To British firearms officers, it could be a tempting recruitment offer from police in Australia: ‘We’ve got your backs, mate.’

The authorities Down Under yesterday stepped up their pitch to hire UK officers – pledging they wouldn’t drag them through years of hell if they shot someone.

The message will not be lost amid the current furore over a Met policeman charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, who was shot in south London last year.

Western Australia is pursuing an audacious bid to ‘steal’ hundreds of police officers by luring them from Britain to work in the sunshine.

It can be revealed that more than 1,400 applied to make the move after the huge recruitment drive was launched in February promoting the area’s wine regions, coral reefs and culinary scene.

Are you a UK police officer who has moved to Australia? Please email your story, with photos, to rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk 

And as the first cohort of 23 Brits was sworn in this week – in a ceremony under ‘magnificent clear blue skies’ – the message from Aussie police chiefs was clear: ‘We protect our officers.’

Western Australia’s minister for police Paul Papalia told the Mail: ‘It’s very topical because yesterday we had a fatal shooting by police in Kalgoorlie. 

‘Without speaking in advance of the full investigation, I can tell you that our police officers behaved incredibly well. I’ve seen the body-worn camera footage. 

‘They acted entirely in accordance with their protocols, responsibly and properly. Sadly, they’ve had to shoot someone for their own protection. They did it absolutely correctly.’

Mr Papalia said that within an hour of the fatal shooting – of a 58-year-old man who had charged at officers with a gun – the commissioner of police and a local senator had publicly backed the officers.

Anna Miller, a 38-year-old recruited from West Yorkshire Police, said moving to Australia had made her feel ‘supported and appreciated’.

Speaking from Perth, Western Australia, where she moved with her family seven weeks ago, she told the Mail: ‘The biggest thing we like here is the appreciation for the police. I did not feel at all appreciated in the UK. In Australia, the community support their cops and they trust them.

‘The feeling among myself and colleagues [in the UK] was that officers weren’t backed… it feels a little bit, as police officers, they will happily throw you under a bus to present a [more positive] picture to the public. 

‘Don’t get me wrong, I had some fantastic supervisors, but I think policing as a whole, I don’t think they feel supported.’

Ms Miller worked at West Yorkshire Police for 15 years. She moved to Australia with her husband Andrew and their children Isabelle, seven, Tom, six, and Emma, three, for ‘an adventure’, saying: ‘It gives us the outdoor active lifestyle we wanted. 

‘It’s fantastic. There is so much to do on your doorstep – we went kayaking and saw seals, there is snorkelling, fantastic cycle paths and the Australian people are so chilled, friendly and have an enthusiasm for life.’

Ben Woods, a 33-year-old sergeant from Sussex Police, added: ‘My colleagues were naturally sad to see me go, but are now sick of my social media – “can you stop posting beautiful beaches, and posting views with koalas”.’

He said: ‘[Perth] is one of the cleanest, tidiest cities I’ve ever been to. The sunrises and sunsets are just phenomenal. The crime rates are clearly lower, there’s no graffiti, no gangs of kids – it feels like a nice safe place to be.’

The pair were sworn in as constables of the Western Australia Police Force on Monday, giving their allegiance to King Charles III, in a ceremony with an aboriginal theme. 

Mr Woods said: ‘An aboriginal lady came in and read scripture welcoming us, giving us strength and good spirits.’ 

Peppermint leaves were lit to create aromatic smoke, and Ms Miller said: ‘The smoke and the ceremony was around wishing us well, good luck and keeping us safe. It was lovely.’

All police officers in Western Australia are armed, meaning most UK recruits will need firearms training. 

Ms Miller said: ‘I don’t have a strong feeling. It’s just a piece of kit that officers have. I’ll learn how to use it.’

The police minster told the Mail: ‘We protect our officers. They’ve all got tasers, Glocks [pistols] and body armour.’

Mr Papalia said: ‘I’m intent on stealing your best people. Unashamedly. You guys have been taking our best for decades, it’s a rite of passage for Australians to go to the UK.

‘We’re aiming for 150 police officers this month, and 150 every year thereafter for five years. They come from a variety of forces. I’ve met all of them. They’re a good crowd. 

‘They all love policing and had their expectations met when doing swearing in – the skies in Perth were magnificent clear blue skies. Everything they had hoped for.

‘Western Australia is a great place to live and work. Compared to the UK, we have higher wages, a lower cost of living and the perfect climate for year-round adventure.

‘The response has been extremely positive, meaning WA Police can handpick the best of the best.’

In a nod to the ‘Ten Pound Poms’ scheme introduced after the Second World War, Western Australia’s shameless ambition is to grab 31,000 British workers, with police joining doctors, nurses and construction workers. 

They can ‘have it all’, with energy bills almost half in Australia, allowing the savings to be spent on 183 pints of beer, 110 roast dinners or 500 jars of Marmite, boasted Mr Papalia.

The British Medical Association revealed before Christmas that a third of junior doctors are planning to leave the UK – with the majority choosing Australia or New Zealand.

The NHS is battling shortfalls of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.

An Australian delegation arrived in the UK on February 25 and held jobs fairs in London, Edinburgh and Bristol. 

The scheme also targeted those in other professions hit by labour shortages including miners, plumbers, mechanics and builders.

Almost 25,000 applications to get documents needed to secure a job overseas were made to UK healthcare regulators in 2022. The vast majority represent NHS workers. 

The toll, uncovered by a MailOnline investigation, dwarfs the 10,000 figure seen before Covid struck. 

Senior leaders in the health service warned ‘the exodus is only just beginning’ and said the stats should ‘stun ministers into action’. 

Disgruntled NHS medics say the pandemic has shone a light on how poorly they are valued in the UK, a factor that helped launched a wave of strike action across the UK to boost their pay. 

