Cost of former soldier Daniel Khalife’s manhunt revealed

Daniel Khalife's prison escape cost police more than £250,000 in overtime, with more than 150 officers involved in his manhunt, a judge confirmed during his sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, 3 February.

The 23-year-old fled from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023 by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck, sparking a major search which ended when he was caught on a canal towpath by a plainclothes detective days later.

In November, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found that Khalife breached the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act. He was cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax and had already admitted during his trial to fleeing prison. He was sentenced to 14 years and three months imprisonment on Monday.