Judges said that the rescued prisoner, Daniel Khalif, was helped by two of his friends.

Two of his friends are said to have helped escaped inmate Daniel Califf by serving as a teacher and “man on the ground” in the prison, offering money.

Adeel Khan, 32, and Imran Chowdhury, In the year They pleaded not guilty to helping ex-soldier Khalif escape from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023 by tying himself to the bottom of a delivery van.

The two accused lived a mile apart in east London, a judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

Caliph sparked a nationwide manhunt when he escaped from a London jail. In the year After his appearance in 2024, he was sentenced to 14 years and 3 months for spying for Iran.

Prosecutor Tom Williams described Khan and Chowdhury’s friendship as “significant”.

“The prosecution’s case is that Khan was giving instructions from Wandsworth, and Chowdhury was the man on the ground, giving money to a man who had escaped from prison that morning,” he told the court.

“Khan should have thought carefully about who could be trusted with such a job – the consequences if something went wrong, or whether they thought it would be very beneficial if Chaudhuri told the wrong people about it.”

Khan was first linked to Khalif’s escape through a red notebook in which his name was found during his arrest, the court heard.

It contained Khan’s name, an illegal prison phone number, a personal mobile number and his Snapchat account, photos shown to the court showed.

Califf was carrying around £200 in £20 notes, which prosecutors allege was taken from the £400 withdrawn by Chowdhury from a cash machine in Richmond, south-west London.

Chaudhuri was paid £120 for this, the court heard.

Khan and Khalif regularly worked together in the kitchen at Wandsworth Prison and “must have known each other well”, the prosecutor added.

In the hours and days after his escape, Khalif called Le Khan several times using phones borrowed from the public, he told the court.

“All the Caliph was with him, this time, was what he could take with him in the food lorry – and that wouldn’t last very long.”

Shortly after Khalif was released from jail, at around 20:41 BST, Khan texted his then-girlfriend, Nazish Mahmood, Chaudhuri’s bank details.

“For you to put £120 in this ac… please thank u baby” he told her.

Later that night, Khalif called Khan using a member of the public’s phone and spoke for about a minute, prosecutors added.

After the £120 arrived in Chowdhury’s Barclays account at 21:55, he and Khalif met in a “meeting that was instrumental in setting up Khan”, Williams said.

The pair were seen walking down a street in Richmond at 22:38 before entering the street, CCTV footage played in court shows.

Although Khalif was found guilty of espionage, he was accused of carrying out a bomb hoax in the army base where he was a soldier.

He had already admitted escaping from Wandsworth Prison.

Khan’s trial continued from Waltham Forest and Chaudhry from Chingford.