American “XL Bully” dogs are set to be banned after the latest attack saw an out-of-control pet go on the rampage in Birmingham.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, announced that she had commissioned “urgent advice” on outlawing the breed after she highlighted the “appalling” attack on an 11-year-old girl during the incident.
West Midlands Police were investigating after the girl and two men who intervened were injured in the attack in the Bordesley Green area on Saturday.
“This is appalling. The American XL Bully is a clear and lethal danger to our communities, particularly to children,” Ms Braverman wrote on social media. “We can’t go on like this. I have commissioned urgent advice on banning them.”
WARNING DISTRESSING VIDEO - out of control bully breed attacking multiple people in Birmingham today. pic.twitter.com/Gm1wRApetH
The advice was commissioned last week after data showed the breed had been involved in the majority of fatal dog attacks in the UK since 2021. Two in four that year involved the XL bulldog – rising to six in 10 in 2022.
Animal experts fear there could be many more fatalities if urgent action is not taken to stop the rise of the genetically engineered American crosses from reaching Britain’s shores.
Although Mrs Braverman has requested the advice it will be the responsibility of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to add the breed to the banned list.
The latest attack in Birmingham unfolded on Saturday afternoon as the animal’s owner was taking it for a walk. A video circulating online which was taken from the top deck of a bus showed the rampage erupt.
The little girl’s arms were bitten by the animal before a man managed to pull the dog off her. She ran into a shop for safety as the XL Bully was held on the ground but it then managed to escape.
The dog sprinted after another man wearing a white T-shirt and shorts. He was chased onto a petrol station forecourt where he was attacked before the animal was hit and stopped.
Police spoke to owner
West Midlands Police said the dog had been taken to secure kennels pending the outcome of the investigation and the owner had been spoken to by officers.
Footage on social media shows how the dogs chase down some of their victims, with one video in London capturing the moment one of the dogs tackles a screaming woman to the floor while it tears off chunks of her flesh.
Last week it was revealed two Bully XLs were responsible for killing 22 pregnant sheep and injuring 48 others in a frenzied attack in Wales that forced a farmer to shoot both dogs.
Despite being outlawed in the UK almost 200 years ago, authorities have warned dog fighting in Britain is on the rise and these types of breeds are the first choice.
The muscular American Bully XL can display unnatural savagery because it has been instilled through violent training and years of inbreeding.
Evade dangerous dog laws
Underground breeders are creating giant “mutant crossbreeds” by mating banned pitbulls with legal mastiffs and bulldogs to evade dangerous dogs laws.
Saturday’s attack was the latest in a series of similar incidents in the hot weather. As the temperature has risen so have the reports of dogs setting upon victims. A woman died after being mauled by Rottweilers and several children have been scarred for life.
Emma Chandley, a practising vet with Perfect Pet Insurance, said that summer highs ‘lower the thresholds for violence’ in humans and animals.
She said: “Dogs are more likely to attack and bite in the warmer summer months. As with humans, tensions tend to rise as the temperature does.
“From my experience, dogs are more likely to bite on hotter days and when the air pollution is higher,” she added.
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A terror suspect who escaped from prison by strapping himself to the underside of a delivery lorry has been caught after being tackled off his bike on a towpath by a police officer.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, a former soldier who fled HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, was arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner.
He was spotted by the plainclothes counterterrorism officer just before 11am on Saturday in northwest London, about 12 miles from where he fled, and is now in police custody, the Metropolitan Police said. Khalife was found with the bike, a sleeping bag and a cool bag full of food.
The hunt for Khalife began when Wandsworth prison sounded the alarm that one of its inmates was on the loose at 7.50am on Wednesday. The Bidfood lorry under which Khalife is believed to have strapped himself left the prison at 7.32am. Across the next three days, more than 150 Met Police officers worked “at pace around the clock” as they received more than 100 calls from the public, offered a £20,000 reward for information, and slowly closed in on Khalife.
Daniel Abed Khalife was caught on a canal towpath
Describing the investigation as “extremely complicated”, with a lot of police activity being led by intelligence, counterterrorism boss Commander Dominic Murphy said the search for Khalife “really gathered momentum” from Friday afternoon, with the number of calls the force received from the public increasing “substantially” overnight and into the early hours of Saturday morning.
