Manchester Arena terrorist attacks three prison officers

Hashem Abedi threw hot cooking oil then started stabbing with makeshift weapons’

Counter-terrorism police are investigating after one of the Islamist terrorists behind the Manchester Arena bombing allegedly attacked three prison officers with weapons and cooking oil in a high-security jail.

Two officers suffered life-threatening injuries after being attacked in HMP Frankland in Durham by Hashem Abedi on Saturday, in a case that will raise questions about security measures in Britain’s prisons. Abedi is serving life for 22 murders in the Manchester Arena bombing.

The officers suffered burns and stab wounds when Abedi threw hot cooking oil over them before using makeshift weapons to stab the guards, the Prison Officers Association union said.

One of the officers was said to have been stabbed in the face and throat and had to be airlifted for emergency surgery at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. A second officer is still being treated in hospital. The third, a female officer, was released after treatment.

Counter-terrorism policing (CTP)’s Cdr Dom Murphy said: “Given the nature of the incident, it has been agreed that CTP North East will lead the investigation, supported by Durham Constabulary.

“This is an ongoing investigation which is in its early stages, and we are working hard to establish the facts. Therefore, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

The Ministry of Justice announced on Sunday that there would be “a full review into how this attack was able to happen”, which will run alongside the police inquiry.

“The Government will do whatever it takes to keep our hard-working staff safe,” said a spokesman.

Abedi is understood to have been on his own on Saturday morning in the unit while its other inmates had gone to the gym. It appears he may have waited for that moment as it left only him and the three staff in the unit.

The prisoners are free to walk out of their cells and around the unit, which has its own kitchen, at specified times.

It is not known how Abedi made the two makeshift knives as all kitchen utensils have to be signed in and out before and after use. One theory is that he may have stolen a baking tray or oven rack to fashion it into the two weapons as that would rely on one of the staff spotting it had gone missing.

It is understood that Abedi was being held in one of the separation units in Frankland, which are designed for prisoners who pose a risk to staff and other inmates.

In 2020, Abedi, the brother of the Manchester bomber, Salman Abedi, was convicted and sentenced to three years and 10 months for a “vicious attack” on a prison officer in the high-security unit of Belmarsh prison in May 2020.

Saturday’s attack comes amid reports of prison officers at Frankland placing vulnerable prisoners in separation units designed for high-risk inmates in order to keep them apart from Islamic extremists in an effort to maintain order and discipline.

Ian Acheson, a former prison governor who advised the Government on extremism in jails, said: “This is a catastrophic security failure. This will be a resignation issue. They have failed to manage someone who is profoundly and manifestly a dangerous terrorist.

“One of my recommendations to ministers was that they should have an independent adviser on counter-terrorism in prisons as I had no confidence in the senior leadership of the prison and probation service to manage the terrorist threat.”

He added: “Ministers needed independent oversight of how this was managed. The fact that they don’t means situations like this which are life threatening to staff will take place.

“Frankland was on a trajectory here to a serious terrorist incident. The complacency of the prison service in relation to terrorism is well known. Now we are seeing the fruits of that.”

Mark Fairhurst, the chairman of the POA, said: “This attack displays the dangers brave prison officers face on a daily basis. Separation centres hold the most dangerous terrorist offenders who simply do not wish to alter their ideology and, as this event confirms, are determined to inflict violence on those who hold them securely.

“We must now review the freedoms we allow separation centre prisoners to have. I am of the opinion that allowing access to cooking facilities and items that can threaten the lives of staff should be removed immediately. These prisoners need only receive their basic entitlements and we should concentrate on control and containment instead of attempting to appease them. Things have to change.”

The Telegraph: continue reading

Utterly sickening … I’m done!

After the horrendous Frankland Prison attack it’s become all too clear that our whole justice system is topsy turvey

JEFF TAYLOR

WATCH:

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