The 24-year-old man was arrested on the morning of Wednesday, 17 January at an address in east London. He was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, and he was taken into custody at a London police station.
He was subsequently bailed to a date in late April.
The man is not a member of staff at HMP Wandsworth.
The arrest, carried out by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command as part of their ongoing investigation, is linked to the alleged escape of 22-year-old Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023.
Khalife is due to go on trial at the Old Bailey in October 2024 after pleading not guilty to charges alleging he escaped from HMP Wandsworth. He will also face a trial for three other charges:
1) On the 6th day of September 2023, then being a prisoner in His Majesty’s prison at Wandsworth, being remanded in custody pending trial as ordered at the Central Criminal Court on the 21st day of July 2023, escaped, contrary to common law.
2) On 02.08.2021 at Beaconside, Stafford, Staffordshire, elicited or attempted to elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to section 58A of the Terrorism Act 2000.
3) On or before 02.01.2023 at Beaconside, Stafford, Staffordshire, placed an article with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property, contrary to section 51 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
4) On dates between 1 May, 2019 and 6 January, 2022 Daniel Khalife obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated to any other person, articles, notes, documents or information which were calculated to be or might be or were intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy, contrary to section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said:
This arrest follows months of careful investigation into the alleged escape and enquiries remain ongoing into this.
“We understand that there will be significant public and media interest in this arrest but with Khalife now charged and awaiting trial, it is extremely important that people do not report, comment or share information – including online – which could in any way prejudice these future court proceedings.”
Information from the public is vital to all police investigations.
To report crime and anti-social behaviour in your community, call 101 or 999 in an emergency.
If you see or hear something unusual or suspicious that may be linked to in terrorist activity, trust your instincts and act by reporting it in confidence at gov.uk/ACT or the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321.