Australia has also launched a wave of ‘cheeky’ tactics touting the merits of a move Down Under, such as deploying mobile billboards to NHS strike picket lines to recruit disenfranchised medics. 

Yet some medics who’ve made the move Down Under have complained that it’s not exactly the dream some are selling.  

British health staff wanting to apply for a job overseas need to get documents from their UK regulator as part of the application.

These prove to their potential employers they don’t have any marks on their record, their training is up to date, and they can be trusted with patients. 

Figures obtained by MailOnline reveal nearly 7,000 doctors applied for documents to support an application to work abroad from the British medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), in 2022.

This was up from 6,100 in 2019. 

Separate figures for 2023, which only go up until May, suggest this year will see an even bigger exodus, with almost 3,500 applying for their documents so far. 

For nurses and midwives, the figures are even starker. 

Nearly 16,000 similar applications were made in 2022/23 — compared to just under 5,500 in 2018, according to the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). 

Pristine beaches and sunny weather appear to have convinced many to seek a job in Australia.

Australia topped the charts for total applications in both professional groups. 

Nearly 9,000 doctors have applied to work Down Under in the last five years. A third of these were made in 2022/23.

And Australian efforts to lure medics Down Under appear to be paying off. 

Data from the Australian Medical Council, the Aussie equivalent of the GMC, show almost 1,000 British medics signed up in 2021/22, the latest data available, up 16 per cent on the year before, and the biggest number of any nation. 

This is equivalent to roughly half the UK medics who applied to work Down Under getting a job there. 

For nurses and midwives, 11,000 applications were made to Australia since 2017/18.

But the number has accelerated in recent years, with 4,000 making an application in the last financial year alone. 

Are you a UK police officer who has moved to Australia? Please email your story, with photos, to rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk 

By Britney Nguyen For Dailymail.Com

Published: 18:10 EDT, 22 September 2023 | Updated: 02:03 EDT, 23 September 2023

Priest is investigated by Polish police after ‘gay orgy’ at his apartment ends in ‘clergyman friend’ overdosing on erectile pills and a male prostitute scandal

• Fr. Tomasz Zmarzły is under investigation after a sex party at his flat went horribly wrong
• A friend of the Polish priest keeled over after taking several potency tablets
• He refused to let paramedics in after a male prostitute he was with called them

By Ed Wight

Published: 11:47 EDT, 20 September 2023 | Updated: 14:33 EDT, 20 September 2023

German police officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann were warned that they could ruin their investigation by relying on a ‘flaky’ witnessed who was nicknamed Helge Bulls***ter, it has been claimed. 

Christian Brueckner, 45, was named last year by prosecutors as the key suspect in the disappearance and murder of the three-year-old in 2007.  

The police’s case is largely centred around his former friend Helge Busching’s testimony that Brueckner chillingly told him when they were discussing Madeleine’s disappearance that ‘she didn’t scream’. 

But Mr Busching is now ‘wobbling’ and is on the verge of withdrawing his evidence, according to sources close to the German investigation. 

And sources have today claimed German officers were warned of Mr Busching’s ‘flakiness’, with one revealing he had even earned the nickname ‘Helge Bulls***ter’ amongst Portuguese officers, according to the Sun. 

The source said: ‘Helge B is someone the Portuguese officers have known about for a long, long time. But he was discounted as a credible witness ages ago. 

‘He was always seen as a Walter Mitty character who would talk ‘bulls**t’ all the time hence the nickname.

‘They warned the Germans he was a bit of a fantasist and that he was ‘flakey’ and how he’d say what you wanted to hear. But, for some reason the German detectives latched on to him.

‘They’ve pinned pretty much their entire case on his evidence, despite being warned he wasn’t to be trusted. Now, with him looking to back out, their credibility has been totally shot to bits.’

Mr Busching gave Brueckner’s name to British police in 2017, around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Busching claims that Brueckner told him at a Spanish kite festival in 2008 that he was involved in Madeleine’s abduction from Praia da Luz a year earlier.

When asked in 2020 what he thought of Brueckner, Busching said: ‘One word. Guilty.’

Busching, who now lives on the French island of Corsica, added: ‘He is in the right place at the moment and hopefully he will stay there a long time’.

After German prosecutors announced they were investigating Brueckner in June, the Metropolitan Police revealed they had received a tip-off about him in 2017.

‘Following the ten-year anniversary, the Met received information about a German man who was known to have been in and around Praia da Luz,’ detective chief inspector Mark Cranwell said at the time.

But now it’s feared that Mr Busching is not a reliable witness, as it emerged Portuguese officers gave him the nickname ‘Helge Bulls***ter’. 

A source told the Sun Mr Busching is ‘wobbling’ and is on the verge of withdrawing his evidence. 

‘He was paid a huge sum to repeat his statement in a German newspaper and now he’s pulling the plug,’ a German source said. 

‘It just goes to show you what type of people you are dealing with — and their credibility as witnesses.’

Convicted rapist and paedophile Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2005.

Yesterday, it was claimed that Brueckner has written begging letters to his former friends asking them to talk about what a ‘good guy’ he is in court in a bid to clear his name. 

Brueckner moaned in one letter to a friend that prosecutors were making him out to be a ‘monster’.

Brueckner, who prosecutors say is responsible for Madeleine’s 2007 kidnap and murder, begged two of his friends to support him in court if he has to stand trial on separate rape and child sex charges.

‘I know of two people who got the messages from Chris,’ Brueckner’s former friend who is still in touch with those who knew Brueckner in the Algarve told the Mirror. 

‘It really freaked them out. They hadn’t heard from him in years and then these letters suddenly arrived in the post from Germany.’

