Man who killed Amess let go from Prevent too early

A review of the handling of the killer of MP Sir David Amess under a government counterterrorism programme has been branded clearly inadequate” and a paper exercise”.

- ANAHITA HOSSEIN-POUR

His daughter Katie Amess, and former Southend West MP Anna Firth, who has supported his family, heavily criticised the review of how Ali Harbi Ali was dealt with under the Prevent and Channel programmes.

Police and local authority staff working on the scheme failed to discover that he had been radicalised online to become a supporter of Isis and was plotting to kill.

The document published yesterday made reference to Ali wanting to move to a Muslim country, and believing that interest rates on student loans, co-education with women and music were against the principles of his religion.

It was revealed at his murder trial at the Old Bailey that he had been radicalised over the internet between 2014 and 2016 and was an Isis sympathiser in the same year that he was referred to counterterrorism scheme Prevent.

By 2016, when his risk of radicalisation was deemed to be low and his case was closed, he had already bought a large knife with which to carry out an attack, and eventually went on to use to murder Sir David.

Asked about the review, Ms Amess said: “It was literally going through paper trails and email logs. It’s a paper exercise. It doesn’t mean anything. We need an inquiry. We need answers. We need accountability.”

Repeating calls for a public inquiry into how Ali was dealt with, Ms Firth said: “The Prevent Learning Review while welcome, failed to compare what Prevent did against what the criminal trial revealed about the extent of Ali Harbi Ali’s radicalisation, ie by 2014 he wanted to join Isis and by 2017 he wanted to carry out an attack in the UK. This is clearly inadequate.