What followed was an intelligence-led search of a home in the borough of Richmond at around 2am on Saturday. While that search was happening, multiple other reports came in from members of the public of sightings of Khalife in the Richmond and Chiswick areas of west London.
Consequently, armed officers, police dogs and helicopters descended on the quiet, leafy area of Chiswick on Saturday morning. Cars were stopped and inspected, residents were asked for their IDs, and a police boat patrolled the River Thames nearby, while there were reports of gardens being searched.
Khalife was caught on this canal towpath in Northolt
Khalife was eventually arrested near Rowdell Road in the Northolt area, with footage showing him sitting on the canal towpath, with a bike, a Waitrose cool bag and a sleeping bag nearby.
Ethan Andrews, 20, a student who witnessed the arrest, said that Khalife “laughed and winked” at him while he was sat handcuffed by officers.
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He told The Sun: “The guy looked up at me, winked and started laughing. I thought, how arrogant is that? I can’t believe he was just sitting there, looked at me and just winked.”
Mr Murphy said: “He was actually arrested by a plainclothes officer... and he was riding a pedal cycle, so a pushbike, at the time, was pulled off that pushbike by that officer and arrested at that location,”
“Upon being detained by the officer he was fully cooperative and handcuffed and arrested.”
Questioned on why it took three days to complete the search, Mr Murphy said: “This isn’t a TV programme. This is a real-life manhunt for somebody who has escaped from prison and he’s quite a resourceful young man.”
A tracking map showing helicopters scouring Richmond Park in search for missing terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife
(Flightradar24)
The initial confirmed sighting came after police had scoured Richmond Park on Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday, with local resident Chloe Dobbs, 23, telling The Independent of the “overwhelming” sound of “constant” sirens and police helicopters circling for “hours and hours”.
Then, on Friday afternoon, police said that Khalife had been spotted emerging from underneath the delivery vehicle at Wandsworth Roundabout shortly after he escaped.
Rishi Sunak is 'pleased' Daniel Khalife has been arrested
(Sky News)
Gabriella Lewis, from Chiswick, told BBC News she believed she briefly spoke to Khalife as he sat on a bench in Chiswick House Gardens on Friday morning.
After commenting on the hot weather, she said he claimed he had just come out of the army. She described him as gentle and sweet, and said he was affectionate towards her dog.
Pointing to “the fact he could strap himself onto the bottom” of a delivery lorry, Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said Khalife’s escape was “clearly pre-planned”. Meanwhile, intelligence sources told The Independent it is “almost certain” that Khalife had “inside help”.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, CdrMurphy said there had been no further arrests so far. But he added: “Anyone who supported Khalife before, during or after – I can tell you we will be looking for those individuals.” He said the “fast-moving” investigation is still ongoing, with officers yet to conduct “a number of inquiries”.
Police released images of the chef’s uniform Khalife was thought to have been wearing when he escaped
(Met Police)
Prime minister Rishi Sunak said he is “very pleased’’ the terror suspect has been arrested, as he praised efforts by the police and the public in finding him, while Home Office policing minister Chris Philp congratulated the police for their “rapid and effective’’ work.
Labour has demanded answers from the government about how the escape occured, now that Khalife has been arrested. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We need answers about how on earth a prisoner charged with terror and national security offences could have escaped in this way.”
Police in the Chiswick area in west London, about 7 miles from where Khalife was eventually found
It is unclear whether Khalife will be taken to a higher-security location or back to the category B prison, where he was awaiting trial after being accused of leaving fake bombs at a military base.
Khalife is 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.
Khalife, a British citizen whose father is said to be Iranian, allegedly attempted to pass on the information to a foreign power, believed to be Iran, security sources told The Independent. They allege that he sought to “graduate” into spying with the material he had obtained from the MoD.
Khalife was due to appear in court on 13 November to face charges. He denied the charges against him at the Old Bailey in July.