The source added: ‘He was asking them to speak in his defence, about what a good guy he is. He said the German police and prosecutors have it in for him, that they are saying he is a monster.

‘It’s outrageous for Chris to ask for help because now we all know about his past. Back when we were hanging with him in the early 2000s it was all a secret. We didn’t know he was a paedophile. But now he doesn’t stand a chance of anybody speaking up for him in court.’

Brueckner is currently languishing in a German prison for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal just 18 months before Madeleine was abducted. 

His trial heard he planned the sex attack having broken into the victim’s house with a rope to tie her up. She was blindfolded and gagged before being raped and robbed.

Last year, he was named as the key suspect in the disappearance and murder of Madeleine, who vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 – just a few days before her fourth birthday. But he has still not been charged regarding her abduction and he denies his involvement.

In June, Brueckner attacked the police investigation against him as groundless in a handwritten letter, seen by the MailOnline. 

In the letter he attacked informant Mr Busching. The two men had been pals in Portugal in the early 2000s but as Brueckner explained in his latest missive he says they fell out after a drugs deal went wrong the year Madeleine went missing and never spoke again.

Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast in May 2007 – where Brueckner was living at the time – and has never been seen since.

In May, parents Kate and Gerry McCann gathered with friends and family in Rothley, Leicestershire, to poignantly marked the 16th anniversary of her disappearance.

They hold onto a glimmer of hope that Madeleine could still be alive.

She would now be aged 20.

Rainbow warriors: Dutch police blast eco-protesters with water cannons and drag them away as demonstrators shut major roadway for a seventh day

• Protests in The Hague against subsidies for fossil fuel using industries continue
• Dutch police deployed water cannons in attempt to dislodge activists 
• Environmental activists globally plan for weekend of climate protests  

By Jacob Judah

Published: 11:39 EDT, 15 September 2023 | Updated: 12:41 EDT, 15 September 2023

Police now believe Britain’s most wanted man is in Chiswick wearing a black baseball cap, t-shirt and dark bottoms as their search moves to west London.

The new information follows witness sightings of Daniel Khalife confirmed overnight, including calls from members of the public.

Officers remain in Chiswick and are now planning to carry out further intensive search activity today.

A police helicopter was deployed last night over Chiswick House and Grove Park amid the search. 

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement today: ‘We urge members of the public in that area to remain vigilant and call 999 immediately should they see Khalife, or if they have any information that could assist the search. 

‘Whilst we advise members of the public not to approach Khalife if they see him, we still assess that he does not pose a threat to the wider public.’

Former soldier Khalife, 21, who is alleged to have spied for Iran, escaped from Wandsworth Prison in a delivery van on Wednesday morning. 

The search for him remains a significant operation led by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. 

More than 150 of the Met’s counter terrorism officers and staff are working at pace around the clock to try and find Khalife. 

The Met is offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information that leads to the arrest of Daniel Abed Khalife, as detectives confirmed a sighting of him near Wandsworth Roundabout. 

CCTV shows the van after it left the prison but detectives believe Khalife had already made off by the time the footage was captured. 

Elsewhere, officers received a tip-off from a member of the public who said they saw a man fitting Khalife’s description walking away from a BidFood van that stopped near the south entrance to the Wandsworth Roundabout, at the top of Trinity Road, shortly after his escape. 

The man was then seen walking towards Wandsworth town centre.

Khalife escaped the Victorian jail by strapping himself to the bottom of a delivery lorry after leaving the prison kitchen in a cook’s uniform.

Elsewhere, a shop assistant also reported seeing ‘a tall, lanky dude with dark hair’, who he later claimed to recognise as Khalife from media images, enter a black coloured vehicle outside Wandsworth County Court – but police have not confirmed whether this sighting is of interest.

The witness, who was working at The Market – Putney Newsagents on Wednesday morning, heard a commotion outside the store, before seeing the man sprint across the street and get into a car on the other side of the road by traffic lights.

His manager told the Telegraph: ‘There was lots of beeping by cars and people were annoyed.

‘My friend, one of the workers at the shop, was in the shop on that morning, at around 7.30, and he went outside where he saw a man running into a black car. The man was some tall lanky dude with dark hair and there was a Bidfood van.

‘My friend didn’t see him getting out of the van but he saw him sprint across the street to the traffic lights.’

The Met Police has opened its UK Image Appeal website which allows people to submit any relevant imagery and video directly to the investigation team.

This could be CCTV, doorbell footage, mobile phone footage, or dash-cam footage.

Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: ‘This remains a fast-paced and dynamic investigation, but I want the public to know that a large number of officers are working extremely hard to locate Khalife.

‘We have now received more than 100 calls from the public, and we thank everyone who has contacted us with information.

‘The sighting near Wandsworth Roundabout could be very significant, and this is one of many useful lines of enquiry that officers are perusing.

‘We continue to urge the public to contact us straight away if they think they have seen Khalife or have information on his whereabouts.

‘We will continue to work closely with all our colleagues in police services across the country and other partners to trace Khalife and bring him back into custody.’

Officers continue to focus investigative efforts in London. This included search activity at Richmond Park overnight into the early hours of Friday, 8 September.

A nationwide alert put out on Wednesday has led to tightened security at ports and borders. 

The force has assessed that Khalife ‘does not pose a threat to the wider public’ but advises the public not to approach him and call 999 immediately. 

Former soldier Khalife, 21, was declared missing at 7.50am on  Wednesday. The Met was notified at 8.15am and took immediate action to track down a delivery van that had left the prison.

At 8.37, police officers stopped the van in Upper Richmond Road, near the junction with Carlton Drive. Officers spoke to the driver and carried out a thorough search. Police discovered strapping on the underside of the van.

