Men accused of helping HMP Wandsworth escapee Daniel Khalife</final

Adeel Khan acted as an inside “instructor” and Imran Chowdhury as the “man on the ground” in a support network that helped Daniel Khalife stay out of reach after his escape from HMP Wandsworth.

Tom Williams told the jury that Khan and Chowdhury were friends who had worked together in the Wandsworth prison kitchen and completed about 190 shifts together. He said Khalife had no money or phone after clinging to the underside of a delivery lorry, and that he needed both “to stand any chance.”

The court heard that Khalife escaped the south-west London prison on 6 September 2023 by using a sling made from bedsheets attached with carabiners to the lorry’s undercarriage. He was on remand at Wandsworth awaiting trial for spying for Iran and a bomb hoax at his Army barracks. Three days later, Metropolitan Police officers arrested him on a canal towpath in Northolt, north-west London.

Williams said Khalife made calls to Khan using phones borrowed from members of the public, and that Khan arranged for money to be moved to Chowdhury. The court heard that Chowdhury withdrew £400 in Richmond on the evening of the escape, while Khalife was later found with £200. When Khalife was arrested, he was carrying a diary that contained Khan’s name, prison number, Snapchat handle and the number of the illicit prison phone hidden inside Wandsworth. The diary also included an entry dated 21 August marked with a star and the word “failed.”

Khalife later received a sentence of 14 years and three months in prison for spying for Iran after a 2024 trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Khan and Chowdhury both deny helping Khalife evade capture. Khan has separately admitted possession of a phone in prison, while Chowdhury is accused of handling money and helping the escape from outside. The Ministry of Justice recorded 16 escapes in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2023, compared with 146 between April 1997 and March 2010.