HMP Wandsworth in London, which terror suspect Daniel Abed escaped from clinging on to a delivery lorry
Writing for The Independent, the chief inspector of prisons described the chaos inside overcrowded Wandsworth jail. Charlie Taylor told of “small, dark and cramped” cells plagued with damp and vermin, where inmates are routinely locked up for 22 hours a day with little access to education or training to break the cycle of offending.
Mr Taylor said the single biggest problem that faces Wandsworth is a lack of staff, with shortages in every area. He added that many staff were only recently out of school and so inexperienced that prisoners frequently have to tell new workers what they are supposed to do.
Two men have been arrested under the Official Secrets Act amid reports that a parliamentary researcher spied for China.
The researcher has links to several senior Tory MPs and has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, according to The Sunday Times.
He was arrested along with another man by officers on 13 March, the newspaper reported.
The researcher, who is in his 20s, is understood to have had links to security minister Tom Tugendhat, foreign affairs committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns and other senior Tory MPs.
The MPs he is linked to are privy to classified or highly sensitive information.
A senior Whitehall source told The Sunday Times: "This is a major escalation by China. We have never seen anything like this before."
Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, which oversees espionage-related offences, are investigating.
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One of the men, in his 30s, was arrested in Oxfordshire on 13 March, while the other, in his 20s, was arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland Yard said.
"Searches were also carried out at both the residential properties, as well as at a third address in east London," a statement from the force said.
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Both men were held at a south London police station until being bailed until early October.
Mr Tugendhat is said not to have had any contact with the researcher since before he became security minister in September last year.
Ms Kearns declined to comment, adding: "While I recognise the public interest, we all have a duty to ensure any work of the authorities is not jeopardised."
Image:The researcher has links to Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, pictured. Pic: AP
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China pressure group said it was "appalled at reports of the infiltration of the UK Parliament by someone allegedly acting on behalf of the People's Republic of China".
Downing Street said it does not comment on security matters.
The House of Commons has been contacted.
Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith has tweeted: "If true, this is very serious and of great concern. It shows that we cannot afford to be complacent about the threat that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] poses to the function of Parliament and our democratic way of life."
China has 'penetrated the UK economy'
In July, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said China targets the UK "prolifically and aggressively" in a way that poses a "challenge" for British intelligence agencies.
The ISC, made up of cross-party MPs, published a report saying China had managed to "successfully penetrate every sector of the UK's economy".
A letter was sent to MPs by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle who said MI5 warned him a woman called Christine Lee has been "engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, engaging with members here at parliament".
Lee, 59, who denies wrongdoing and is suing MI5, had donated almost £500,000 to Barry Gardiner, Labour's former shadow international trade secretary.
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife arrested in Chiswick
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Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife was tackled off his bike by a police officer on a canal towpath and then arrested, ending a 75-hour nationwide manhunt.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by a plainclothes counter-terrorism officer on Rowdell Road in west London just before 11am on Saturday morning and is currently in their custody.
At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Commander Dominic Murphy, the Met’s counter-terrorism chief, said Khalife was spotted, “pulled off a bike” and handcuffed by the officer, who was working as part of their investigation, in the Northolt area near Chiswick.
This came after the manhunt had "really gathered momentum" on Friday afternoon, he said, with multiple reports of confirmed sightings, which led to an overnight search of a home in the borough of Richmond.
Commander Murphy confirmed there have been no further arrests yet but threatened: “Anyone who supported Khalife before, during or after – I can tell you we will be looking for those individuals”
Khalife’s arrest follows a national four-day search after the 21-year-old was believed to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.
Khalife tackled off bike by police on canal towpath
In a press conference this afternoon the Metropolitan Police said that Daniel Khalife was tackled off his bike by police on canal towpath and then arrested.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism chief, said at an online press conference: “At 10.41am he was arrested in Rowdell Road in UB5 in London on the canal towpath.
“He was actually arrested by a plain clothes officer... and he was riding a pedal cycle so a pushbike at the time, was pulled off that pushbike by that officer and arrested at that location.
“Upon being detained by the officer he was fully co-operative and handcuffed and arrested.”
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife found and arrested in Chiswick
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife has been found and arrested in the Chiswick area of west London following a four-day nationwide manhunt.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by officers just before 11am on Saturday morning and is currently in their custody.