Detectives believe Khalife was hiding underneath the van and used this strapping as part of his escape.

The force previously gave details of the route the van which they believe Khalife escaped on took after it left Wandsworth Prison, based on GPS data detectives had obtained from the vehicle.

As a result of further CCTV enquiries, it has been determined that the van took the following route upon leaving Wandsworth Prison. After reaching Wandsworth Roundabout, the van turned onto Swandon Way and the van remained on the road until turning onto Fairfield Street.

Khalife, who served in 16 Signal Regiment, whose motto is Find A Way Or Make One, is thought to have clung to the underside of the truck by fashioning straps out of the plastic covering on his cell mattress. 

Sir Mark told LBC of the escape this morning: ‘It is clearly pre-planned, the fact that he could strap himself onto the bottom of the wagon.’ 

He added a prison escape is ‘unlikely to be something you do on the spur of the moment’.

Asked if police are looking into whether it was an ‘inside job’, the commissioner said: ‘It is a question. Did anyone inside the prison help him? Other prisoners, guard staff? Was he helped by people outside the walls or was it simply all of his own creation?’

He called it ‘extremely concerning’ that Khalife is ‘on the loose’.

Asked whether he was surprised to learn that the terror suspect was in a Category B prison, Sir Mark said it did ‘seem odd’ on first inspection.

The commissioner said the hunt for Khalife is a ‘massive operation’ involving ‘well into three figures of officers’ as well as help from forces around the country and from the border force.

‘At the moment we are still really keen to get any reports from members of the public,’ he added.

It came as police chiefs involved in the Richmond Park search apologised to locals for the disruption.

The National Police Air Service tweeted: ‘To dispel some rumours that have been circulating. We were deployed to Richmond Park last night searching for escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife. 

‘Due to the size and complexity of the park this took a protracted period of time. Apologies for the noise.’

Meanwhile, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said there were questions about the ‘link between government austerity and this man escaping.’

He said: ‘There’s a question in relation to the medium and long term about the link between government austerity and this man escaping.

‘I know from my own experience, as the member of parliament previously for Tooting where Wandsworth prison is, (there are) big problems in relation to it being overcrowded and being a Victorian prison, lack of investment, lack of enough staff and those questions will need answering from the Government.’

Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said staff shortages at Wandsworth are ‘the source of many problems’ and that ‘in an ideal world’ the jail would be shut.

The prison’s performance has been rated a ‘serious concern’ and watchdogs issued a string of warnings about the jail in the year before the incident.

It comes as pharmacies have been urged to keep a lookout following suggestions that the ex-British Army soldier may have suffered burns to his face during his escape.

Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley told Sky News: ‘Clinging to the bottom of a vehicle, if it’s got a petrol or diesel combustion engine, it is a pretty risky thing to do, not only because of course you can lose your grip and fall on a roadway, but exhaust systems, which generally speaking run the entire length of a vehicle like that, get incredibly hot.

‘The slightest touch of that exhaust system will leave you with a vey unpleasant burn.

‘So I would suggest to anybody who works in a chemist or pharmacy or shops where medical supplies are sold – just keep your eyes out today if somebody comes in asking for advice on how to treat burns, and sourcing bandages… and the like.’

Elsewhere, CCTV footage today showed the van Khalife escaped under just 200 yards from the prison, with no sign of the suspect.

Questions continue to grow over how the suspected terrorist, who is alleged to have spied for Iran, was able to flee the Category B prison, where there have long been concerns over security.

An inmate who worked with Khalife in the jail kitchen revealed how they used to joke about jumping in a delivery lorry and driving off.

And another former prisoner revealed how staff were so overstretched they even asked him to help lead the roll call of inmates on his wing.

Meanwhile, a barrister and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation said today it was ‘mind-boggling’ that Khalife was able to work in a kitchen with access to knives.

Jonathan Hall KC told Radio 4’s World at One programme Mr Khalife has been ‘charged with collecting information which might be useful to an enemy’ and that he should have been held in a higher security prison.

‘I would have thought someone charged with espionage should be held more securely…just based on what the authorities knew’

‘They knew he was charged with an offence under the Official Secrets Act, that’s a very serious offence… one would have thought that you would look at the advanced capabilities that might come with working for or having relations with a hostile state’ he said.

Mr Hall also warned against legislation to make all of those accused of terrorism to be placed in a category A prison.

‘I’d be worried if there was a reaction which said now every person suspected of terrorism should be categorised as a high escape risk’.

Fresh CCTV footage today shows the Bidfood lorry which Khalife used for his escape driving down a residential street just 200 yards from the jail.

There is no sight of the fugitive in the images, suggesting that he may have leapt off the vehicle immediately after it left the prison gates.

Scotland Yard revealed last night there was 65 minutes between it leaving the prison and being stopped and searched by police, meaning a huge number of possible places where Khalife might have slipped away. 

As investigators worked to unravel how he managed to pull off a Colditz-style breakout in broad daylight, more details emerged of the audacious escape.

Khalife, who police suspect used his military training to carefully plan his escape, began Wednesday morning by helping to prepare breakfast at the Victorian jail.

He turned up for duty dressed in his chef’s uniform of a white T-shirt, distinctive red and white chequered trousers and brown steel-toe boots. 

After serving breakfast to inmates and guards, he slipped out of the kitchen carrying makeshift strapping of some kind, which police have declined to describe in more detail. 

In the yard outside the kitchen building, a lorry from the wholesaler Bidfood was making a routine delivery of groceries.

When no one was looking, Khalife ducked under the sidebars of the lorry and positioned himself precariously beneath the truck’s underbelly, using the strapping to support his weight.

