Student shares astonishing footage of ‘weird’ Daniel Khalife at pub and claims he boasted about having £20,000 in his bank account before he ‘stalked’ her and her friend as they left
- Woman claims Daniel Khalife, 21, followed her and friend into Wetherspoons
- Khalife, 21, allegedly boasted about having £20,000 in his bank account
A student claims Britain’s ‘most wanted man’ Daniel Khalife bragged about his wealth before chillingly ‘stalking’ her after a night out at Wetherspoons.
The woman says Khalife, 21, followed her and her friend in Stafford on September 23 last year, before lifting her off the ground after he had earlier shown them his bank account which had more than £20,000 in it.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared exclusive footage with MailOnline which appears to show Khalife sitting at the table opposite them while smiling.
She claims Khalife sat with them for 30 minutes, during which he said he was in the army and wasn’t close to his family, before the two friends got up to leave as they thought the 21-year-old was being ‘weird’.
Khalife then allegedly began following the pair outside the pub before they managed to find a car and go home.
The disturbing encounter is believed to have taken place months before Khalife allegedly carried out his bomb hoax at the military base in Stafford commonly referred to as Beacon Barracks.
It comes as the Met Police offered a £20,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of Khalife following his daring escape from Wandsworth prison on Wednesday.
The trained soldier, who was facing a trial in November on terrorism charges, rigged himself to the underside of a grocery lorry as he escaped from jail before making off at a roundabout.
The woman who said she was ‘stalked’ by Khalife told MailOnline: ‘I was shocked to see him all over the news as he struck me as weird but not a [suspected] terrorist.’
The woman described meeting Khalife as she partied with her friend in Stafford town centre on September 23 last year, before the start of university.
The pair were in a nightclub when Khalife and his friend approached them.
She said: ‘His friend was trying to get with me.
‘He was saying he recognised me and that we’d matched on Tinder, and I was thinking “whatever” but we had some small talk.’
The young woman said after she and her friend moved to Wetherspoons, Khalife followed them there and sat at their table.
She said: ‘Daniel approached us and asked if he could sit with us because his friend didn’t have his ID.
‘It made my friend uncomfortable but I’m used to guys being weird.
‘He told us he wasn’t close with his family and was in the army and that’s why he was out in our town.
‘At one point, he was saying he had lots of money and he even showed us his bank account on his phone.
‘It had about £20,000 in it. We didn’t really know what to say, we started joking about how we were sitting next to this rich guy.’
The woman said Khalife began to stare at them, at which point she began filming using her phone.
She said: ‘We sat with him for about 30 minutes, we then stood up to leave and Daniel followed us.
‘Outside, then all of a sudden, he lifted me up off the ground… It wasn’t for long, I think I just said “put me down”.
‘We got into the car and I could see he was watching us as we left.’
The woman said she spotted Khalife in Stafford a few days later, but this was the only time they ever talked.
‘It’s so weird,’ she added: ‘I didn’t know anything about him being in prison, none of my friends did.
‘It wasn’t until this manhunt started – I recognised the man on television and called my friend. What a small world!
Khalife was stationed at the Ministry of Defence’s military base in Stafford, commonly referred to as Beacon Barracks.
Earlier this year, he was charged with offences in relation to the Official Secrets Act after he allegedly carried out a bomb hoax at the RAF base.
According to court documents, he allegedly placed ‘three canisters with wires at RAF Stafford 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’
He also stands accused of trying to elicit information that could be useful for a terrorist on August 2, 2021, as well as breaching the Official Secret Act by harnessing information useful to an enemy from May 1, 2019, until January 6, 2022.
Khalife’s father is Iranian and sources have claimed Khalife attempted pass information to the Iranian regime.
The soldier was arrested in January last year over separate offences but was bailed before being re-arrested after a probe by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command.
Khalife’s family have appealed for him to give himself up, with a relative telling The Times: ‘If I could talk to him, I would tell him to end this and give himself up, even though I understand he is afraid.’
The relative, who asked not to be identified, said the family of Khalife are opposed to the present regime in Iran, and that the suspect has only visited the country twice in his life – as a baby and once aged six or seven.
A former friend and fellow ex-soldier, who trained with Khalife in Rhino Troop, 2 Squadron, told The Mirror the suspect ‘excelled’ at a survival course they had done and would often ‘disappear’ at the weekend with camping gear to spend the night out in the open.
The source added that Khalife ‘really thought he would get into the SAS’ and that ‘that was his dream.
‘He was always saying he was Middle Eastern and was even trying to learn Farsi from a language learning app,’ the source added.
Khalife’s relative was said to be tearful in an interview with The Times as they said: ‘Danny doesn’t know Iran, he loves this country.’
The relative said Khalife and his twin sister were brought up by their single mother in Kingston and that he chose not to go to sixth-form, instead enlisting in the army.
‘The army has to answer for what happened,’ the relative said. ‘He has been in the army for four years, since 2019. I don’t know what they have done to him.’
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.
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.’
