Two friends allegedly aided escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife by acting as an instructor inside jail and a “man on the ground” supplying him with money, a court has heard.
Adeel Khan, 32, and Imran Chowdhury, 26, have pleaded not guilty to helping former soldier Khalife escape from HMP Wandsworth by tying himself to the bottom of a delivery truck in September 2023.
The two defendants lived just a mile apart in east London, a Snaresbrook Crown Court jury was told.
Khalife, who sparked a nationwide manhunt when he absconded from the London prison, was sentenced to 14 years and three months for spying for Iran after a 2024 trial.
Prosecutor Tom Williams described Khan and Chowdhury’s friendship as “important”.
“The prosecution’s case is that Khan was providing instructions from inside Wandsworth, and that Chowdhury was the man on the ground, providing money to a man who had escaped from the same prison that morning,” he told the court.
“Khan would have to have given careful thought to who could be trusted with a task like this – the consequences if it went wrong, or if Chowdhury told the wrong people about it, would, you might think, be very significant.”
Khan was first linked to Khalife’s escape through a red diary containing his name found in the former soldier’s possession when he was arrested, the court heard.
Inside was Khan’s name, illegal prison phone number, personal mobile number, and his Snapchat account, according to photos shown to the court.
Khalife had also been carrying around £200 in £20 notes, which the prosecution alleged was taken from a £400 withdrawal made by Chowdhury at a cash machine in Richmond, south-west London, the day of the prison escape.
Chowdhury was paid £120 for this, the court heard.
Khan and Khalife had regularly worked together in the Wandsworth prison kitchen and “must have known each other well,” the prosecutor added.
In the hours and days after his escape, Khalife called Khan several times using phones borrowed from members of the public, he told the court.
“All Khalife had with him, at this point, was what he had been able to take with him under a food lorry – and that wasn’t going to last him very long.”
Shortly after Khalife absconded from prison, at around 20:41BST, Khan messaged his then-girlfriend, Nazish Mahmood, Chowdhury’s bank details.
He told her to “put 120£ in this ac… please thank u baby”.
That same evening, Khalife called Khan using a phone belonging to a member of the public and they spoke for around a minute, the prosecution added.
After the £120 arrived in Chowdhury’s Barclays account at 21:55, he and Khalife met in “a meeting that Khan had been instrumental in arranging”, Williams said.
The pair were seen walking along a street in Richmond, at 22:38 before entering an alleyway, CCTV footage played in court showed.
Khalife was found guilty of spying but cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax at the Army barracks where he had been based as a soldier.
He had already admitted escaping from Wandsworth prison.
The trial of Khan, from Waltham Forest, and Chowdhury, from Chingford, continues.
