The search for escaped prisoner Daniel Abed Khalife continues today, with hundreds of police officers deployed in what the head of Met Police, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, is calling a ‘massive operation’. Now, with the public desperate to understand more about Daniel Khalife’s life and crimes, he has become a major search topic on Google Trends – particularly his family, with ‘Daniel Abed Khalife's family’ and ‘Daniel Abed Khalife girlfriend’ breakout search terms.
What did Daniel Khalife do?
A former British Army soldier, 21-year-old Daniel Khalife was working as a computer engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals until his arrest in January 2023. He was charged with terror offences and charges relating to the Official Secrets Act, after he was accused of carrying out a hoax bomb threat at the Ministry of Defence’s Stafford military base, also known as Beacon Barracks. Khalife denies the charges, and was awaiting trial when he escaped Wandsworth prison on Wednesday morning.
According to court documents, he allegedly placed ‘three canisters with wires at RAF Stafford with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property’, contrary to section 51 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
Khalife was also accused of eliciting or trying to elicit information that could be useful for a terrorist on 2 August 2021, and breaching the Official Secrets Act by gathering information that could be useful to an enemy between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.
Sources told The Independent that Khalife allegedly attempted to pass on the information to a foreign power, believed to be Iran. Now, Google Trends data shows searches for ‘What is Daniel Khalife’s parents nationality’. While unconfirmed, multiple reports state that Daniel is ‘of middle eastern descent’ and Daniel’s father is said to be Iranian.
Where was Daniel Khalife last seen?
Daniel Khalife has not been seen since escaping from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday morning, wearing his prison-issue cook’s uniform, police searched Richmond Park overnight. In order to escape, Daniel Khalife accessed the kitchen, then ‘strapped himself’ to the bottom of a delivery van as it left the premises.
Any potential sightings of Daniel Khalife that may have been reported to the police have not been made public, but as the former soldier has links to north-west England, all 43 police forces across England and Wales are involved in manhunt to find him.
Who is Daniel Abed Khalife’s family?
Little is known about Daniel Abed Khalife's family life. He is believed to have been raised in affluent Kingston-upon-Thames area in the suburbs of London, where he was born. According to The Daily Telegraph, his mother and twin sister had lived in Richmond, southwest London, before moving to Wales a few years ago.
‘A woman lived upstairs who had a son and daughter,’ someone believed to be Khalife’s mother’s neighbour told the newspaper. ‘The boy would come and go swearing loudly. She moved to Wales roughly three years ago – a year after we moved in... It's worrying to think that this young man might head back to this area after escaping from prison.’
Khalife himself was based in the Midlands, at the Stafford military base, until his arrest. He listed himself on LinkedIn as a Network Engineer with the British Army since September 2018.
The identities of Daniel Khalife’s mother and father are not yet public, but he is believed to have lived a very comfortable suburban life before leaving school at 16 to join the army. Reports only mention Daniel living with his mother and sister, with no mentions of Daniel Khalife’s father outside of his Iranian ethnicity.
Who is Daniel Khalife’s girlfriend or partner?
With searches for ‘Daniel Khalife girlfriend’ on the rise, it’s clear the public want to know more about his family life. However, is currently no public information on whether Daniel Khalife had a girlfriend.
What is Daniel Khalife’s description?
According to the Metropolitan Police, ‘Khalife was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, red and white chequered trousers, and brown steel toe cap boots. He is of slim build, has short brown hair and is around 6ft 2ins tall.’
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: ‘We have a team of officers who are making extensive and urgent enquiries in order to locate and detain Khalife as quickly as possible. However, the public can help us as well and should anyone see Khalife or have any information as to where he might be, then please call 999 immediately.
‘I also want to reassure the public that we have no information which indicates, nor any reason to believe that Khalife poses a threat to the wider public, but our advice if you do see him is not to approach him and call 999 straight away.’