorism officers and staff are focusing their search efforts in the Kingston and Staffordshire areas.

The incident soon turned into a political row, with Labour attacking the government for a lack of investment into public services – a hot topic in Westminster following the concrete crisis in schools.

But ministers have accused the opposition of playing politics, and promised to open formal inquiries into the escape.

Mr Taylor – who is appointed by the justice secretary to inspect prisons in both England and Wales – said the situation with Khalife was “enormously concerning”.

“When you find a prison like Wandsworth, it really needs closing ultimately, it is not a suitable prison,” he told Politics Hub.

“In an ideal world one would [close it], but of course you need jails because you need to service the courts.

“We’ve actually got a crisis at the moment in prisons just in terms of population and places, so there are only just enough prison places available at the moment for the number of prisoners who are coming in, but of course that puts a huge strain on the system.”

Speaking specifically about Wandsworth, the chief inspector added: “You are getting people in, you are getting them to court, you are getting them back from court and then as soon as they’ve been sentenced, they are being moved on to another jail as quickly as possible.

“And it is something about that churn that also adds to the general complications and sometimes what feels like chaos in some of those big local prisons like Wandsworth.”

Mr Taylor also pointed to issues around staffing levels at the prison, which he said had been a “huge concern” in recent inspections – with 30% of employees unavailable for full duties.

He claimed it led to a “danger of losing control”, adding: “If you haven’t got enough staff to get the basics right, there is always a danger that people will drop the ball and make a mistake.

“If there aren’t enough staff in place – and that is something we flag up a lot – things just can begin to go a bit wrong.”

The chief inspector also claimed Wandsworth, which was built 170 years ago, was in a “real state” and was not designed to hold “nearly as many men who are locked up there as there are now”.

He added: “The issue is these people are coming out one day and the idea that you are rehabilitating people by banging them up behind a door for 22 hours a day is simply fanciful.”

Mr Taylor appealed to the government to look into funding to improve prisons – although he accepted it may not be the first priority for the public.

“If you ask people if they would like more money spent on the NHS or on schools or on roads, or money to be spent on prisons, I think it is fairly obvious what the answer would be,” he added. “People don’t like prisoners so much and they are frightened of crime.

“[But] if we want people to come out from prison and to stop offending, then we need to do more for them when they are locked up, which means giving them the skills they need, it means putting them on the right sort of programmes, it means getting them into the good habits of work so when they come out they don’t create more victims, they don’t cause trouble in their communities and they take their place back in society as hard working tax working people.

“At the moment what we are seeing is just that churn, that revolving door of those people in and out of prison often for many many years.”

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Politics

Chancellor insists Labour rebels ‘know the welfare system needs reform’ as they push for change

Published

28 mins ago

May 9, 2025

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Chancellor insists Labour rebels 'know the welfare system needs reform' as they push for change

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted that rebelling Labour MPs “know the welfare system needs reform” as the government faces a growing backlash over planned cuts.

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure from Labour MPs, with about 40 in the Red Wall – the party’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – warning the prime minister’s welfare plan is “impossible to support” in its current form.

Dozens have thrown their support behind a letter urging the government to “delay” the proposals, which they blasted as “the biggest attack on the welfare state” since Tory austerity.

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Ms Reeves on Friday reiterated her plans for reform, insisting that no-one, including Labour MPs and party members, “thinks that the current welfare system created by the Conservative Party is working today”.

She said: “They know that the system needs reform. We do need to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to grow our economy.”

But, the chancellor added, if the government is going to lift people out of poverty “the focus has got to be on supporting people into work”.

“Of course if you can’t work, the welfare state must always be there for you, and with this government it will be,” she said.

The reforms, announced ahead of Ms Reeves’s spring statement in March, include cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP), one of the main types of disability benefit, and a hike in the universal credit standard allowance.

The government has claimed that changes to welfare will cut the budget by £4.8bn overall.

Separately, Downing Street refused on Friday to deny that Ms Reeves has consulted on potentially overhauling their winter fuel payment policy.

Labour’s unpopular decision to means-test the policy has taken the benefit away from millions of pensioners.

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Ministers have faced pressure from their own backbenchers to rethink the policy in the wake of last week’s local election results, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.

Asked if the chancellor has discussed the winter fuel payment in private, the prime minister’s spokesperson said they would not give a running commentary.

Pushed again, Number 10 said a “range” of discussions take place in government – which is not a denial.

However, it is worth noting that when reports emerged earlier this week that Downing Street was reviewing the policy, the government strongly pushed back on that suggestion.

Politics

Taiwan lawmaker calls for Bitcoin reserve at national conference

Published

7 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Taiwan lawmaker calls for Bitcoin reserve at national conference

Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun has called on the government to consider adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, suggesting it could serve as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.

Ko, a legislator at-large in Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, took to X on Friday to report that he had advocated Bitcoin (BTC) investment by the Taiwanese government at the National Conference on May 9.

In his remarks, Ko cited Bitcoin’s potential to become a hedge amid global economic risks and urged Taiwan to recognize the cryptocurrency alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves to boost its financial resilience.