At around 7.30am, with the driver blissfully unaware of the stowaway, the Bidfood lorry was driven 250 yards along the road running along the inside of the 30ft perimeter wall famously scaled by Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs in 1965. Two internal security gates had to be opened to let it pass.

At 7.32am, the lorry carrying the former Royal Signals soldier rolled through the prison’s imposing Victorian gate into the open. 

It was waved past guards and CCTV cameras with another cursory inspection, with no one thinking to check underneath at any of the three security checks.

As Khalife clung on, just inches from the wheels and the spinning drive shaft, the lorry turned right on to residential Heathfield Road, then left, then left again on to the busy triple-laned A214.

Police have stressed there is no suspicion about Bidfood or its driver, and said they had been co-operating fully.

Officers either do not know or have not said at what point Khalife decided to leave his escape vehicle, or what he did next. 

But the truck embarked on a near four-mile route through Wandsworth Town and on to the South Circular A205 road heading west towards Putney.

Khalife had an 18-minute head-start before anyone even noticed his absence. He was declared missing at 7.50am, and prison officers launched an urgent search, but it was a further 25 minutes before the police were called at 8.15am – by now a full 43 minutes after he had sprung himself.

Metropolitan Police cars descended on the area, while the lorry driver was called by his company and ordered to turn around and return to the prison.

On a busy high street close to East Putney station, officers swooped on the Bidfood truck at 8.37am outside a coffee shop.

A business owner who witnessed the operation told the Mail: ‘The police were searching inside the van, underneath it, on the roof, in the cab, everywhere. 

‘At first there was one unmarked, black police car, then a van and about five police cars. They were using two dogs to search it, one inside and one underneath.’ 

He said the search lasted for two hours.

Scotland Yard Commander Dominic Murphy said last night: ‘We searched it, but we found no trace of him. But we did find strapping that meant he had been underneath.’ 

Officers were keeping an open mind as to whether Khalife was helped by accomplices, but Mr Murphy cited the fugitive’s ‘ingenuity’ and said: ‘We have some of the best military in world and he was a trained soldier.’ 

He said police officers believed Khalife – a ‘very resourceful individual’ – would have needed to plan his escape, rather than it being opportunistic.

Police refused to confirm or deny if they had recovered potentially useful CCTV during their trawl, but said there had been no sightings by members of the public, despite it being ‘a busy area of London’. 

It prompted speculation as to whether the fugitive could have arranged to be picked up by an accomplice in another vehicle.

This is the moment police stopped the delivery van that terror suspect Daniel Khalife clung to during his audacious escape from Wandsworth Prison.

Officers pulled the Bidfood van over on the Upper Richmond Road in Putney, Southwest London at 8.37am yesterday morning.

Khalife – who had been working in the prison kitchen and was wearing chef’s red and white cheque trousers with a white T-shirt – sneaked under the vehicle, which was delivering food and groceries.

He held on to the underside of the truck with straps, which were found by police after they had stopped the vehicle.

Khalife, however, was already long gone.

The van was roughly two and a half miles from Wandsworth Prison when it was stopped.

Officers using sniffer dogs spent two hours combing through the vehicle and looking underneath it.

An onlooker, who took these dramatic videos, told MailOnline this evening: ‘The police pulled up behind the van after ordering it to stop.

‘They spent a few hours looking all the way through it, in the back, in the driver’s cab, underneath it and even on top of it.

‘They had sniffer dogs trying to pick up the scent of something, but they didn’t find anything of any note.

‘I didn’t know what was going on. It’s only tonight that I’ve found out this was the truck used by the escaped prisoner. It’s quite shocking.’

BidFood delivery since has confirmed one of its lorries had been used in the escape.

In a statement the company said: ‘Yesterday morning we were made aware of a security incident involving one of our vehicles, whilst out on delivery.

‘We can confirm that our driver fully cooperated with the police on this matter before returning back to the depot. We will continue to assist the authorities in their ongoing investigation.’

The video comes as the Metropolitan Police has revealed the exact route escape terror suspect and former soldier Daniel Khalife took as he clung to the underside of a food van when he escaped HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday. 

The force also admitted that the more than 150 cops charged with finding the escaped suspect, 21, have still not found him.

Khalife, a former soldier in the 22 Signal Regiment who was on remand at HMP Wandsworth ahead of his six-week terror trial, was meant to be working in the kitchens when he sneaked out and strapped himself underneath a Bidfood truck that delivered food and supplies on Wednesday.

Dressed as a chef, the soldier-turned-alleged-spy served fellow inmates breakfast and then evaded guards and CCTV while the vehicle was driven for 250 yards along an internal road and out through HMP Wandsworth’s famous Victorian gate in a matter of minutes.

Khalife is believed to have slipped out of one several doors to the kitchen having said he was unloading a supplies van. 

The van left the Category-B prison at around 7:30 am, taking a right turn out of the gates onto Heathfield Road. 

He was declared missing at 7:50 am, and the Met was notified at 8:15.  

The food van then turned left onto Magdalen Road, before it turned left onto Trinity Road (A214) up to the Wandsworth Roundabout and took the first exit onto Swandon Way (A217).

The food van then turned left onto Old York Road, past Wandsworth Town station, then left onto Fairfield Street, right onto Wandsworth High Street (A3) staying straight ahead onto West Hill and then on to Upper Richmond Road (A205).

It is not known exactly where the van went after this, or where Khalife may have left the vehicle.  

The Met says its investigation into his disappearance is focused on London, particularly around this route, as well as the Kingston-Upon-Thames area, where Khalife was known to have connections.

It said that it feared that Khalife has already left the country, with Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counterterrorism control saying: ‘It’s absolutely possible . . . he has already left the country. There’s been a huge effort in borders around the country trying to identify if he has already left. We believe him to be here, but we keep an open mind.’