The 21-year-old is believed to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.
In their statement, the Met said: “We would like to thank the public and media for their support throughout our investigation to locate Khalife and we will provide a further update on his arrest in due course.”
Terror suspect Daniel Khalife “laughed and winked” at onlooker after being detained by police on Saturday morning.
Student Ethan Andrews, 20, witnessed the arrest, he told The Sun: “The guy looked up at me, winked and started laughing. I thought, how arrogant is that?
“I can’t believe he was just sitting there, looked at me and just winked.”
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife arrested as police tackle him off bike
A terror suspect who escaped from prison by strapping himself to the underside of a delivery lorry has been caught after being tackled off his bike on a towpath by a police officer.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, a former soldier who fled HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, was arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner.
He was spotted by the plainclothes counterterrorism officer just before 11am on Saturday in northwest London, about 12 miles from where he fled, and is now in police custody, the Metropolitan Police said. Khalife was found with the bike, a sleeping bag and a cool bag full of food.
Met Police ‘pivoting’ investigation to Khalife’s escape and if other persons were involved
The Metropolitan Police said it will now be “pivoting” its investigation to Khalife’s escape and if other people were involved after the terror suspect was captured on Saturday morning.
In a press release on Saturday evening Commander Dominic Murphy said: “Our priority following Khalife’s escape was to find him and bring him back to custody, which, thanks to the help of the public, and the excellent work by our officers, we have achieved.
“We are now pivoting our investigation towards the circumstances of his escape and whether there may have been any other persons involved and that investigation continues.”
Pictured: This is the moment Daniel Khalife was arrested by officers
Footage obtained by The Sun shows the moment that Daniel Khalife was detained by officers in Northolt, west London, on Saturday morning.
The video sees the suspect sat on the floor on the canal towpath in a white t-shirt close to a Waitrose bag, bottle of water bike and sleeping bag.
In a briefing to journalists on Saturday afternoon the Met Police said that the terror suspect was pulled from the bike by a lone officer, ending the four day manhunt.
When he was detained Khalife said “It’s not me! I haven’t done anything”, accoding to an eyewitness who spoke to the MailOnline.
It is unclear now if Khalife will be taken back to the category B prison or to a higher-security location.
Khalife was awaiting trial after allegedly planting a fake bomb at an RAF base and gathering information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK.
Timeline of terror suspect Daniel Khalife’s escape from Wadsworth Prison and eventual arrest
Terror suspect Daniel Khalife has been arrested on the fourth day of a manhunt after he escaped from HMP Wandsworth underneath a lorry.
The 21-year-old was arrested just before 11am on Saturday in Chiswick, west London, and is now in police custody, the force said.Officers descended on Chiswick with police dogs in tow after “intelligence-led activity” and confirmed sightings from members of the public in the area overnight.
Here is a timeline of the events leading to the capture of Khalife:
Mapped: The 75-hour hunt for escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife - arrested 45 minutes down the road
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife has been found and arrested in west London following a 75-hour nationwide manhunt.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by officers in Chiswick just before 11am on Saturday, a mere 45 minutes drive away from the prison he escaped from on Wednesday morning.
After prison staff alerted the force to the missing 21-year-old at 7.50am, a national search ensued over the next four days, which The Independent has shown on a map.
Rishi Sunak held talks with Narendra Modi on the fringes of the the G20 summit in Delhi on Saturday, with the British prime minister looking to push his Indian counterpart for a trade deal. He is not now expected to urge Modi to cut India’s ties with Russia as had been expected.
Sunak and Modi started their meeting with a tight embrace, as the Indian prime minister often does in meetings with world leaders.
“It is excellent, everything is excellent,” Sunak told him. “This is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It looks stunning. Everyone is excited, everyone is proud, it looks great.”
Sunak also told Modi his family had watched the recent landing of an Indian spacecraft on the moon. “My daughters who watched the Chandrayaan were so excited,” he said. “Everyone is buzzing. Really incredible. A historic moment for India but also for the world.”
