A group of “hardened” terrorists jailed over foiled plots around the time of the London bombings of 2005 are poised to be freed before the end of the year in a potential danger to the public, it was revealed on Tuesday.
The unnamed Islamist offenders are due to be released after serving lengthy sentences for plots aimed at killing members of the public and are one of the most significant batches of terrorist releases.
Their imminent release emerged as Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiled a new counter-terrorism strategy, known as Contest, setting out the threat to this country and the measures being taken to combat it.
The document warns that some freed offenders will pose a threat that “may last for years” and that many will need monitoring by police, MI5 or others to keep the public safe.
The risk posed by freed Islamists was highlighted by the Fishmonger’s Hall attack of 2019 in which two people, Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, were killed by the released convict Usman Khan and the Streatham attack the following year by Sudesh Amman shortly after his release from prison.
Sentencing powers were strengthened in response through new legislation which also ended automatic early release for terrorist convicts.
But it emerged on Tuesday that what was described as a particularly worrying cohort of offenders are due for release before the end of the year.
It is understood that they include some jailed in the 2000s, when foiled attacks include a plan to blow up the Bluewater shopping centre and a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners flying in and out of Heathrow.
Others due for release include some jailed more recently under proscription laws outlawing organisations such as Islamic State.
The Home Office also warned that Russia is stoking the far-Right terrorist threat in Britain by spreading radicalising propaganda in a threat that is likely to increase.
In the new assessment setting out the scale of the terror threat facing the UK — which it says is rising — officials say that “hostile state actors such as Russia” are exploiting “extreme Right-wing narratives” to foment discontent in this country.
It adds that the Kremlin is “seeking to promote divisive and polarising narratives in the West” as part of a far-Right threat which is increasingly “transnational” in origin but manifesting itself here more often.
The Contest assessment emphasises that Islamists continue to pose the greatest danger to the public here, accounting for two thirds of attacks since 2018, three quarters of Mi5’s caseload, and 64 per cent of terrorist prisoners.
But it discloses that the terror threat from the extreme Right — which a decade ago was negligible — has been behind 22 per cent of attacks in the past five years and a quarter of Mi5’s caseload, as well as 28 per cent of terror prisoners. It adds that unlike Islamists, far-Right terrorists tend not to operate in groups but in “informal online communities which facilitate international links”.
On the Russian role, the document states: “Extreme Right-wing narratives are also exploited by hostile actors, such as Russia, which is seeking to promote divisive and polarising narratives in the West, which is likely to increase in the future.”
Tuesday’s document also warns that conspiracy theories are being used as “gateways” to radicalisation.
Another section warns that the “vast majority” of freed terrorist inmates will require “long term risk management” by police, Mi5 and others and pose a potential danger that “may last for years”.