Officers were said to be keeping a close watch on an upstairs flat in Kingston, close to the edge of Richmond Park, where Khalife’s mother and twin sister are understood to have lived until a few years ago.

A neighbour told The Daily Telegraph: ‘A woman lived upstairs who had a son and daughter. The boy would come and go swearing loudly. She moved to Wales roughly three years ago – a year after we moved in.

‘The family were British, of Middle Eastern origin. They didn’t talk to us or anyone else in the street very much that I could see.

‘It’s worrying to think that this young man might head back to this area after escaping from prison.’

HMP Wandsworth has been severely criticised for its conditions, with top-level figures claiming the prison needs to be shut down. 

The UK’s chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, outright said that HMP Wandsworth needs to be shut down. 

He told Sky News: ‘When you find a prison like Wandsworth, it really needs closing ultimately – it is not a suitable prison.

‘In an ideal world one would, but of course you need jails because you need to service the courts.

‘We’ve actually got a crisis at the moment in prisons just in terms of population and places, so there are only just enough prison places available at the moment for the number of prisoners who are coming in.

‘And of course that puts a huge strain on the system, so in a huge jail like Wandsworth you are getting people in, you are getting them to court, you are getting them back from court and then as soon as they’ve been sentenced, they are being moved onto another jail as quickly as possible.

‘And it is something about that churn that also adds to the general complications and sometimes what feels like chaos in some of those big local prisons like Wandsworth.’  

The Victorian jail in the southwest of the city has been described in a recent report as ‘overcrowded, crumbling and vermin-infested.’

Both Mr Taylor and the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) raised concerns about staffing levels, among other issues, in reports published last year.

In findings published in January 2022 after an inspection in September 2021, Mr Taylor warned: ‘Staffing shortfalls were preventing the prison from running a decent and predictable regime. More than 30% of prison officers were either absent or unable to work their full duties. Around a quarter were less than a year in post and more than 10% had resigned in the last 12 months.’

The report also highlighted how a ‘serious security breach had led to an escape in 2019’ and while the watchdog was ‘given some assurance that action to prevent further escapes had been taken in response to the investigation that followed’, it warned that ‘current local security data evidenced some concerns in the physical aspects of security.’

At the time Mr Taylor also told how the prison did not have enough body-worn cameras for every staff member on duty and highlighted how there had recently been several changes in leadership.

Inspectors described ‘very poor’ living conditions with ‘piles of litter’ and said levels of violence had risen since previous inspections.

On Thursday Mr Taylor said of the ‘completely overcrowded’ and vermin-infested site that his last inspection showed Wandsworth had high numbers of ‘non-effective’ staff – which means they are off work for reasons including sickness and training.

‘It was definitely one of the worst (prisons) we’d come across and they had real problems in having enough staff in place and of course, that immediately is a big issue for the prison because it means that all the systems in the prison are put under strain as a result of it.

‘What a prison should do is prioritise security over everything else, because that’s its predominant function, but if you have got very big shortages of staff that inevitably is going to be an issue,’ he said.

Wandsworth has one of the highest rate of sickness absence among staff, official Government figures show.

The average number of working days lost due to sickness absence at Wandsworth per full-time equivalent staff was 20.4 in the 12 months to June 30 2023, compared with 19.5 in the year to March 2022 and 13.6 in the pre-pandemic year of 2019/20.

The Prison Officers Association has blamed budget cuts for the escape.

Chairman Mark Fairhurst said: ‘Wandsworth is one of the largest prisons in the country and is overcrowded and under resourced.

‘The chronic staffing shortages and lack of adequate training for staff highlight the need for an urgent review of how our prisons are run.’

Prison Officers Association Steve Gillian told Times Radio that Wandsworth has too few perimeter checks because of cutbacks. 

He said: ‘I sort of think there’s not enough security like perimeter checks and things like that are being cut back. Different things. The day to day security. People aren’t getting enough time to do the security task that they should be doing.

‘So, for example, the security of a prison is foremost in my mind, always has been. But getting the time to do the basics, such as like a cell fabric check, right. For instance, I’ve noticed that sometimes prison officers will rush it because there’s not enough time in the day.

‘A fabric check would be checking the locks, the bolts, the bars, the fabric of the cell to ensure it’s not tampered with and so forth.’

He added: ‘It’s been that way for a substantial amount of time, not just at Wandsworth but across the country. So Wandsworth yesterday, it could be another prison tomorrow, unfortunately. 

‘And your stats are pretty sound. Actual fact, because I spoke to the Wandsworth Play Committee this morning just to see how many staff were on duty. And you’re absolutely right, 1600 prisoners.

‘And this is supposed to be a certified normal accommodation of just over 900, which means that’s the proper amount of prisoners that should be at once with. 

‘But they are grossly overcrowded by 600 prisoners that are sharing cells, doubling up for cells that should be for one person and to have 70 staff on duty for 1600 prisoners. 

‘Just demonstrates to your listeners the sort of stress that my members are under on a daily basis.’ 

Police believe the fugitive may still be hiding out in London, but due to the serious nature of the charges against him, security alerts were issued to all ports and airports.

The force admitted that Khalife’s ‘previous military experience’ may make him harder to catch, as he is likely ‘more aware of efforts to apprehend him.’ 

Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the investigation, asked for anyone with information about Khalife that may help us to get in touch urgently.

He said: ‘Since yesterday, over 150 officers and staff have been working around the clock on apprehending Khalife.

‘We have issued a nationwide alert that has resulted in increased security at our ports and borders, however currently there have not been any confirmed sightings.

‘I recognise and am fully aware of the impact these measures are having on the public. We are working to ensure as minimal disruption as possible.