The two prime ministers had been expected to meet a day earlier, but the plans were postponed. Officials would not say why that happened, but Modi did hold a high-profile discussion with the US president, Joe Biden, on Friday evening.
Downing Street is hoping to sign a free trade agreement with India later this year after nearly two years of negotiation, and plans to use the summit as an opportunity to make progress on that.
Sunak told the Indian broadcaster ANI: “Both Modi-ji [a term of respect in India] and I are keen to see a comprehensive and ambitious trade deal concluded between our two countries. Both of us think that there is a good deal to be done.”
Downing Street had said in advance of the trip that Sunak would use his meeting with the prime minister to push India to take a firmer stance towards Russia, given it still imports both oil and weapons from there.
But Sunak later made it clear he would not push Modi to change his country’s trading arrangements. “It’s not for me to tell India what positions to take on international issues,” he said.
A No 10 spokesperson added: “We’re always looking to further deepen the coalition of countries that are in opposition to Russia’s illegal war. I think you’ve already heard from India, who have shown strong support for the UN charter and the need to respect sovereign borders.”
India has expressed support for the UN charter, which calls on member states to respect other countries’ sovereignty, but has refused to vote for UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sunak’s visit to India gives him some relief from domestic difficulties, including the school buildings crisis and the hunt to find the prisoner who escaped from Wandsworth jail.
He has been received warmly in Delhi, where he has travelled along with his wife, Akshata Murty, who is the daughter of one of India’s most famous business tycoons. He said in advance of the trip he hoped to be greeted like “India’s son-in-law”.
Any possibility of the two of them being able to tour Delhi and meet locals has been scuppered, however, by the fact that almost the entire city has been shut down for the event.
They dined alone on Friday night after a planned business event at the British high commission was cancelled because executives were unable to get through the police cordons set up around the city.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across parts of Scotland on Sunday.
The warning, which comes into effect at 2pm and lasts until midnight, applies to most of the central belt.
The Met Office warns that flooding of homes and businesses could happen quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.
Flooding may also cause delays and some cancellations to train and bus services or power cuts in some areas.
Some large areas of rain are likely, with some embedded intense rainfall predicted, that could see 70mm or more in a few hours in some locations.
A cold front will gradually move south through the weekend after starting the far northwest of the country.
The change will bring the risk of thundery downpours in some areas on Sunday.
However, there is still the possibility of high temperatures remaining, particularly in the southeast which could even see peaks of 32C on Sunday.
Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said: “Although much of the UK will see high temperatures and sunny skies continue on Saturday, in what has a possibility of being the hottest day of the year so far, there’s also the potential for some thunderstorms, which has resulted in a Yellow Warning being issued for much of central England and parts of east Wales.
“Temperatures will begin to trend downwards from Saturday in the far northwest of Scotland, with a cold front gradually moving south through the weekend, bringing with it the risk of some heavy and thundery downpours on Sunday as well. However, the southeast will hold on to the high temperatures the longest and could still reach 32C on Sunday.”
Prison escape of Daniel Abed Khalife was 'clearly pre-planned', Met Police Chief says
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Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife who fled Wandsworth Prison has been found and arrested in Chiswick following a 75-hour nationwide manhunt.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by officers in west London just before 11am on Saturday morning and is currently in their custody.
The arrest follows a national four-day search after the 21-year-old was believed to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.
In their statement, the Met said: “We would like to thank the public and media for their support throughout our investigation to locate Khalife and we will provide a further update on his arrest in due course.”
The force announced earlier that it would be focusing its search in Chiswick on Saturday after confirmed sightings in the area overnight.
This came after a member of the public reported seeing Khalife walking away from a BidFood van near Wandsworth Roundabout shortly after his escape from prison.
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife found and arrested in Chiswick
Escaped terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife has been found and arrested in the Chiswick area of west London following a four-day nationwide manhunt.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the former soldier was arrested by officers just before 11am on Saturday morning and is currently in their custody.
The 21-year-old is believed to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.
In their statement, the Met said: “We would like to thank the public and media for their support throughout our investigation to locate Khalife and we will provide a further update on his arrest in due course.”
Rishi Sunak said he is “very pleased” terror suspect Daniel Khalife has been arrested, as he praised efforts by the police and the public in finding him.
