One presenter got caught in a right muddle as he completely butchered a report on the finding of .
Newsreader Martin Daubney was on hand to break the news to viewers that Khalife after three days on the run.
It was confirmed on Saturday afternoon (September 9) that Khalife, a former soldier and terror suspect after he escaped HMP Wandsworth in south-west on Wednesday (September 6).
As the news broke, however, it seems so did the GB News’ autocue.
‘First, it’s the news headlines… not it’s not, we’re going straight to me, it’s breaking news, this is fast happening,’ Daubney began.
And things only got worse, with Daubney looking down the camera with a rather clueless expression as he waited for the autocue to repair itself, which it didn’t.
‘Because as we just said, the, erm, the terror man…’, he then attempted, before letting out a laugh.
‘It’s all gone wrong,’ he muttered under his breath.
Daubney then pulled out a backup paper script, reading: ‘We have it coming up soon on the arrest of terror suspect, he escaped from Wandsworth prison, and he’s been apprehended, it’s all coming up in GB News.’
The segment only further descended into chaos as the programme began to resemble what could be compared to an episode of Black Mirror, with the host muddling his words up completely.
‘We’ve got our first guest, here it is, police have escaped- arrested, p-p-prisoner Daniel Khalife… I beg your pardon, we’ll get the autocue in the right place, the story is just happening.’
A frantic Daubney then cut to Chip Chapman, a Major-General and the Senior British Military Advisor to US Central Command.
Needless to say, the blunder didn’t go unnoticed by viewers, quickly making its way to the internet and earning hundreds of thousands of views on Twitter.
‘This is so, so much worse than I thought it was going to be’, one person tweeted after watching the clip.
‘The funniest 53 seconds of news TV broadcast this year. Watch on repeat’, another wrote.
‘Oh my god this is sooooo bad it’s absolute comedy gold. @MartinDaubney I’d observe several days’ embarrassed silence if I were you. Please. Thank you’, one person wrote.
Another mocked that even a comedy writer couldn’t have penned the transcript, while one added: ‘Alan Partridge has got nothing on this guy.’
‘I’ve changed my mind. I agree with Ofcom, they’re not actually a news channel’, a person said.
Khalife was arrested less than 10 miles away from where he previously escaped
Ports and airports were on high alert in the following days amid fears he could try and flee the country.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said Khalife was arrested for being unlawfully at large and for being an escaped prisoner.
Speaking about the investigation, Commander Dominic Murphy told reporters: ‘It’s been about 75 hours since he went missing from the prison to the point of his arrest. That’s pretty quick given the challenge of trying to find this individual.
‘He was arrested yesterday for being unlawfully at large and for being an escaped prisoner.
and Official Secrets Act offences.
He was accused of preparing an act of terrorism and collecting information useful to an enemy, and was allegedly working for a hostile state. He denied the three charges against him and was set to go to trial in November.
