Only failing system lets jailed terrorist make savage attack

THE ATTACK by convicted terrorist and mass murderer Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland — where he used boiling oil and improvised weapons against three prison officers — has stunned the nation. To call it a lapse would be an understatement bordering on satire.

- Esther Krakue Daily Express columnist

Abedi is currently serving a 55-year minimum sentence for the murder of 22 people at the Manchester Arena in 2017. He'd already racked up another three years and 10 months for attacking a guard at HMP Belmarsh in 2020. And yet, somehow, this same violent extremist was allowed access to both cooking oil and the means to heat it. A man with a known history of violence towards staff given kitchen privileges. What could possibly go wrong?

Despite being held in Frankland's Separation Centre — a unit designed to isolate extremist inmates — Abedi still managed to carry out a brutal, premeditated attack. Just days later, at HMP Whitemoor, murderer John Mansfield was killed by a fellow inmate in a Close Supervision Centre, supposedly one of the most secure environments in the system.

FRANKLAND and Whitemoor are meant to represent the pinnacle of prison security. These aren't low-risk offenders. These are men so dangerous they're considered too volatile, even for other violent criminals. Yet guards are being assaulted and prisoners murdered in these near-impervious facilities.