Speaking to broadcasters at the G20 summit venue in New Delhi, the Prime Minister said: “I’m very pleased with the news and my thanks to the police officers for their fantastic work over the past couple of days, but also to the public who came forward with an enormous number of leads to help the police in their inquiries.
“It’s good news that we captured the person concerned. As people already know, the Justice Secretary has initiated an inquiry into the circumstances of his escape and that work will continue.
“And this is obviously very welcome news. And again, my thanks to the police but also to the public for their help.”
Watch: Police search location in Chiswick as hunt for Khalife continues
Police officers continue their search on Chiswick Mall for Daniel Abed Khalife after he was reported missing from Wandsworth prison.
Police have confirmed sightings of the terror suspect in the Chiswick area of west London.
Officers have been stopping and checking cars in Chiswick and asking residents for their IDs and looking in boots of cars on Church Street and Chiswick Lane South.
Armed police officers have also been searching up and down the road.
Police officers continue their search on Chiswick Mall for Daniel Abed Khalife after he was reported missing from Wandsworth prison. Police have confirmed sightings of the terror suspect in the Chiswick area of west London. Officers have been stopping and checking cars in Chiswick and asking residents for their IDs and looking in boots of cars on Church Street and Chiswick Lane South. Armed police officers have also been searching up and down the road.
Former justice secretary calls for more prisons so Wandsworth can close
Conservative former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland has said there must be more prison space built to allow the closure of out of date sites such as HMP Wandsworth.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s important to emphasise that an escape like this is a pretty exceptional event, it brings back to mind escapes like Ronnie Biggs and George Blake from distant history.
“However, there is no doubt that our Prison Service is a forgotten service in our country.
“It’s a service that either people don’t want to talk about or just don’t know enough about.
“We run the prisons service at a hugely hot rate, about 98% capacity and I think that isn’t a desirable state of affairs. We need more capacity to allow for flexibility.”
He said new facilities are not being built fast enough to “close the sort of prisons like Wandsworth and other London prisons that are well past their sell by date”.
Radar map revealing aerial police activity around west London overnight
A radar map revealed aerial police activity around Hammersmith and Chiswick in west London overnight amid the national manhunt for Daniel Abed Khalife.
Police helicopters spent Friday night circling around the Thames in west London, with flight radar maps revealing one flying over Chiswick House and Grove Park.
The Met has now confirmed sightings of the fugitive terror suspect in Chiswick overnight. Following “intelligence-led activity and some confirmed sightings”, the force said it is focusing the search there on Saturday, with officers set to carry out “further intensive search activity” in the area throughout the day.
Radar map showing police activity focused around Hammersmith and Chiswick in west London
A soldier turned terror suspect, Daniel Abed Khalife is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt after outwitting the guards at a London prison.
He escaped in a chef’s outfit by using straps to cling onto a food delivery van, with his current location unknown. Intelligence sources have told The Independent it is “almost certain” that he had “inside help”.
Police commissioner Mark Rowley said the escape was “clearly pre-planned” – pointing to “the fact he could strap himself onto the bottom of the wagon”, referring to the delivery van Khalife used to flee.
Former Prisons Service director general criticises ‘mess’ in system
A former director general of the Prisons Service has criticised the “mess” in the system that he believes will have played a role in Daniel Khalife’s escape.
Phil Wheatley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It has highlighted that the prison system is in a degree of chaos at the moment.
“It is very difficult to make anything work well when you are just managing day by day to fumble your way through with too many prisoners and not enough staff. So, I would be surprised in the long run if that wasn’t one of the factors that led to things not working right.
“The system is just about at maximum capacity, it’s overflowing out into police cells, that’s driven by longer sentences.
“The Government has been very keen on longer sentences for criminals but they haven’t supplied the places with enough staff to supervise them, nor have they managed to maintain existing prisons.
“They’ve spent what capital they’ve got on trying to build new places, meanwhile some of the older accommodation has had to be taken out of use because it can’t be maintained – so it’s all a bit of a mess, it doesn’t look like a well-planned, thought through policy that has been resourced.”
