Man mistaken for Daniel Khalife says lady who reported him needs 'Specsavers'

2023-09-08 16:23

A man who was mistaken for the escaped prisoner, Daniel Khalife, has spoken out about his brush with the law. Officers from Thames Valley Police questioned a man at Banbury Train Station on Thursday afternoon, responding to a supposed sighting of Khalife, who is on the run after escaping from Wandsworth prison in South London. But the man was not Khalife, who was imprisoned over suspected terror charges, it was just... some bloke. Nevertheless, a video of him interacting with the police at the train station, which has since been deleted, went viral, spreading misinformation that Khalife had been caught. Posting on Twitter, the man who was mistaken for Khalife explained what happened, and luckily he seemed pretty chill about the incident. He said: "Hi everyone, just made this acc to explain what happened today. A woman mistook me for Daniel Khalife, and alerted the police. After about 20 mins of questions (and some gd banter) i proved I wasn't the escapee after a finger print scan. Honeslty crazy how much this has blown up." In other tweets, he added: that he "was more worried about missing my train" and that the person who reported him needs "Specsavers". "I got released after they found out who I really was, and the train station put in business class as an apology!" he added. As for the real escaped prisoner, Cdr Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, says there have been no confirmed sightings of Khalife since he escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London on the underside of a van. Scotland Yard confirmed “police activity” in London's Richmond Park on Friday was part of the hunt for the former soldier. Khalife is charged with terror offences, including "collecting information which might be useful to an enemy.” Police believe Khalife poses a "low risk" to the public but people are being urged not to approach him and to call 999 instead. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A man who was mistaken for the escaped prisoner, Daniel Khalife, has spoken out about his brush with the law.

Officers from Thames Valley Police questioned a man at Banbury Train Station on Thursday afternoon, responding to a supposed sighting of Khalife, who is on the run after escaping from Wandsworth prison in South London.

But the man was not Khalife, who was imprisoned over suspected terror charges, it was just... some bloke.

Nevertheless, a video of him interacting with the police at the train station, which has since been deleted, went viral, spreading misinformation that Khalife had been caught.

Posting on Twitter, the man who was mistaken for Khalife explained what happened, and luckily he seemed pretty chill about the incident.

He said: "Hi everyone, just made this acc to explain what happened today. A woman mistook me for Daniel Khalife, and alerted the police. After about 20 mins of questions (and some gd banter) i proved I wasn't the escapee after a finger print scan. Honeslty crazy how much this has blown up."

In other tweets, he added: that he "was more worried about missing my train" and that the person who reported him needs "Specsavers".

"I got released after they found out who I really was, and the train station put in business class as an apology!" he added.

As for the real escaped prisoner, Cdr Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, says there have been no confirmed sightings of Khalife since he escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London on the underside of a van.

Scotland Yard confirmed “police activity” in London's Richmond Park on Friday was part of the hunt for the former soldier.

Khalife is charged with terror offences, including "collecting information which might be useful to an enemy.”

Police believe Khalife poses a "low risk" to the public but people are being urged not to approach him and to call 999 instead.

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