‘It is crucial for the public to help us with this search and to call us immediately if they have any information on the whereabouts of Khalife.’

The fugitive, described as being of slim build, with short brown hair and 6ft 2ins tall, and was said to be wearing a white T-shirt, distinctive red and white chequered trousers and brown steel-toe boots, though the Met Police said that the public should not focus on his clothing. 

Murphy said at a briefing: ‘He clearly could very quickly change those clothes, so I wouldn’t want to focus too much on that.’

He described him as a ‘very resourceful individual’, adding: ‘Our experience of him shows that, so nothing is off the table with him at the moment.

‘This was a really busy area of London and we’ve had no confirmed sightings in any of that information, which is a little unusual, and perhaps testament to Daniel Khalife’s ingenuity in his escape and some of his movements after his escape.

‘It’s important that we remember that we have some of the best military in the world here in the UK and he was trained.

‘He was a trained soldier – so ultimately he has skills that perhaps some sections of the public don’t have.’

Experts have weighed in on exactly how Khalife may have escaped.  

Former Metropolitan Police Detective, Peter Bleksley, said: ‘If this is pre-planned and he is supported by a network of fellow minded criminals then of course he could have cash, shelter, change of clothing, false passport and may already have left the country’.

Mr Bleksley said police will hope he is working alone, because it increases the chances of being spotted and arrested because he would probably have to steal clothing, break into buildings to hide or hunt through bins for food.

On Thursday, new photos of the terror suspect emerged, showing him as a cadet at training barracks. 

One picture, of him shirtless, was taken at Pirbright Barracks in Surrey, where he underwent phase one training in 2019. 

Another image, in which he is wearing a beret, was taken at Blandford Garrison in Dorset during his phase two training the following year.

Colleagues of Khalife described him today as ‘jovial, a bit dopey and playful’.

But despite these positive comments, he was accused of incredibly serious crimes. 

He was charged in January with breaching the Official Secrets Act by allegedly committing ‘an act prejudicial to the safety or interests’ of Britain in a plot said to be linked to Iran.

British-born but said to have Middle Eastern heritage from his mother and father, Khalife was said to have gathered details that ‘could be useful to an enemy’ between May 2019 and January 2022.

He was also charged with eliciting information about members of the Armed Forces useful for terrorism, by recording personal details from the Ministry of Defence joint personnel administration system on August 2, 2021. 

Khalife was arrested after allegedly planting fake bombs – three canisters with wires – on a desk in his barracks accommodation on January 2 this year.

The soldier was discharged from the Army when he faced criminal accusations of perpetrating a bomb hoax ‘with the intention of inducing a belief in another that the said items were likely to explode or ignite’.

Since his arrest, judges have refused to grant the terror suspect bail ahead of his trial at Woolwich Crown Court on November 20. 

Khalife was last seen in public at the Old Bailey in July when he denied all three charges.

A former security minister said that the audacious escape will likely ‘count against him’ if he’s caught. 

Baroness Neville-Jones, chair of the UK’s joint intelligence committee, told Sky News the suspected terrorist ‘has to be found’.

She added: ‘This will count against him without question.’

UK justice officials have been scrutinised for the decision not to place Khalife in a prison with higher levels of security.  

Experts have said he should have been in Category A Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, which holds the majority of the UK’s terror suspects and has never had an escape. 

Chris Atkins, author and former Wandsworth inmate, described the jail as ‘dysfunctional on an epic scale’.

His book Time After Time is out today and serialised by the Mail on Sunday, as was his first book A Bit of a Stretch.

He said the jail is run by ‘terrified’ young officers ‘straight out of school’ with just nine weeks of training who would rely on experienced prisoners like him with basic questions about how to police inmates and what their routine was, even what time they had lunch.

He said: ‘They were so short staffed they asked me to do the register and tick people off as they left the wing. I was a prisoner in jail for a crime of dishonesty yet they allowed me this very very responsible role.

‘I could have ticked a box saying ‘yes a prisoner is here’ when he was half way to France’.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk last night demanded an urgent update from Wandsworth’s governor and senior Prison Service bosses after the jail was placed in lockdown.

Sources said the minister received a run-through of ‘all security measures that have been taken in the medium term to ensure the prison is secure as possible’.

There will be further longer-term work on improving Wandsworth’s security checks, a source added.

Labour justice spokesman Shabana Mahmood said: ‘The Conservatives need to urgently explain how they can’t do the basic job of keeping potentially dangerous criminals locked up.

‘It’s right that the police are given space to recapture this suspect. But Rishi Sunak needs to ensure there is no wider risk because his zombie Government lacks grip on the criminal justice system.’

Activity at transport hubs across the UK slowed to a near-halt last night as forces investigated whether Khalife had managed to sneak out of the country. 

The M20 was closed as a result of the checks, sparking huge queues of trucks around Dover, while there were also delays at airports. 

There was chaos at airports and ports, leading to delays for passengers, as Border Force officials carried out extra security checks in a race to find the fugitive amid fears he may be planning to flee the country – if he hasn’t already.

The hunt continues to cause delays at the Port of Dover where enhanced security checks are taking place. The Dover TAP traffic management system has been enforced on the A20, with lorries queueing in the left-hand lane.

The Port of Dover tweeted this morning: ‘Due to a police matter there are currently enhanced checks on outbound traffic.

‘Please be advised this is currently resulting in some delays at the port.

‘However, our standard travel guidance remains unchanged and we will keep passengers updated if they can expect any alteration to their journey.’

Airports also remain on high alert.

Police in Pakistan have arrested an uncle of Sara Sharif because they suspect he knows where her father, stepmother and another uncle, all wanted over her murder, are hiding.

Urfan Sharif fled the UK with his partner Beinash Batool, brother Faisal Malik and his five children – a day before police discovered Sara’s body at the family home in Woking, Surrey.