Ko’s announcement came shortly after the legislator held talks with Samson Mow, who advocates for Bitcoin adoption by states like El Salvador at his BTC tech firm Jan3.

Taiwan is an export-oriented economy

Ko highlighted that Taiwan is an export-driven economy that has experienced significant fluctuations in its national currency, the New Taiwan dollar, amid global inflation and intensifying geopolitical risks.

“We currently have a gold reserve of 423 metric tons, and our foreign exchange reserves amount to $577 billion, including investments in US Treasury bonds,” the lawmaker stated.

In a scenario of more intense currency volatility or potential regional conflicts, Taiwan may “very likely be unable to ensure the security and liquidity,” Ko continued, adding that Bitcoin could be a great addition to Taiwan’s reserves for several reasons.

Law, Investments, Taiwan, Samson Mow, Policy, Bitcoin Reserve — *Ko Ju-Chun advocated for the adoption of Bitcoin by the Taiwanese government before the Legislative Yuan. Source: Ko Ju-Chun*

“Bitcoin has been operating for over 15 years. It has a fixed total supply, is decentralized, and is resistant to censorship. Many countries are focusing on its hedging attributes. At the same time, in intense situations, it may not face the risk of embargo,” he said.

Bitcoin is not the only solution

Referring to many global initiatives considering Bitcoin adoption as a reserve asset, Ko stressed that he’s not advocating for Bitcoin as the “only solution” to rising economic challenges.

Instead, the legislator suggested adding a “small proportion of Bitcoin” into the diversified assets as tools for sovereign asset allocation and risk hedging, and backup capacity of Taiwan’s financial system.

He previously suggested that Taiwan could allocate a maximum of 5% of its $50 billion reserve to Bitcoin in an X post on May 6.

“When exchange rate risk and regional uncertainty increase, it is time to introduce new tools to construct a more flexible financial strategy framework,” Ko said, adding:

“As former Dean Chen Chong said, Bitcoin is the gun of the digital era. It may also be the gold of the digital era, the silver of the digital era. Or it could be gunpowder. A wise nation will not let weapons be in others’ hands.”

The news comes as Taiwan is emerging as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, with the Financial Supervisory Commission pushing institutional trials of crypto custody services in late 2024.

Mainland China continues to maintain its hostile stance on cryptocurrency after imposing a ban on multiple crypto activities, including mining, in 2021.

Magazine: Adam Back says Bitcoin price cycle ’10x bigger’ but will still decisively break above $100K

Politics

Germany seizes $38M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange

Published

10 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Germany seizes M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange

German law enforcement seized 34 million euros ($38 million) in cryptocurrency from eXch, a cryptocurrency platform allegedly used to launder funds stolen after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack.

The seizure, announced on May 9 by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office, involved multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH). The move marks the third-largest crypto confiscation in the BKA’s history.

The authorities also seized eXch’s German server infrastructure with over eight terabytes of data and shut down the platform, the announcement added.

eXch exchanged crypto without AML

In the statement, the BKA described eXch as a “swapping” service that allowed users to exchange various crypto assets without implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.

The platform had operated since 2014 and reportedly facilitated about $1.9 billion in crypto transfers, some of which were believed to be of “criminal origin,” including assets laundered during the Bybit hack.

Germany seizes $38M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange — *Example of flow of Bybit exploit funds moving through eXch and bridging back and forth between Ether and Bitcoin. Source: TRM Labs*

“Among other things, a portion of the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange, which was hacked on Feb. 21, 2025, is said to have been exchanged via eXch,” the authorities wrote.

Multisig, FixedFloat among laundering cases

According to a post by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, eXch was also involved in laundering millions of funds from other crypto thefts and exploits, including Multisig, FixedFloat and the $243 million Genesis creditor theft.

Those were in addition to “countless phishing drainer services over the past few years with refusal to block addresses and freeze orders,” ZachXBT said.

Germany, AML, Crimes, Hacks, Policy, Bybit — *Source: ZachXBT*

ZachXBT was among the first security analysts to report on eXch’s links to laundering $35 million of crypto assets stolen from Bybit soon after the hack was confirmed.

“Lazarus Group transferred 5K ETH from the Bybit Hack to a new address and began laundering funds via eXch (a centralized mixer) and bridging funds to Bitcoin via Chainflip,” ZachXBT wrote in a Telegram post on Feb. 22.

eXch announced termination of services by May 1

After initially denying involvement in laundering funds from the Bybit hack, eXch eventually announced it would cease operations by May 1 in a Bitcoin Talk post published in mid-April.

“Even though we have been able to operate despite some failed attempts to shut down our infrastructure […], we don’t see any point in operating in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT [Signals Intelligence] simply because some people misinterpret our goals,” it wrote.

Addressing the seizure, senior public prosecutor Benjamin Krause stressed the importance of action against “quick and anonymous opportunities for money laundering for any amount.”

“Crypto swapping is an essential component of the underground economy, used to conceal incriminated funds from illegal activities such as hacking or trading in stolen payment card data, thus making them available to perpetrators,” he said.

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