The brother of the Manchester Arena bomber is reported to have been moved to the high security prison at Belmarsh in south London after an attack on three prison officers.
Hashem Abedi, who plotted the 2017 bombing, is alleged to have attacked three prison officers with hot cooking oil at a high-security prison on Saturday at Durham’s HMP Frankland.
Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the attack, which has left prison staff fearing copycat incidents, while the Ministry of Justice has said it will carry out a review.
Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, said he would be meeting next Wednesday with Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, to discuss the incident.
Speaking after a visit to Frankland, which is also a high security prison, he said the separation unit where the attack had taken place had been “decanted” because “it’s a crime scene”.
“We need protective equipment issued to us. The government need to lower our retirement age,” said Fairhurst, who said the attack had highlighted how dangerous the job of prison staff is.
He said staff at the prison “are traumatised, they are fragile and they were angry” over what he described as the “appeasement” of very violent offenders.
He said while strike action is banned for prison officers, there is health and safety legislation that could be considered.
Three officers were attacked while one suffered third-degree burns during the sustained attack on Saturday, in which an assailant used a makeshift sharp weapon fashioned out of metal, as well as cooking fat.
Martin Hibbert, one of the survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing, used an open letter on Tuesday to describe the attack as a “catastrophic failure” of duty by the justice secretary.
Hibbert said he was “absolutely disgusted – beyond words” to hear about the attack, adding in the letter that was posted on social media: “Let’s call this what it is: a catastrophic failure of your duty to protect prison staff and the public from an unrepentant terrorist.”
Lord Timpson, the minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, said the government would set out the terms and scope of the review in the coming days.
“Like everyone, I was appalled by the attack at the weekend and this morning I visited HMP Frankland to thank our hard-working staff.
“This government will do everything it can to protect those working in our prisons. As an immediate response we have suspended the use of kitchens for prisoners held in separation and close supervision centres.
“We have also launched an independent review into how this attack was able to happen.”