The three adults are wanted for questioning over Sara’s murder, leading to an international manhunt.

Sara was found at the property on August 10 by police who received a call from someone concerned by her welfare.

An autopsy has not established a cause of death, but it did show Sara had suffered ‘multiple and extensive injuries, which are likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time’, Surrey police said.

As detectives in Pakistan try to locate them, sources told MailOnline that they have detained another of Mr Sharif’s brothers, Imran, because they are ‘convinced’ that he knows where the family is hiding.

Sources also revealed that Mr Sharif’s parents along with other relatives, who live in a large house in the city of Jhelum in Pakistan’s Punjab province, have also now gone into hiding.

A police source said: ‘We spoke to Imran and some of the family members last week and they insisted that they did not know where Urfan and his family are. But we don’t believe them, there’s absolutely no way that they can’t know where eight of their relatives who have come from England are. They are telling us a pack of lies.’

The source revealed that the family home in Jhelum is locked and now empty and a shop they run which adjoins their home is also locked up.

They added: ‘We managed to get hold of Imran, but the rest of his family have gone missing. They clearly have something to hide. We have got hold of one of them and will be interrogating him until he tells us the truth.’

Last week, Imran exclusively told MailOnline that Mr Sharif visited the family home after arriving in Pakistan on August 9, but came alone and that they had not seen him since.

He said: ‘After reaching Pakistan he came to us and instantly disappeared. He did not bring his family to our home. Some people say he is hiding somewhere in Jhelum in a rented house, but others said he may be gone to Mirpur where his in laws are living.’

He added: ‘Police has raided our home twice during the last week and took pictures of Urfan and other family members. We have been warned to inform police immediately soon after receiving his whereabouts.’

Imran is being questioned by police in Jhelum and officers from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency.

Sources also told MailOnline that they have been unable to find a precise location for Ms Batool’s parents who live in the city of Mirpur, which is around two hours away from Jhelum. Imran initially claimed that Mr Sharif’s family had gone there.

The source added: ‘We have the mobile phone numbers for Sharif and the other people with him who came from the UK. We are doing our utmost to trace them electronically but it’s not proving to be very easy.’

Surrey Police revealed that Sara’s body was discovered on August 10 after Mr Sharif called them from Pakistan, which led police to search the £500,000 family council house.

Although post-mortem tests could not determine the cause of death, the results revealed bruises on her body which showed the little girl ‘had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, which are likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time’.

Sara’s mother, Polish woman Olga Sharif, 36, who was married to Mr Sharif between 2009 to 2017, urged her ex-husband to ‘come forward and explain himself’.

Olga, who lives in Somerset, praised British police for doing a good job in trying to track him down.

She said: ‘The police are doing a good job finding him.’

Heartbroken Olga praised her daughter as ‘an amazing child,’ adding: ‘She was so beautiful. I can’t believe she’s dead.’

Olga hopes to bury her child back in her native Poland.

Police task force begins hunt for sniper suspect tied to 22 car shootings in two weeks

•       Police are pursuing a male sniper suspect for nearly two dozen cars

shootings in Michigan that began October 16

•       More than 100 local officers, sheriff’s deputies, state troopers and

federal agents are involved in the investigation

•       Investigators and state police are pulling over local drivers and

questioning them for details

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 17:39 EDT, 31 October 2012 | Updated: 00:27 EDT, 9 May 2013

[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

Police are hunting a sniper in Michigan tied to 22 car shootings in two weeks, which have caused one injury so far.

A task force of investigators has started questioning drivers in four Michigan counties in hopes of catching a man suspected of shooting at other highway motorists head-on. Police investigators are searching for anything out of the norm during their traffic stops in Oakland, Livingston, Ingham and Shiawassee counties.

More than 100 local officers, sheriff’s deputies, state troopers and federal agents are now involved in the investigation, which began with reported shootings in Wixom, about 25 miles northwest of Detroit on October 16.

A local male was shot in the behind Saturday while heading east along Interstate 96 in Livingston County, causing a nearby school to go into lockdown, according to United Press International.

That victim has been the only person injured so far, but the suspect is believed to be shooting at people and not just their vehicles, said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard on Tuesday.

‘It’s been more of the grace of God than the guy intentionally missing people,’ said Bouchard. ‘We’ve had people who have been missed (by) inches. One bullet was lodged in a driver’s seat.’

‘The suspect is believed to be shooting at vehicles approaching from the opposite direction,’ said Michigan State Police lieutenant Michael Shaw.

‘Some motorists had not realized that their vehicles had been hit until they had driven a quarter-mile or more,’ he said.

The investigative task force has received more than 800 tips so far and has increased the reward money for any information that leads to an arrest to $102,000 from $12,000.

Witnesses have described the suspect’s vehicle as resembling a dark

1998 Oldsmobile Alero or a 1998 Toyota Camry. Those initial descriptions may not be correct, said Shaw.

On Monday police stopped the driver of a dark-colored Chevy Cavalier after a woman reported that something hit her car on U.S. 23 near Brighton, Michigan at 9.05am.

No arrests have been made.

Local officials say it’s a must that they catch the suspect not only to protect lives, but also to stop the spread of fear among citizens in the area.

‘For Halloween, we are going to do special patrols in each of our subdivisions so kids can have a normal Halloween,’ said Clarence Goodlein, Wixom’s public safety director.

‘We’re not going to be in the business of letting a thug and hoodlum bully us and change the course of our lives.’

 

 

 

WHAT BOOK would author and former police officer Clare Mackintosh take to a desert island?

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 17:03 EDT, 17 August 2023 | Updated: 17:59 EDT, 17 August 2023